About our authors
Dr. Sue Bredekamp is an Early Childhood Education Specialist from Washington, DC. She serves as a consultant on curriculum, pedagogy, developmentally appropriate practice, and professional development for organizations such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Head Start, the Council for Professional Recognition, departments of education, and universities. Her seminal work on NAEYC's best-selling publications on Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs has had a major impact on the education of young children and teacher preparation for more than 35 years. As NAEYC's Director of Accreditation and Professional Development, she developed and administered their national accreditation system for early learning programs, and wrote standards for curriculum and assessment, and teacher education. She co-authored Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children and taught HeadsUp! Reading, a live distance learning course on early literacy to more than 10,000 educators.
Dr. Bredekamp co-chaired The National Academies of Science Committee on A New Vision for High Quality Pre-K Curriculum. She served on the National Research Council's (NRC) Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics which produced a landmark report, Mathematics in Early Childhood: Paths toward Excellence and Equity. The McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University recognized Dr. Bredekamp with its Visionary Leadership Award. The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) named Dr. Bredekamp as one of eleven Pioneers in Early Childhood Education. Dr. Bredekamp has been a visiting lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia; Monash University in Melbourne; New Zealand Tertiary College; University of Alaska; and University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
Dr. Gail E. Joseph is the Bezos Family Professor of Early Learning, Early Childhood and Family Studies, Department of Education at the University of Washington. She teaches courses, advises students, provides service, and conducts research on early learning and equity, child care quality, teacher preparation, early childhood mental health, and school readiness. She is the Founding Executive Director of Cultivate Learning, a community-engaged research and professional learning hub, at the University of Washington and was the Director of the Head Start Center for Inclusion and Co-Director of the National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning funded by the Office of Head Start. She is currently serving as Senior Director of Translational Science for the National Center for Early Child Development Teaching and Learning. At Cultivate Learning she oversees the quality ratings system for all licensed childcare and pre-K programs in the state of Washington and is the creator of numerous professional learning resources such as Circle Time Magazine and the Meaningful Makeover series. Additionally, she led the development of the University of Washington's first online B.A. completion degree in early care and education.
