Holly Seplocha

Professor of early childhood education, William Paterson University

Holly Seplocha, EdD, has worked for more than 40 years as a teacher, administrator, university professor, teacher educator, consultant, researcher, presenter, and advocate for children and families. She is Professor Emerita of early childhood education at William Paterson University and an Early Childhood consultant. Holly is a recognized leader in the early childhood community and has made hundreds of presentations for teachers, parents, and administrators locally, nationally, and abroad. She has authored a variety of articles on leadership, diversity, parent involvement, literacy, and technology. Holly is highly reliable and has completed hundreds of classroom observations using ECERS-3 and ECERS-R, trained and brought others to reliability, and worked with countless teachers, coaches, and administrators to improve the quality of their early childhood programs. 

Holly is also the project director of the NJ Center for Quality Ratings housed at WPU, working with the New Jersey Department of Education to design and implement a system for rating the quality of preschool programs across the state. She recently completed a video series for the NJDOE for use in teacher training on the NJ Preschool Classroom Teaching Guidelines, which she also developed for NJDOE. She was also the project director of the Early Learning Improvement Consortium, working with the NJDOE to develop, implement, and train trainers in an authentic assessment system for literacy linked to New Jersey preschool and kindergarten standards, and to conduct statewide evaluations of preschool and kindergarten classrooms using ECERS. 

Holly is a former National Early Childhood Teacher Educator of the Year and was named one of 125 Distinguished Alumni of Wheelock College for their 125th-year anniversary. She is an active member of NAEYC, serving as a consulting editor for Young Children, and regularly as a featured presenter at NAEYC conferences. Holly willingly shares her knowledge, her passion, her wit, and her optimism. She is a lively and engaging presenter and writer whose goal is to impact classroom practice and children’s learning by scaffolding directors, supervisors, coaches, teachers, and parents to grow and reflect, as they explore best practices for young children.