NLU Alumni Magazine
30 YEARS
From Giovanni Arroyo, The McCormick Center
to significant improvements in the professionalization of the early childhood field.
education, through research which shows its positive impact on the developing brain. Bloom’s 16-page CV also provides a glimpse of what she has accomplished. She has authored or co-authored more than 20 books, including “Leadership in Action: How Effective Leaders Get Things Done” (New Horizons) and “A Great Place To Work: Improving Conditions For Staff in Young Children’s Programs” (NAEYC). She has made dozens of keynote presentations to early childhood and educator audiences, written many articles and book chapters and raised many millions in grant money. While that dossier is impressive, Bloom’s legacy can perhaps be better characterized by the directors she has mentored
and influenced, who have gone on to mentor others and positively shape the formative years for countless children. “She’s shown such leadership in the last 30 years, and even prior,” said Valerie Dawkins Krajec, who studied with Bloom at NLU. Krajec now works as a Lead Senior TA Specialist for Zero To Three, an early childhood advocacy nonprofit. “Her focus on having early childhood directors get program management and leadership skills needed to manage their staffs really make a difference in the quality of outcomes for young children,” Krajec added. “She’s unmatched by all but a handful of people in the field.”
Some of the biggest changes have come from other fields. James Heckman, a Nobel laureate from the University of Chicago, and Art Rolnick, former research director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, have made the case for early childhood education from a financial perspective, she said. Both tout research in arguing that early childhood education produces a good return on investment for the U.S. economy. They are proponents that the nation should invest in early childhood the same way it invests in first grade and up. Similarly, Bloom maintains neuroscience has played an important role in establishing the importance of early childhood
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