Training Partners

ANNE MEEKER WATSON, Ph.D., MT-BC is the founder of the SING.PLAY.LOVE. program. Through her writing, product development, and workshops, she shares information about the benefits of music and play to support early learning and kindergarten readiness and gives easy and practical strategies for embedding both into the daily lives of young children. Her program is being used all over the country and across the globe, most recently making its debut in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Anne has taught music to students from preschool through college levels. She received the Excellence in Teaching award given by the Learning Exchange, Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, and the Kansas City Star. She was a commission member of the Vision 2020 Housewright Symposium on the Future of Music Education sponsored by the Music Educators National Conference.

Anne’s specific research interest is the use of music for helping with the social-emotional and communication skills of young children. She was invited to share her work on social-emotional development at the National Training Institute Addressing Young Children with Challenging Behaviors.

Her research on music to support early language was published in the International Journal for Research in Music Education. She is the author of the popular Baby Sing & Sign book series (Perseus Books Group) and SING & SIGN for Young Children: A Guide for Early Childhood Professionals (Brookes Publishing, 2021).

Anne is a frequent trainer and presenter across the country, including conference presentations for the National Center for Parents as Teachers, National Head Start Association, Division of Early Childhood, Zero to Three, NAEYC Institute, the National Association for Music Education, and the American Music Therapy Association.

Her music for children earned National Association of Parenting Publications and Parent’s Choice Honors awards.

Tom is an author and consultant focusing on early childhood education. He has authored several articles, resources, chapters and a book relating with an emphasis on state level early childhood systems, governance, collaboration efforts, social emotional development and equity. He consults with two national Head Start technical assistance centers, the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health and Safety (as a state systems content expert) and the National Center for Parent, Family and Community Engagement (supporting father and male caregiver engagement). He has also consulted with the Pyramid Model Consortium. He is co-author of Saving Play: Addressing Standards through Play-Based Learning in Preschool and Kindergarten and his second book, Creativity in Young Children: What Science Tells Us and Our Hearts Know, will be published in 2025 by Redleaf Press.

He was the Head Start State Collaboration Office Coordinator with the Iowa Department of Education, a position he held 18 years along with a brief stint as the state coordinator for Even Start. He retired in March 2020. As Collaboration Office coordinator, he helped design and lead various statewide Head Start collaboration initiatives including Early Childhood Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, multi-tiered systems of support, oral health services, support for dual language learners, hearing screening, smoking cessation, health literacy, promoting nutrition and physical activity, promoting equity within early childhood services, and expanding inclusive opportunities for children with special needs. Through his tenure at the Collaboration Office, he maintained active leadership roles in Iowa’s Early Childhood Advisory Council and early childhood system building work.

Tom has a BS in Speech from Northwestern University, an MBA from the University of Iowa and is has completed coursework for a PhD from Kent State University in special education/early intervention. He is a frequent presenter at state, regional, and national conferences.

Karen Surprenant has spent her entire career in Head Start in both direct services as a Head Start Director and in the national Training and Technical Assistance network as a Program Management and Governance Specialist. Karen has developed a wide range of resources to support grantees in the areas of leadership, program planning, data utilization and ERSEA. Ms. Surprenant provides training on a wide array of topics including program governance, board development, program management, ERSEA (serves as a resource on a national level for updates to key information) as well as topics to numerous to list. Her experience as a trainer includes direct service training to programs, state and national level training and in partnership with other key content area experts.  

With over twenty years as a past Head Start director, Karen is a trained an experienced federal reviewer and helps programs prepare for the monitoring process. Ms. Surprenant has extensive experience working with Boards and Policy Councils, and understands the importance of providing the training and technical assistance needed to empower teams to ensure they have the resources needed to make informed decision-making. 

Karen has held leadership roles with Head Start state and regional association boards. She earned a master’s in educational leadership from Bridgewater State University and a bachelor’s in elementary education and psychology from UMass Dartmouth. Ms. Surprenant is currently a monitoring reviewer and works independently as a trainer/consultant, available to discuss your organization’s specific training needs.