STGi Early Childhood Advisory Board

STG International, Inc. established an Early Childhood Advisory Board whose mission is to provide thought leadership and strategic advice to promote school readiness and improved learning outcomes of young children by providing professional development programs to improve the knowledge and skills of the early care workforce.

Gloria M. Cardona, MA

Gloria M. Cardona is principal of GMC Associates. GMCA offers consulting services in program evaluation, developmental assessment and diversity management to public and private educational entities. Currently, Ms. Cardona is working on a Replication Plan for a dual-immersion Pre-K school in the Washington, DC area, she is developing a protocol to assess the performance of pre-K teachers and developing a tool to appropriately assess the cognitive and socio/emotional skills of pre-K dual language learners. Ms. Cardona is also involved in recruitment and guidance of Latino families interested in enrolling their children at various prestigious private schools in the Washington, DC area.

Also, Ms. Cardona is currently researching best practices aimed at enhancing parental and community involvement in the education of young children to help ensure the successful transition of children from pre-K to Kindergarten and beyond.

Ms. Cardona has conducted evaluations of private and public education programs, including, the statewide evaluations of the California First 5 School Readiness program, the Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL), the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative and the national evaluation of the Boys and Girls Club.

Ms. Cardona has designed and conducted a variety of organizational development and cultural diversity initiatives throughout her extensive career. She holds a Masters in public policy specializing in public policy for families and children from Tufts University and Bachelors in Community Planning from the University of Massachusetts. She brings her experience and cultural perspective as a key supporter of education within the Latino community to enhance STGi’s Early Childhood Advisory Board.

Warren R. Harris, BA

Warren R. Harris is the president and CEO of WR Harris Group (WRHG). WRHG provides consulting and professional development services to government entities, large organizations, and other agencies that provide early childhood services. WRHG works with clients to design and implement effective management systems and outcome-driven service delivery strategies through program assessment and analysis, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. The firm has partnered successfully with boards and funding entities to restructure Head Start organizations. Mr. Harris works with clients to assess needs, plan, and implement staff training and technical assistance on Head Start program monitoring, program self-assessment, program governance and other areas related to program quality.

Mr. Harris was formerly the Chief Operating Officer for Teaching Strategies, Inc, a Washington, DC-based publishing company. Teaching Strategies develops and publishes early childhood development books and materials, including The Creative Curriculum®. Prior to that, Mr. Harris was a Senior Program Specialist at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start Bureau (now known as the Office for Head Start). During his tenure at HHS, he was responsible for all aspects of national program monitoring and led the development and implementation of the Program Review Instrument for Program Monitoring (PRISM). Mr. Warren's early childhood education experience, combined with his direct involvement with the Office for Head Start, provides a valuable addition to STGi's Early Childhood Advisory Board.

Sharon L. Ramey, Ph.D

Dr. Sharon Landesman Ramey has more than 30 years of experience as a researcher and developmental psychologist whose professional interests include the study of the development of intelligence and children's competency, early experience and early intervention, the changing American family, and the transition to school.

As a researcher, Dr. Ramey has focused on the effects of the environment on behavior, including longitudinal studies of the effects of early experience on the development of children "at risk" for mental retardation and school failure. Dr. Ramey, along with her husband Dr. Craig Ramey, oversaw a recent landmark study on the transition of Head Start children to school. Currently, Dr. Ramey is engaged in numerous randomized controlled trials, testing the efficacy of different programs to improve young children's outcomes. Dr. Ramey serves in many elected and appointed national positions, including review panels for National Institutes of Health, foundations and organization advisory boards, and continues to devote her time to improving the lives of young children. She is a frequent guest on many television and radio programs, and she serves as a consultant nationwide and internationally on projects that seek to improve the health and well-being of children and families. Dr. Ramey will contribute her extensive research background and knowledge from within the early childhood education field as a member of STGi's Early Childhood Advisory Board with the Head Start and early childhood community.

Dr. Guylaine L. Richard, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Guylaine Richard brings more than 20 years of experience to the STGi Early Childhood Advisory Board. She has been credited with leading successful programs to improve the lives of children and families. She has spent her career educating and providing training and technical assistance (T/TA) in the fields of public health, administration and education to various national and international agencies serving at-risk populations. In addition, Dr. Richard has had the distinct privilege to be recognized as a National Head Start Fellow, where she developed new project initiatives for the Health and Disabilities Branch, as well as representing the Family and Youth Services Bureau in research and health initiatives with other Federal agencies. She brings a wealth of experience as a Head Start Director, T/TA Health Specialist, and Head Start Federal Reviewer and currently holds the role of Early Childhood and Management Consultant for the National Head Start Association and Office of Head Start Published EHS Start Up Planner. Dr. Richard recently published a manual; Right From The Start, which details how to provide support to pregnant women and expectant families when one does not have the tools to do so. Through her experience as a medical doctor and as an educator, Dr. Richard aims to serve as a mentor for pregnant women and those responsible for their care.

Dr. Richard is also the owner of Richardetc, LLC. located in Boynton Beach, Florida where she provides training and consultation to Head Start and other human services/early childhood programs in the areas of organizational development and program quality. Dr. Richard is a Child Development Associate (CDA) Credentials Evaluator and Trainer, and will contribute her vast understanding of the needs of the early childhood education workforce and expertise in training early childhood teachers to advance the knowledge of STGi Head Start experts.

http://richardetc.com/index.html

Annette Sibley, Ph.D.

Dr. Annette Sibley is co-founder and president of Quality Assist, an Atlanta-based consulting firm providing training, technical assistance and program evaluation to improve the quality of early childhood care and education. She brings more than 30 years of experience to STGi's Head Start advisory board as an early childhood professional with extensive experience in research and program evaluation. Dr. Sibley has formed collaborative relationships with federal, state, and private stakeholders to leverage funding that produced systemic changes in the quality of early care and education programs.

Dr. Sibley has spearheaded a vast number of quality initiatives aimed at improving the early care and education of young children in the state of Georgia, developed a statewide professional designation system for technical assistance consultants, and has established numerous in-depth training programs. In her capacity as Assistant Project Director for the Head Start/Public School Early Childhood Transition Project for Alabama, she was responsible for providing leadership and oversight of the project's evaluation. Dr. Sibley has published numerous publications and is an active member of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), NAEYC, and the National Center for the Early Childhood Workforce, among others. She has also served on several steering committees aimed at improving early care, and teacher development, and brings her experience, dedication, and relationship savvy in the field of early childhood education to STGi's Early Childhood Advisory Board. Dr. Sibley has a Ph.D in Early Childhood Education from Georgia State University.

Nancy H. Brown, Ph.D.

Dr. Nancy H. Brown's 40-year professional experience includes teaching, administration and consulting in both public and private sectors. Having received her undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, her teaching career began in secondary education. After moving to Maryland and teaching in elementary school and early childhood, she completed graduate degrees in early childhood education at the University of Maryland at College Park. Adding her experience teaching in higher education, Dr. Brown brings a broad perspective on the total educational experience and teaching across the spectrum.

Dr. Brown’s administrative experience includes child care and state government. Her child care experience includes church programs, parent cooperatives and a corporate owned setting. That work occurred in MD, DC, and NC and also broadened her knowledge and perspective on the regulatory aspect. She was the first director of the child care center serving employees of the US Senate in the District of Columbia before returning to North Carolina to serve as the first head the Child Care Section in the Department of Human Resources, the agency created to consolidate all child care functions into one agency – licensing, subsidized care, technical assistance, etc – now called the Division of Child Development.

Dr. Brown’s consulting experience primarily includes work with state governments focused on developing career paths for child care workers in Delaware and Louisiana and work with professional organizations and child care programs. She has been active in several professional organizations but particularly the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). She has served on the national board, state boards in Maryland and North Carolina and as President of the NC affiliate. In her work as Affiliate Advisor for NAEYC, she worked with 8 states.

Dr. Brown currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Frankie Lemmon School in Raleigh, NC and the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Partnership for Children. Dr. Brown has been an advocate for Head Start for many years and brings a perspective to STGi’s Early Childhood Advisory Board focused on systems and building the national early care and education infrastructure.

The Early Childhood Advisory Board is led by Michelle Lee, CEO/President of STGi and Dr. Myra Crouch, Director of Education and Technical Assistance Services which is aimed at improving early childhood programs that service America's most disadvantaged children.