Paula Jorde Bloom, founder of the McCormick Center, was recently featured in the fall 2014 edition of the National Louis University Alumni Magazine. The edition bears the title “Celebrating the Past, Inspiring the Future.” After 30 years of dedicated service to early childhood leadership, Bloom retired from NLU in August.
The article, “Leading the Leaders,” highlights Bloom’s contributions to professionalizing the field:
“When Paula Jorde Bloom, Ph.D., fell in love with early childhood education around 1970, people who wanted to work in the field needed very little education and training. Center directors, who manage the responsibilities of budgets, staff, parent relationships and small children, didn’t even need a B.A.
As Bloom retires this fall and also celebrates 30 years of teaching at National Louis University, many early childhood center directors and teachers around the nation are credentialed, many receive abundant professional development, and many states have quality standards for early childhood education.”