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This course is designed for Head Start programs to expand and improve your staff’s leadership of whole community. It will not only expand learners’ understanding of whole community practices, it will allow them to develop a portfolio of practical application tools they can use, share, and refer back to at any time. 

This credential is ideal for any leader in a program, regardless of their title, who will be ensuring the program is meeting the highest standards. The course also includes live sessions with Dr. Kimberly P. Johnson, renowned whole community expert and children’s author.

Course Information

• Start Date: Available on-demand
• Course Level: Beginner
• Requirements/Prerequisites: Only for staff who have not completed the CDA course with The Academy
• Target Audience: Instruction and Effective Practice, Leadership and Management, Parents and Families, Program Operations, Support Services
• Course Meeting Times: None
• Completion Timeline/Duration: One month

Alignment with Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF)

• This course supports programs in meeting 1302.101 Management Systems requirements of the Head Start Program Performance Standards by promoting effective management, professional development, comprehensive services, and equitable access for children and families from diverse backgrounds.

Module Topics:

Learning Objective:

• Understand the various elements included in serving a whole community.
• Enhance your interactions with others while learning to appreciate differences by mitigating assumptions, biases, and stereotypes.
• Engage in recognizing workplace biases and work to enhance workplace, family, and community.

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Course Author

Zuly Vazquez

Zuly Vazquez is the senior manager of Early Head Start Professional Development. She has worked with Head Start and Early Head Start programs for over a decade, specializing in training, mentoring, coaching, facilitation, curriculum implementation, and management. She worked for several years in the classroom, providing high-quality education to children from different cultures, traditions, and ethnicities. She is a former Head Start parent and has vast experience supporting and providing technical assistance to teachers, family child care providers, education specialists, and families in large programs in Florida and Georgia. Over her career, she designed a supplemental Christian early childhood curriculum, bilingual online lessons, and classroom observation tools and has facilitated early childhood education courses in English and Spanish at the college level. As an active early childhood advocate, she is part of the advisory committee of her local NAEYC affiliate, the Family Child Care Home Alliance of Georgia, and Latinas United for the Children of America.