Professional Development Centers
Western Massachusetts
We offer professional development and learning, and program development and quality improvement training for licensed early care and education programs and early educators working in our region. We also provide consultation for family child care owners and out-of-school time and center directors and administrators. Please be in touch with us if you are interested in working with a skilled coach offering support for all aspects of managing an ECE business including curriculum development and improvement, professional development and training for staff, and meeting the social, emotional, and educational needs of families and children. Additional training opportunities can be found on our online training page.
Western Massachusetts Staff
Kimm Quinlan
StrongStart Western Mass PDC Coordinator
Biography:
Kimm Quinlan has worked in the field of early education and care for the past 25 years. Like many people she began as an afternoon teacher and worked her way up to director. After directing a full-day, full-year head start program for a number of years she was fortunate enough to begin supporting others in the early education field as an accreditation coach. This coaching work progress from accreditation through QRIS and a variety of other early childhood topics. In addition to coaching and consultation Kimm also provided training and facilitated professional learning communities for early education professionals.
Currently Kimm is the Director of Early Childhood Grant Initiatives at Holyoke Community College overseeing the implementation of both a Career Pathways Collaboration with Berkshire and Greenfield Community Colleges as well as the Western MA Professional Development Center for the StrongStart Training and Technical Assistance grant.
Liz Charland-Tait
StrongStart Western Professional Development Center Lead Coach
Liz Charland-Tait has been working in the Early Childhood field for 30 years. She has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Montana and a Master's of Early Childhood Education from San Francisco State University. She has served as a Lead Teacher in Infant/Toddler & Preschool classrooms, as an Early Head Start Infant Toddler Specialist, a Center Based Director for a private non-profit program in California and a Head Start/Early Head Start program in Massachusetts. Liz has supported numerous programs as they navigated the QRIS system. She consults with & mentors program owners and their leadership teams, as well as creates and facilitates trainings for the field. Liz is the StrongStart Western Professional Development Center Lead Coach. What inspires and motivates Liz is the power of connection and collaboration. One of the many quotes that drives Liz in her work is by Robert John Meehan, “The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other. Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives.” What Liz loves most about her work are the myriad of opportunities she has to partner and create with dedicated educators in the field. When she is not working you will find her romping in the woods with her children, Miles and Nina, and their sweet dog, Walker.
Amanda Thayer
Western PDC Training Specialist
Amanda Thayer, Early Childhood Grants Administrator at Holyoke Community College has worked in the field of early education for over twenty-five years. She has a Bachelor’s degree with a concentration in Computer Science from Franklin Pierce University, a Master’s of Early Education from Elm’s College and Post-Masters certification in Behavior Intervention from the University of Massachusetts. Her experience covers a wide range of responsibilities; educator for children from infant through school age as well as, being an administrator for center based, family child care and Head Start programs. At HCC she is supporting the implementation of both the Career Pathways and the StrongStart Training and Technical Assistance grants. In her StrongStart role as the Training Specialist for the Western PDC she focuses on planning professional development opportunities to meet the ever-changing needs of the early education field. Prior to working for Holyoke Community College, she had the privilege of working for the MA Department of Early Education and Care as both the Program Quality Specialist and the Group and School Age Licensor Supervisor.
Contact Information
For additional information on the Western MA PDC or to inquire about coaching services, contact westernpdc@hcc.edu or contact a Western MA PDC staff member.
Kimm Quinlan, Director of Early Childhood Initiatives, KQuinlan@HCC.edu or 413-552-2215
Amanda Thayer, Early Childhood Initiatives Program Administrator, AThayer@HCC.edu or 413-552-2594
Liz Charland-Tait, Lead Coach, ECharlandTait@HCC.edu or 413-552-2591
Link: Holyoke Community College (HCC) Zoomcast Focuses On Early Education
Coaching: We also provide coaching for family childcare owners and out-of-school time and center directors and administrators. Please be in touch with us if you are interested in working with a skilled coach offering support for all aspects of managing an ECE business including curriculum development and improvement, professional development and training for staff, and meeting the social, emotional, and educational needs of families and children.
The More We Get Together: Conversations That Build Bridges in Early Education is a seven-part Zoomcast hosted by Western MA early education partners Sheila Gould and Western MA PDC Lead Coach Liz Charland-Tait, who along with their guests explore and examine the intricacies of early childhood education. Check out Ep. 1: "Intro to the Wild West: How This Came to Be & What to Expect From Us"
This episode also features Western MA PDC Coordinator Kimm Quinlan