Maurice Sykes

Maurice Sykes is the Executive Director of the Early Childhood Leadership Institute at the University of the District of Columbia’s Center for Urban Education. Maurice formerly served as the Deputy Superintendent for the District of Columbia Public School’s Center for Systemic Educational Change as well as the Director of Early Childhood Programs. He has served as an advisor to the US Department of Education’s Urban Initiative Staff on educational policy and programs related to urban school improvement. He also served as a national fellow at the Institute for Educational Leadership and in subsequent years coordinated the DC State Fellowship Program. He previously held a joint appointment at Tufts University where he served as the Director of the Tufts University Educational Day Care Center and as Lecturer in the Elliott-Pearson Department of Child Study. In 1997, Maurice was profiled as an Early Childhood Champion in a national study by the National Association of State Boards of Education and was elected to the Governing Board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in 1999.

Maurice has written for numerous publications and has traveled nationwide inspiring and challenging schools and communities to do the right thing for children. In his recent book Doing The Right Thing for Children: Eight Qualities of Leadership he summarizes how the leadership traits he possess have guided his career focus on advocacy for high-quality early childhood programs, K-12 school reform, and the professional development and recognition of teachers and other individuals in the field of early childhood education.