Mary Kay Rodgers, Ph.D.

Project Manager III
Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies

mkrodgers@coe.ufl.edu

Biography 

Mary Kay Rodgers, Ph.D., joined the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies in 2023 as Project Coordinator III for Florida’s landmark initiative, the Early Learning Informal Career Pathway. In this role, she leads the design, research and stakeholder engagement efforts involved in building this career pathway through developed partnerships with Florida’s Division of Early Learning, Department of Children and Families, Early Learning Coalitions, Early Learning Organizations and, most importantly, Florida’s early childhood providers.

Before joining the Center, Dr. Rodgers worked as Senior Manager for Research and Evaluation at the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning and is also Founder and Principal of WorkFlo Educational Consulting, where she provided strategic research, evaluation and instructional design services to national partners. This experience provided a strong foundation in qualitative research methodology, systems-level stakeholder engagement and early learning policy and program design, which she now applies to her work at the Center.

Dr. Rodgers earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum, Teaching and Teacher Education from the University of Florida, with a focus on Teacher Education, Professional Learning and Teacher Leadership. Her professional interests include early childhood policy and workforce development, instructional coaching and qualitative research methodology.

Dr. Rodgers is also personally committed to her philanthropic mission of alleviating hardships for families suffering from pediatric cancer. She serves on the boards of several local and national support organizations and is President of the Fight Like Flo Foundation in honor of her daughter, Kylie. Dr. Rodgers believes that systems change to benefit children’s and families’ growth and well-being is possible only through the vision and voices of stakeholders, and she is excited to be part of a team committed to advancing excellence in early childhood education by building a stronger, more supported early learning workforce in Florida and beyond.

Selected Publications

Qiu, Y., Leite, W.L., Rodgers, M.K., & Hagler, N. (2021). Construct validation of an innovative observational child assessment system: Teaching Strategies GOLD® birth through third grade edition. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 56, 41–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.02.005

Rodgers, M.K., Vescio, V., Burns, J., & Gibbs, L. (2018).  Coaching as supervision: a transformative method to promote clinically rich teacher education.  In D. Hoppey & D. Yendol-Hoppy (Eds.), Outcomes of High-Quality Clinically Rich Teacher Education (pp. 63-84). Information Age Publishing.