CL22 - LS-C2, Intermediate-Level: Competency-Based Coaching And Mentoring: Equity Levers For Leadership Development In The Infant-Toddler Workforce

Erika Gustafson Dietz is a curriculum specialist and competency-based education and learning researcher in the infant studies program at the Erikson Institute, a graduate school of child development located in Chicago, IL. Erika’s scholarship and research lie at the intersection of education and policy research, focused on the development of equitable pathways in post-secondary learning to meet the complex needs of the early childhood workforce. She is specifically interested in competency-based education and learning as one model to meet those needs, especially for adult learners and the incumbent workforce, through intentionally designed and engaged learning experiences. This work is informed by Erika’s own professional experiences in early childhood education and care and by her personal experience navigating higher education as a first-generation college student.

Dr. Johnna Darragh Ernst is a Distinguished Professor of Early Childhood Education at Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois. For the past several years, her work has focused on collaboratively developing competency-based pathways supporting early childhood practitioners in Illinois. Together with Drs. Nancy Latham, Tiffany Freeze and Stephanie Bernoteit, she developed and co-authored the Competency Development Process Model for Higher Education (in press). In addition to publishing numerous articles, she has authored two early childhood textbooks focusing on inclusion and family engagement. She co-authored and edited Voices from the Field: Collaborative Innovations in Early Childhood Educator Preparation (Bernoteit, Darragh Ernst, & Latham, 2016), which focuses on the Illinois effort to develop a competency-based model of early childhood educator preparation. Within Heartland, Dr. Darragh Ernst has created several competency-based learning pathways designed to maximize student access, decrease student cost, and minimize time to credential and degree.