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 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 of 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, Mary Kay worked as the Senior Manager for Research and Evaluation at UF’s Lastinger Center for Learning and is also the 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. Mary Kay holds a Ph.D. 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.

Mary Kay is also personally committed to her philanthropic mission of alleviating hardships for families suffering from pediatric cancer and is on the board of several local and national support organizations, and is the President of the Fight Like Flo Foundation in honor of her daughter Kylie. Mary Kay believes that any systems change to benefit children’s and families growth and well-being is only possible through the vision and voices of stakeholders, and is excited to be part of a team that is committed to advancing excellence in early childhood education through 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.