The Creative Curriculum for Preschool: Foundation

Diane Trister Dodge
Diane Trister Dodge, MS, is the founder and president of Teaching Strategies, LLC. She is the lead author of The Creative Curriculum^® and many other Teaching Strategies resources. She has been a preschool and kindergarten teacher; served as the education coordinator for Head Start and child care programs in Mississippi and Washington, D.C.; and directed national projects in education and human services. Diane served on the Governing Board of NAEYC (1990–1994) and the Center for the Child Care Workforce (1995–2002), and was a member of the D.C. Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Early Childhood Development (1984–2009). In 2004, she received the Bank Street College Alumni Association Recognition Award for outstanding accomplishments in the field of education. In 2010, Diane was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame for her lifetime contributions to education.

Kai-lee Berke Kai-leé Berke, MA, is the vice president of curriculum and assessment at Teaching Strategies. She has taught and cared for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners in public, private, and Department of Defense programs. Before joining Teaching Strategies she was the program administrator for a multisite preschool organization. In addition to her local and national work as an early childhood trainer and consultant, she has served as an adjunct faculty member at Honolulu Community College and Pacific Oaks College. She is a co-author of many Teaching Strategies resources, including the Teaching Strategies GOLD^® assessment system; The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool; The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos; and A Trainer's Guide to The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos.

Toni Bickart
Toni Bickart, MS, is co-author of Teaching Strategies' newest products: The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool and the Teaching Strategies GOLD^® assessment system. She is also a co-author of Building the Primary Classroom; Math Right From the Start; Reading Right From the Start; and What Every Parent Needs to Know About 1st, 2nd & 3rd Grades. During more than 18 years at Teaching Strategies, she has been responsible for product development and production and provided professional development services, keynote speeches, and workshops at schools around the country.

Diane C. Burts

Diane C. Burts, EdD, is a former preschool, Head Start, kindergarten, and university teacher, as well as professor emeritus of human ecology at Louisiana State University. She is former director of the LSU Preschool Laboratory, Grace Drews Lehmann professor, and division head of family, child, and consumer sciences. She was the endowed chair and director of the Emma Eccles Jones Center for Early Childhood Education at Utah State University. Dr. Burts is co-editor of the book Integrated Curriculum and Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Birth to Age Eight.

Laura Colker
Laura J. Colker, EdD, is an early childhood education author and trainer. She has co-authored The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool, The Creative Curriculum for Family Child Care, and The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum assessment systems. In addition to writing curricula, she has designed training materials, assessment programs, and instructional videos for teachers, supervisory staff, and families. Currently she serves as a contributing editor on NAEYC’s journal for preschool teachers, Teaching Young Children. Dr. Colker has taught courses on child development issues throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Juanita Copley
Juanita Copley, PhD, served as a consultant for the National Head Start Bureau in Washington, D.C., working with their new mathematics initiative for young children. She was a professor and chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, in the College of Education at the University of Houston and a program coordinator of early childhood in that college. She has written and edited five books about early childhood mathematics, including The Young Child and Mathematics (author), Showcasing Mathematics for the Young Child (author and editor), Mathematics in the Early Years (editor), and Mathematics: The Creative Curriculum^® Approach (co-author).

Judith Dighe
Judith Dighe is an early childhood consultant working with Head Start and child care programs. She has more than 25 years’ experience as a teacher and education specialist with the Head Start/Prekindergarten Unit, Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools. She has written articles for Young Children and other publications and is a frequent presenter at local and national workshops and conferences.

Cate Heroman

Cate Heroman, MEd, has worked in the field of education for over 35 years. She has been a preschool and kindergarten teacher as well as an administrator at the Louisiana Department of Education, providing leadership, training, technical assistance, and support in the areas of early childhood and elementary education. She is a co-author of many Teaching Strategies resources, including the Teaching Strategies GOLD^® assessment system; The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool; The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum Assessment Toolkit for Ages 3–5; Helping Children Rebound: Strategies for Preschool Teachers After the 2005 Hurricanes; Building Your Baby’s Brain; Literacy: The Creative Curriculum Approach, and numerous others.

Candy Jones
Candy Jones, MEd, has worked in the field of early childhood education for 32 years. She is an author of A Trainer’s Guide to the Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool; Literacy: The Creative Curriculum Approach; A Trainer’s Guide to the Creative Curriculum for Preschool, Volume II, Literacy; and Mathematics: The Creative Curriculum Approach. She is an experienced trainer; former preschool, kindergarten, and primary grade teacher; and state early childhood specialist for the Louisiana Department of Education.