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Strategic Objective
Effective Workforce
Strategic Objective
Progress Update
Securing a well-trained and properly supported early learning workforce is an essential element of high-quality early learning programs. Significant headway has been made in describing and conceptualizing what teachers do in the classroom that results in learning, which is a critical first step in getting teachers into those positions.
On April 1, 2015, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council (NRC) released Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation, which was commissioned by both the Departments of Education and HHS and four philanthropic foundations. The study explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children birth through age 8. The committee found that much is known about how children learn and develop, as well as the qualifications of the early childhood workforce and the supports they need. However, this knowledge is not fully reflected in the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, and the qualifications and professional learning that is most effective.
The IOM/NRC Study outlines a blueprint for action based on 13 recommendations for local, state, and national governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropic funders, and the business sector to support improvements to the quality of professional practice for early learning professionals who work with children from birth through age 8 and the environments in which they work. The study makes recommendations on improving the quality of the early learning workforce, including higher levels of education such as a bachelor’s degree for lead educators, qualifications based more strongly on competencies and knowledge, and the use of evidence-based practices and strategies. Additionally, the study recommends fair compensation to recognize the professionalization of the workforce, as well as other improved supports for educators in their work environments. In the months following the release, additional communication materials were developed and distributed to the field through conferences, webinars, meetings, and in-service trainings.
ELC states are creating quality professional development systems to improve the skills of current and aspiring early learning teachers, directors, and assistant teachers. Fourteen ELC states are specifically working to provide and expand access to professional development opportunities that are aligned with their Workforce Knowledge and Competency Framework and that tightly link training with professional development approaches, such as coaching and mentoring (CO, DE, GA, KY, MD, MN, NJ, NM, OH, OR, PA, RI, WA, and WI). These states are also using incentives, such as scholarships, compensation and wage supplements, tiered reimbursement rates, other financial incentives and strategies to promote professional improvement and career advancement. These other strategies include management opportunities, and they promote professional improvement and career advancement along an articulated career pathway that is based on the state’s Workforce Knowledge and Competency Framework. Fifteen ELC states are working to support educators in improving their knowledge, skills and abilities (CA, CO, DE, GA, IL, MD, MA, MI, MN, NM, NC, OR, PA, RI, VT).
The Preschool Development Grants program sets a high bar for workforce quality in the 18 grantee states. High-quality preschool programs require, for example, high staff qualifications, including a teacher with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a bachelor’s degree in any field with a state-approved alternate pathway, which may include coursework, clinical practice, and evidence of knowledge of content and pedagogy relating to early childhood, and teaching assistants with appropriate credentials. In addition, instructional staff salaries are required to be comparable to the salaries of local K-12 instructional staff, and programs must provide high-quality professional development for all staff.
Four states (Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, and Oregon) are finishing up working with the OSEP-funded Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC). This work centered on enhancing the personnel system within the states to ensure that personnel have the knowledge and skills to provide services to young children with disabilities and their families. These states developed and are implementing a plan to align their personnel standards with national professional organization personnel standards; develop partnerships with universities and community colleges to ensure that their curriculum is aligned to state personnel standards and to support better alignment between pre-service preparation and in-service professional development; and implement evidence-based practices within in-service professional development. ECPC is in the process of selecting four more states to work with over the next two years. In addition to providing intensive TA with states, ECPC held Leadership Institutes for 20 states. These Leadership Institutes provides strategies for Part C and Part B, section 619 coordinators and leaders within early childhood agencies to work together to develop the workforce so that they have the competencies to serve young children with disabilities and their families. Additionally, ECPC has facilitated national professional organizations coming together to identify a set of competencies that personnel need to serve young children with disabilities. Those organizations include including DEC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the American Occupational Therapy Association, and the American Physical Therapy Association. Through this work, DEC and NAEYC are in the process of developing an agreement to align their personnel standards. During the fiscal year OSEP, also funded 7 new awards to universities to prepare personnel to work in early intervention and early childhood special education.
