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A Great Place to Work
Improving Conditions for Staff in Young Children's Programs
By Paula Jorde Bloom

Early childhood directors often have a global impression that things are going well or not so well at their centers, but they lack specific feedback on just what areas of the organization contribute to those impressions. This excellent book will help you define more precisely how different dimensions of your center’s organizational climate contribute to the quality of work life for staff.  It provides concrete suggestions for creating a great place to work by focusing attention on the organizational processes that promote high performance and deeper commitment to program goals. 

 A Great Place to Work will help you…

• strengthen collegiality among staff

• promote excellence opportunities for professional growth

• provide supervisor support that improves practice

• create greater clarity in communication

• implement a fair and equitable reward system

• promote shared decision making

• encourage goal consensus on important issues

• achieve a task orientation that keeps staff focused

• create a physical setting that nurtures adults

• promote a can-do spirit and sense of innovativeness

1997, $10.00, 96 pages, soft cover, perfect bound, 6 x 9, photographs, ISBN: 0-935989-18-8

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Avoiding Burnout
Strategies of Managing Time, Space, and People in Early Childhood Education
By Paula Jorde Bloom

Working in early childhood can be immensely satisfying. It can also be exhausting and stressful. Demanding workloads, inadequate rewards, and an uncertain political and social climate fuel job stress and burnout. Avoiding Burnout looks at the symptoms, causes, and consequences of job-related stress. It provides early childhood administrators with concrete strategies to help themselves and their teachers avoid burnout and remain thriving contributors to the profession. 

 Avoiding Burnout will help you…

• design a personalized prescription for burnout prevention

• chart goals and plan for priorities

• make the most of that previous resource called time

• organize classroom and administrative space to be more efficient 

• develop a nurturing atmosphere for teachers and support staff

1989, $14.95, 295 pages, soft cover, perfect bound, 6½ x 9½, illustrations, ISBN: 9780962189401

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 The Bottom Line for Children's Programs
 By Gwen Morgan

This essential handbook tells you, clearly and simply, what you need to know to manage the financial resources of an early childhood program. The Bottom Line underscores the message that budget is policy. All the dreams and aspirations directors have for their early care and education programs are expressed in the budget in the language of money. Among the many topics covered are: making and balancing budgets, start-up, cash-flow projections, break-even analysis, reports, and tax information.

1989, $15.95, 230 pages, perfect bound, 6 x 9, ISBN 0-942820-49-5

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The Business of Child Care
Management and Financial Strategies
By Gail Jack

This book focuses on the most essential business skills child care owners and administrators need. Aimed at helping directors manage their human and financial resources, The Business of Child Care details a successful approach to managing enrollment, staff recruitment and retention, budgets, financial recordkeeping, and more.

2005, $17.95, soft cover, Thompson/Delmar Learning, perfect bound, 140 pages, 8 ½ x 11, ISBN: 1401851800.

Includes CD with financial templates.

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 Circle of Influence
 Implementing Shared Decision Making and Participative Management
 By Paula Jorde Bloom

As the director of an early childhood program, you are in a unique position to influence the decision-making policies and practices at your center. In this book you'll learn that participative management is both a philosophy and a set of behaviors that define your interactions with people. You'll explore techniques for managing the daily business of your center by involving others in critical decisions affecting their professional fulfillment. If you are serious about wanting staff to become vital partners in achieving centerwide goals, then this book is essential reading. 

Circle of Influence will help you …

• determine your preferred decision-making style

• analyze different types of decisions

• assess the impact of the decisions you make

• solicit feedback about organizational practices

• increase the level of trust among your staff

• make better decisions

2000, $18.95, soft cover, perfect bound, 96 pages, 7x10, illustrations, ISBN: 9780962189432

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 Designs for Living and Learning
 Transforming Early Childhood Environments
 By Deb Curtis and Margie Carter

This book challenges early childhood educators to rethink what their programs stand for and how they might transform their centers into nurturing environments that represent those values. Designs for Living includes dozens of practical ideas to create indoor and outdoor environments that are comfortable and inviting for children, parents, and staff. The book features hundreds of color photographs depicting early childhood learning environments.

2003, $39.95, 240 pages, 8½ x 11, Redleaf Press, color photographs, 
ISBN: 1-929610-29-7

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From the Inside Out 
The Power of Reflection and Self-Awareness
By Paula Jorde Bloom

The quest for excellence begins with an inner quest to discover who we are—our passions, values, talents, personal resources, and even those foibles and annoying habits we might prefer not to acknowledge. Having a better understanding of ourselves is the first step toward achieving a better relationship with others. From the Inside Out is your passport for self-discovery. Through thought-provoking questions and engaging exercises you'll have an opportunity to reflect on where you are in your journey through adulthood, determine the gap between your current and ideal work environment, and become a self-mentor for envisioning new possibilities for the decades ahead.

From the Inside Out will help you …

• gain clarity about your purpose and passions
• understand the values and beliefs that shape your behavior
• appreciate your strengths and internal resources
• learn how to avoid the comparison trap
• practice strategies to reduce stress and avoid burnout
• create an action plan for achieving greater job fulfillment

2007, $18.95, soft cover, perfect bound, 120 pages, 7x10, illustrations, ISBN: 9780962189494

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 Leadership in Action 
 How Effective Directors Get Things Done
 By Paula Jorde Bloom

Leadership begins in the head and heart. It is a way of thinking about yourself and the vital role you play in your early childhood program. This book dispels the myth that there is one best leadership style that all directors should emulate. It will help you understand the subtle but important distinction between leadership as a role and leadership as a set of skills and competencies that can be supported and nurtured at all levels of the organization. Filled with practical suggestions and lively examples from high-performing directors, you'll learn how you can create and sustain a compelling vision for your program that transforms your center into a vibrant and engaging learning community. 

Leadership in Action will help you… 

• assess your unique leadership style

• understand the values and beliefs that shape your leadership behavior 

• increase shared commitment to your center's goals

• make action plans that get implemented

• instill leadership capacity at all levels of the organization

• solve organizational issues in a collegial and nonconfrontational way

• ensure a smooth transition for your successor 

2003, $18.95, soft cover, perfect bound, 120 pages, 7x10, illustrations, ISBN: 9780962189470

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Lifesavers
Tips for Success and Sanity For Early Childhood Managers
By Sue Baldwin 

This light-hearted book provides dozens of self-assessments and practical strategies for achieving balance in your life. Laced with humorous anecdotes and stories from early childhood directors, Lifesavers gives you the survival tools you need to keep the right perspective on your job. The book includes most frequently asked questions and a personal contract for change.

1996, $14.00, 155 pages, 6 x 9, Insights Training, soft cover, perfect bound, illustrations, ISBN: 0-9654439-0-6

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Making the Most of Meetings
A Practical Guide
By Paula Jorde Bloom

Meetings are the glue that holds early childhood organizations together. Whether it's a weekly staff meeting, a monthly parent meeting, or an annual board meeting, directors rely on meetings as the primary vehicle for communicating information, identifying and solving problems, and making new decisions and modifying old ones. There is no avoiding it, skill in facilitating meetings is essential for effective program management. This book is filled with practical tips and techniques to help you reverse the slump you may be experiencing in meeting effectiveness. You'll learn how to accomplish more work in less time and have more fun in the process.

Making the Most of Meetings will help you… 

• craft a well-designed agenda

• engage participants in lively, substantive discussion

• increase interpersonal understanding among participants

• solve problems in a collegial way

• make action plans that get implemented

• build a more productive work team

• increase shared commitment to your center's goals

2002, $18.95, soft cover, perfect bound, 104 pages, 7x10, illustrations, ISBN: 9780962189456

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Microsoft Office XP
A Training Manual for Early Childhood Administrators
By Tim Walker

Developed especially for child care directors, Microsoft Office XP is a one-stop guide to the essential features of using Microsoft Office XP in administering an early childhood center. Jam-packed with handy tools for tackling the information management challenges of operating a center, this guide will help you run a more efficient and family-responsive program. Designed as both a tutorial and a reference, Microsoft Office XP introduces each of the components of Office XP Professional-word processing, presentation graphics, spreadsheets, database management, and more. Each chapter contains practical tips and examples that address the real-life challenges that confront administrators of early care and education programs. Whether you are a computer novice or a seasoned practitioner, this manual is a must for your management library. 

2003, $15.00, 180 pages, soft cover spiral bound, 8½ x 11.

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Parent-Friendly Early Learning
Tips and Strategies for Working Well with Families
By Julie Powers

Written for beginning directors as well as seasoned professionals, this resource is for anyone genuinely interested in working with, not just for, parents. Detailed real-life scenarios in each chapter will help you create a climate of partnership, understand the background for each issue, avoid problems, and handle conflicts.

2005, $22.95, soft cover, Redleaf Press, perfect bound, 120 pages, 7 x 10,
ISBN: 1929619629

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The Parent Newsletter
A Complete Guide for Early Childhood Professionals
By Sylvia Reichel

A parent newsletter can be one of the most valuable communications tools a center director has. It can save a provider time by clearly communicating information to all parents at once, strengthen parent involvement and their sense of community, tackle tough problems without singling anyone out, and reinforce your center’s philosophy.

2006, $24.95, soft cover, Redleaf Press, perfect bound, 110 pages,
8½ x 11, ISBN: 1929619807

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Program Administration Scale
Measuring Early Childhood Leadership and Management
By Teri N. Talan and Paula Jorde Bloom

Research consistently finds that high-quality administrative practices are crucial for ensuring beneficial results for children and families. Without systems in place at the organizational level, supportive teacher-child interactions and stimulating learning environments at the classroom level cannot be achieved or sustained. 

The genesis for the development of the Program Administration Scale (PAS) was the growing consensus that the quality of early childhood programs should be determined by more than just the classroom learning environment. This valuable tool incorporates data obtained through interview or self-report, document review, and observation to reliably measure the administrative practices of an early childhood program. The PAS includes 25 items clustered in 10 subscales, which measure both leadership and management functions of center-based early care and education programs. The PAS can be used in multiple ways: program self-improvement, technical assistance and monitoring, research and evaluation, and public awareness. 

2004, $17.95, 80 pages, soft cover, Teachers College Press, perfect bound, 8½ x 11, 
ISBN: 0-8077-4528-6

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Ready or Not
Leadership Choices in Early Care and Education
By Stacie G. Goffin and Valora Washington

After more than a century of evolution, early childhood care and education in the United States is in transition. In this frank discussion of the field’s purpose, identity, and responsibility, the authors examine the major issues that must be addressed if children are to be given more and better opportunities. They show how adaptive leadership work can unify the field, create openness to new change strategies, generate a shared vision, and build a viable strategy for its achievement.

2007, $19.95, soft cover, Teachers College Press, perfect bound, 110 pages, 6x9, ISBN: 9780807747933

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The Right Fit 
Recruiting, Selecting, and Orienting Staff
By Kay Albrecht

Well-trained and experienced staff are the key to early childhood program quality and healthy child development. Yet, every director knows that finding those teachers is a huge challenge. Skills in recruitment, interviewing, screening, selecting, and orienting new teachers are ones that every director needs. This book breaks down the recruitment, selection, and orientation processes into manageable components and suggests practical and effective techniques to help you find teachers with the right fit for your program's particular needs. 

  The Right Fit will help you…

• design a recruitment plan so you are always prepared when turnover occurs

• position your program to get numerous applicants to consider for vacant positions

• determine criteria to maximize the "fit" between individuals, the job, and the center

• choose an interview plan that will work

• involve other teachers in the hiring process 

• select the right person from the applicant pool

• orient new staff right from the start

2002, $18.95, soft cover, perfect bound, 128 pages, 7x10, illustrations, ISBN: 9780962189463

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Workshop Essentials 
Planning and Presenting Dynamic Workshops 
By Paula Jorde Bloom

Good training has never been more important and good trainers have never been in more demand. As workshop leader, your job is to ignite a passion for learning and engage your participants as active partners in the learning process. This book will help you achieve that goal. It provides the tools you need to design and deliver high content, high involvement, and high-energy training. 

If you are a novice at presenting workshops, you'll find Workshop Essentials an indispensable resource to get you started. It'll help you gain the confidence you need to communicate your ideas with conviction, control, and poise. You'll learn how to organize your ideas, set up the learning environment, and deal with anxiety. If you are a seasoned trainer, the tips and techniques in Workshop Essentials will help you sharpen your presentation skills so you can respond to the subtle cues in your participants' expressions, questions, and responses. You'll learn how to anchor your message in the hearts and minds of the participants attending your training.

Workshop Essentials will help you… 

• tailor your training to the needs of adult learners

• set up the physical environment to support learning

• establish and maintain rapport

• communicate with clarity 

• add spontaneity and humor to your presentations

• create eye-catching visuals

• handle challenging situations

• evaluate the effectiveness of your training

2000, $24.95, 230 pages, soft cover, perfect bound, 9 x 12, illustrations, ISBN: 9780962189449

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