The Council Table Podcast

Evolution, Not Revolution: How Servant Leadership Transforms an Organization

What does it take to transform an organization? In this solo episode, Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr., walks through the leadership decisions that shaped the Council for Professional Recognition into the organization it is today — from building a culture of servant leadership to reimagining the CDA credentialing process. Honest, reflective, and grounded in decades of ECE leadership across the classroom, the center, the state, and the federal level.

What Brilliant Teachers Know About Themselves with Dr. Dina Walker-DeVose

What makes a teacher truly excellent? Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr. sits down with Dr. Dina Walker-DeVose, professor at Georgia Southern University, for a conversation about cultural wisdom, teacher identity, and what it takes to build authentic connections with every child in the classroom. Through the framework of exposure, experience, and empathy, Dr. Dina invites educators to do the reflective work that transforms competent teaching into brilliant teaching. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Men Don't Leave. They're Never Made to Feel Welcome with Dr. William L. White & Simeon Lehmann

The statistic is stubborn. Two to three percent of early childhood educators are men, and when you remove kindergarten and first-grade teachers, it is even more dire. Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr. sits down with Dr. William White and Simeon Lehmann for a conversation about the protective factors that allow men to enter, persist, and belong in early childhood education. From mentorship and critical mass to the narratives that keep men from ever considering the field, this episode makes the case that recruiting men is only half the work — the field has to be built to keep them. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Child Care Is Not a Coffee Shop: Why Early Childhood Education Deserves Public Investment with Erica Phillips

The myths are costing the field more than we realize. Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr. sits down with Erica Phillips, Executive Director of the National Association for Family Child Care, for a conversation about the misguided narratives that shape how society values and funds early childhood education. From the babysitting myth to the economics of family child care programs subsidizing quality out of their own pockets, Erica brings the data, the stories, and the case for treating child care less like a coffee shop and more like the public infrastructure it actually is.

America Has a Broken Childcare System — And Educators Are Paying the Price With Susan Gale Perry

America says it values early childhood education. The compensation data tells a different story. Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr. sits down with Susan Gale Perry, CEO of Child Care Aware of America, for an honest conversation about what it truly costs educators to work inside a fractured system and what it will take to build something better. From the racial and gender dynamics underlying decades of devaluation to the difference between patching a broken system and building real infrastructure, Susan brings the policy expertise and the candor the field needs to hear. Subscribe and never miss an episode.