CDA® Investor Impact Series

MaryEllen Lyles:

Thoughts on Destiny and the Horizons CDA® and Degree Program

There’s a group of bronze statues in the Boston Public Garden that holds a special place in MaryEllen’s heart. It shows the mother duck and eight ducklings who are portrayed in Robert McCloskey’s classic children’s book, Make Way for Ducklings. “My mom read the book to me and brought me to see the statues when I was growing up,” MaryEllen recalls. “She took pictures of me pretending to feed the ducks, and the book became a central part of my childhood as I came to love learning and books. It also played a role in my career since my mom gave me a copy of the book and a photo of me feeding the ducks when I took my first teaching job. Since then, I have always seen that as a full-circle moment, affirming that my path to the early learning field was predestined.”

MaryEllen’s sense of destiny has brought her to Bright Horizons where she serves as senior manager of professional development, she explains. “My role is to support our Bright Horizons CDA and ECE degree program, which provides a 100 percent, no-cost Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™, associate degree or bachelor’s degree in ECE. We have our own CDA® program which we deliver internally and work with partner colleges for AA and BA degrees. We also provide all program participants with tutoring support, success coaching, and academic advising throughout their educational journey to support their individual success as a student.”

MaryEllen’s own journey in the education field began 30 years ago teaching kindergarten, first and eventually second grade. “I thought that was my long-term destiny,” she recalls, “but I looked to new horizons after moving close to Washington, DC. I began teaching preschool, where I found my love for early childhood learning. I spent several years working in early childhood classrooms and eventually transitioned into center operations. I had the privilege of working in a variety of center operations positions, as well as at the National Association for the Education of Young Children, before joining Bright Horizons as a regional manager in 2017.”

This vast experience made MaryEllen aware of the “close connection between teacher training and classroom outcomes for children,” she explains. And that’s the focus of her current role, which she took on two years ago. “The work I do now puts me in a privileged position because I’m able to support early childhood practitioners and leaders as lifelong learners who can reach their educational goals. We believe children benefit from educators who continuously learn and become more advanced in their teaching skills and child development knowledge.”

The Bright Horizons, internally referred to as Horizons, program that she oversees has a distinct feature that makes it stand out from other professional development programs, MaryEllen says. “The difference is that Horizons is not a typical tuition reimbursement program. It pays all the costs upfront, and our company had good reason for setting the program up that way in 2009. Bright Horizons knew that educators tend not to take full advantage of tuition reimbursement programs, so it decided to set up the program in a way that would make more sense and remove barriers that many face when pursuing postsecondary education.”

And since the program began, it has provided opportunities to people who never thought they’d have a chance to pursue a degree or credential, MaryEllen adds. “The company wasn’t simply offering an educational benefit to check a box. Bright Horizons set out to help every educator earn a degree, recognizing that education is one of the most powerful ways to improve career and life outcomes.”

That includes close to 4,000 people who have earned a CDA, a cause for celebration as MaryEllen points out. “The CDA has an endless value since it benefits both educators and the students they serve. The credential gives teachers the bedrock knowledge they need to work effectively in the classroom. It also gives them the confidence to keep broadening their horizons by earning a degree and continuing to build their careers in the early childhood field.”

As the educators look to advance, they can also count on Bright Horizons for assistance. “We provide a career framework that outlines the different opportunities and options for growth within our organization,” MaryEllen explains. “It helps all employees understand where their roles fit within our company structure and helps them build rewarding careers in the classroom and beyond.”

Their path to success often starts with the CDA, and MaryEllen oversees the Bright Horizons CDA specialists who are delivering the CDA program. “Our team at Bright Horizons works closely with CDA students, both in cohorts and one-on-one,” she says. “We are fully invested in anyone who is going through the CDA program. So, we give them the help they need along the way, from completing the CDA coursework to building the portfolio and applying for the credential, as well as helping them balance being working students.”

Bright Horizons is also looking for ways to support educators better, MaryEllen says. “We’re trying to minimize the roadblocks our people face when they pursue an education while working full-time. We believe removing barriers to education is our responsibility. We owe it to our educators who commit  their professional life to this incredibly important work. We help our teachers, especially those earning a CDA, balance the work of the CDA program by breaking down their weekly assignments into small increments they can do daily instead of all at one time. We help them think about study skills and time management to ensure success within the program.”

This nurturing approach has allowed many people to pursue paths they never imagined, including an educator and mom of four who recently came to MaryEllen’s attention. “Lisa was part of the cleaning crew at a center, and the center director saw that she had potential to work well with children. Lisa had no experience in the  early childhood field, but her eyes lit up when the director told her about the CDA and Horizons program. Lisa went to work at the center two years ago, earned her CDA in 2023 and is now pursuing her associate degree. So is her 18-year-old son, who previously had no interest in college but was stirred by his mom’s dedication to education.”

His horizons are brighter because of the Horizons program, and the story of this young man and his mom is not unique, MaryEllen points out. “We’ve had several educators  who had been out of school for 20 to 30 years when they came to work for us and then they took advantage of the program to earn their college degree. We have had teachers who are the first members of their family to pursue higher education. And we have also had teachers who never considered making early childhood education a long-term career but changed their minds after earning a CDA. So, the Horizons program has made a major impact by changing the lives of many Bright Horizons employees. One of our slogans is that the lives you change should include your own, and we really mean it.”

MaryEllen and her colleagues at Bright Horizons are also making an impact on the broader field of early learning through the National Center for Early Education Excellence. “The center’s mission is to support the early learning field beyond Bright Horizons,” as MaryEllen explains. “It bridges the gap between research and practice to improve the lives of children, families and educators outside the walls of our own programs. This means going beyond simply getting research into the hands of practitioners, families, and decision-makers. We also translate this research into practical formats and suggestions that engage, equip, and empower those who have daily, real-life interactions with young children.”

This goal also led Bright Horizons to launch the Spark Summit, a unique virtual event that connects prominent researchers with educators and families who care for and support young children. Now in its second year, the summit addresses key topics like learning through play, developmental milestones, developmentally appropriate practice, social-emotional development and classroom/learning space design. Key tips and tools dealing with these topics, and more, are available on two tracks—one for educators and one for families—that attendees can access at a time and pace that suits their schedules. They come away with cutting-edge knowledge of ways to care for young children even better.

And the Spark Summit with its high-profile thought leaders and research-based agenda is a sign of how far the early childhood field has come since MaryEllen had her first job as a teacher three decades ago. “I feel privileged to have watched early childhood education grow into a profession,” she says, “and I’m proud to have played a small role in the progress of the field. Now I want to keep opening new avenues for our early childhood teachers. I want more people to participate in our program so every educator at Bright Horizons has a CDA or a degree,” she says looking ahead.

MaryEllen considers this dream part of the destiny she envisioned for herself as a child while playing in the Boston Public Garden. She still has her copy of Make Way for Ducklings and the photo her mom took of her feeding the bronze ducks. MaryEllen has read McCloskey’s classic to her own children, as well as the children she served in her early years as a teacher. And the early sense of mission she drew from the book has brought her to a place where she has a broad impact on the early childhood field. At Bright Horizons, MaryEllen now makes way for early childhood teachers to advance.