Workgroups
Professional Development Cohorts for Head Start Leaders
Head Start Leader - are you seeking a quality, ongoing professional development opportunity?
Acorn Workgroups are for you! Apply for membership in a cohort of like-minded professionals just like YOU to get the support you need to run your program effectively.
Acorn's Head Start and Early Head Start Workgroups are cohort-based professional development opportunities for leaders who want to work as a group to "skill up", in order to provide the best possible leadership for their teams and their programs.
Currently, we offer two workgroups:
- Executive Director Workgroup - for those with overall responsibility for the entire program.
- Head Start Leader Workgroup - for those with direct responsibility for a content area (ex: education, family engagement, ERSEA, health, etc) and/or a managerial component of the program (ex: center director, site supervisor, assistant director, etc).
Workgroups are made up of 12-15 individuals that meet together twice per month for ninety minutes via Zoom. Meetings are mandatory, and members are expected to attend without distraction.
In 2025, Workgroups launch in April, with an initial minimum commitment of April - December 2025, with an option for renewal in 2026. To join, candidates apply for admission, and selections are made by our Acorn Workgroup Team to assemble groups based on current role, experience, and interests. Spaces are limited, and we encourage you to apply. We look forward to meeting you and learning more together!
Acorn Workgroup Lead
Stuart Jones is Founder and CEO at Acorn Evaluation and the lead designer for the Acorn Workgroups. He is the lead instructor for The Academy at NHSA's Data Literacy Credential, and a member of several similar cohort-based professional development groups, and is the facilitator of the Acorn Executive Director Workgroup.