Economic, Social, and Moral Imperatives of Early Care and Education: Understanding the National Context and Finding Solutions (Part 1)

Adria Taha-Resnick is faculty at California State University, Channel Islands. She has 25 years of experience in early care and education working as a teacher, administrator, and trainer and currently teaches future teachers. In addition to teaching, Adria is the Vice President for the California Association for the Education of Young Children, and Chair of the Ventura County Local Planning Council. Her interests include quality initiatives and building leadership in early care and education.

Kaia Tollefson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Education at California State University Channel Islands. Dr. Tollefson has 35 years of experience as an educator and administrator at P-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels of schooling. She has authored a number of articles and two books, Cultivating the Learner-Centered Classroom and Volatile Knowing: Parents, Teachers, and the Censored Story of Accountability in America's Public Schools, all of which seek to promote educational equity and excellence of opportunity for all students. Current research interests include social justice in education, leadership, and Critical Friends Groups as a professional development approach for faculty, staff, and administrators in higher education.

Joan M. Karp, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita at California State University, Channel Islands. After completing over 40 years as a teacher and professor of special education, Dr. Karp concluded her work at California State University, Channel Islands as Director of the School of Education. Prior to her work at CSUCI, she was a teacher, researcher, and grant director at University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Washington, University of California Santa Barbara and Rhode Island College. Her research examined ways to prepare interdisciplinary educators and educators with disabilities for a variety of leadership roles in education. In addition, she studied organizational change and the integration of young children with disabilities into general education.