Meet Dan Haggard
After 22 years, Dan has recently retired as the Deputy Director responsible for the development of statewide early care and education systems within the Early Childhood Services Division of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department in Santa Fe. This includes New Mexico PreK, Home Visiting, professional development, and quality child care initiatives.
As an “advocrat” within state government, Dan worked strategically
to create and fund a comprehensive, high-quality, continuum of early childhood programs that are equitably available to each child – especially those most at risk. He has led the establishment of public policy and financing strategies tat provide professional development opportunities and equitable compensation for the early childhood workforce.
Prior to working for state government, Dan had a range of experiences, including training early childhood teachers in the Peace Corps, leading the development of early childhood education programs on the Navajo Reservation, administering the state's largest early childhood special education program, and serving as the Head of an independent school for children in preschool through grade eight.
Throughout his career, Dan was influenced by his undergraduate study of children's growth and development across cultures. This was solidified by his sophomore year at Bangalore University in India and his senior year at the Merrill Palmer Institute in inner-city Detroit. The greatest lasting impact, though, was his graduate work at Bank Street College, where he was profoundly impacted by the philosophical and theoretical foundations of the Developmental Interaction Approach. This influenced not only his work in the classroom, but was applied to his administrative and public policy responsibilities throughout his career. This includes the adoption of Bank Street's Developmental- Interaction Approach as the curricular approach for all state-funded early childhood education programs in the state of New Mexico. https://www.newmexicokids.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/02/NM_early_childhood_care_and_education_programs_curricular_approach.pdf
In 2017, Dan was honored by the Bank Street College Alumni Association and was given an alumni award
For Outstanding Accomplishments in the Field of Education
Thank you BSCAA for this recognition of my work.
It was a great honor to be one of four candidates running for two positions on the NAEYC Governing Board.
Your support was greatly appreciated.
Southwest Education Resources
Dan created Southwest Education Resources in response to requests for consultation services as well as his participation and assistance in systems-building and professional development initiatives throughout the United States and internationally.
"Building integrated early childhood systems - one child at a time."
