Ideal Learning 101:
Seeing and Strengthening What Is Already Possible in Head Start
with Dr. Tobi Adejumo, Liz Hartline, and Miriam Sutton of Trust for Learning
Who is Tobi Adejumo?
Head Start programs already hold many of the values at the heart of ideal learning environments: strong relationships, respect for families, attention to the whole child, and responsiveness to local community context. This session offers participants a chance to step back, name those strengths, and consider how they can be made more visible and more intentional in daily practice. Using the Principles of Ideal Learning Environments as a shared language for reflection, participants will explore what children need to thrive and how those needs can be supported in Head Start settings. Rather than presenting ideal learning as something separate from Head Start, this session will focus on the ways programs may already be doing this work and where there may be room to grow, adapt, or try something new. Participants will also hear directly from examples of Head Start programs that are actively working to create and sustain ideal learning environments. These examples will center real, on-the-ground practice, including how programs navigate day-to-day logistics, communicate their approach within their agencies, and work within Head Start systems, such as funding requirements and documentation processes.
Who is Miriam Sutton?
Tobi Adejumo, Ph.D., is the Director of Movement Building at Trust for Learning, where she leads communication, coalition-building, and outreach efforts to expand ideal learning environments for young children. She also manages the Trust’s Head Start portfolio and supports the continued growth of the Ideal Learning Head Start Network. Tobi works with early childhood leaders, educators, and partners to share resources, strengthen practice, and advance systems change. She holds a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Colorado Denver and teaches courses on family engagement and child ecology. Her research focuses on early educators’ working conditions and well-being, early childhood quality, child outcomes, kindergarten transitions, and bilingual children. She is especially interested in improving access to high-quality early care and education for immigrant families and other communities that have been historically underserved.
Who is Liz Hartline?
Liz Hartline is the Director of Workforce Initiatives at the Bank Street Education Center, where she leads projects that focus on educator well being and supporting early childhood leaders. She has been in the world of progressive early childhood education for almost twenty years, and has worked as a Head Start teacher, a center director, and as an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood at a community college. In her current role, she is the Co-Director of the Ideal Learning Head Start Network.
Miriam Sutton is Chief Operating Officer of Friends Center for Children in New Haven, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the institution’s four early care and education facilities. Miriam has more than two decades of experience working with young children and families, and first came to Friends Center as a parent. Her career at Friends Center began as an Emotional Well-Being Coordinator responsible for providing individualized services to children, families and teachers. Miriam is trained in trauma-informed care for families with children up to age five. Miriam was part of the Friends Center team that won the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2024 Zaentz Early Education Innovation Challenge Audience Choice award. Her passion and expertise in early care and education stem from her understanding of how essential those early years are to children’s future health and well-being. Miriam’s experience in early care and education fuels her ongoing work, creating environments where children learn to honor differences and treat others with dignity. She believes that high-quality child care means building a community around a child. In a 2023 Hartford Courant opinion piece, “Connecticut can't afford to let our child care system fail,” Miriam conveys her perspective as an educator and a parent, calling on Connecticut officials to secure federal funding for the early care and education system. Miriam serves as a co-chair of the Ideal Learning Head Start Network Practice Committee, a national group of early care and education leaders strengthening pedagogical practices across diverse childcare settings. She is co-chair of the New Haven Early Childhood Strategic Plan quality workgroup. She is also a founding board member of Wealth Beacon Group Foundation, a New Haven, Connecticut-based non-profit working to bridge families from being unhoused to becoming homeowners. Miriam holds a degree in early childhood education from Gateway Community College and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in human services from Albertus Magnus College. Miriam is married with two children and enjoys family gatherings, music, watching crime mysteries, and exploring pottery.