About Me:
Bonnie Bonifield
I’ve been in the early childhood field for more than 20 years. I’ve been a tutor, a teacher, a trainer, a curriculum and program developer, and a project manager. I spent 6 years managing early childhood programming at a national level, aligning curricula, instructional practices, and educator requirements with standards and regulations in more than thirty states, giving me a broad view of the complex national landscape of early childhood systems. I’ve developed and overseen the development of new curricula and curriculum components, planned and managed the concept-to-rollout state-wide comprehensive revision of educational standards, and developed professional learning and rollout plans for a variety of projects. I have a strong track record of successful stakeholder engagement, focus group management, and planning and executing project pilots. These experiences helped hone my ability to walk the tightrope of big picture thinking alongside detail-oriented planning, and to adapt my strategies and approach to suit the needs of my partners and our mutual goals.
Recent Projects
May 2021 to April 2023
Project Management | Michigan Department of Education | Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Birth to Kindergarten
Led the comprehensive review and comprehensive restructuring and writing of Michigan’s state-wide Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Birth to Kindergarten approved by the Michigan State Board of Education in Nov. 2022:
- Recruited 72 stakeholders from throughout the state of Michigan, including parents, teachers, and others from all levels of the early childhood field.
- Organized participants into 2 subcommittees (Revision and Review) and then further organized the Revision Subcommittee into 5 rotating focus groups for topic-specific research and writing.
- Organized and facilitated 92 working meetings over the course of a year using a participatory decision-making model to ensure all stakeholders felt welcome to fully participate.
- Managed the state-standardized Public Comment process, including state-wide communication, surveys, and in-depth revision process.
- Developed and delivered 3 introductory presentations/workshops at the Michigan AEYC Annual Conference with Richard Lower of the Michigan Department of Education for early childhood program providers, practitioners, and teacher educators.
- Recruited a small group of committee members to serve as an advisory and selection committee, to evaluate responses to Requests for Proposal and select vendors for online professional learning module development and digital edition design.
- Led the projects to develop an online professional learning overview module and a fully functional digital edition of the standards.
August 2015 to May 2020
Content/Program Development | Project Management | Program Management | Learning Care Group | Grow Fit Yoga, Spotlight on Spanish, Grow Fit Yoga Sprouts!, Grow Fit Yoga Sprouts Baby!, Spotlight on Phonics, etc.
Developed 7 extra-curricular programs in 4 years, including 3 built for simultaneous release in 2019.
- 5 ancillary-revenue programs designed as 3 10-week semesters.
- Generated over 2.5MM in recurring revenue with nearly 10,000 students enrolled in the first two years of implementation.
- Each program included family engagement materials and built-in marketing plans.
- Grow Fit Yoga (2017) – simple yoga poses and mindfulness exercises for preschoolers.
- Spotlight on Spanish (2017) – basic Spanish oral language skills for preschoolers. NOTE: In 2019, I developed a revised edition with a 4th 10-week semester.
- Grow Fit Yoga Sprouts! (2019) – developed in response to lobbying from parents and center directors, simple yoga poses and mindfulness exercises for toddlers and twos.
- Grow Fit Yoga Sprouts Baby! (2019) – “baby and me” program of simple movements and yoga poses for caregivers to explore with infants and toddlers.
- Spotlight on Phonics (2019) – early literacy and reading skills, including a 3-stage process to increase story comprehension. Included 6 original books written using the high-frequency words focused on during each semester.
2 included-with-tuition programs designed with 4 1-week themes:
- Enrichment Matters (2015) – focused on cooking, manners, art, and community service. Included 4 original children’s picture books in digital format.
- Curiosity Cadets (2018) – updated version of the 2015 Enrichment Matters programming specific to the Everbrook Academy brand.
Partnered with specialists in VPK (Florida) and UPK (Georgia) programs to support teachers and administrators using ancillary-revenue programming in alignment with state regulations.