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Educational Supports and Pathways

Welcome to the October issue of Workforce Wednesday! We are excited by the continued collaboration among the National Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Center and other federally funded technical assistance and research partners who work in support of the ECE workforce. This Eblast shares resources and strategies related to qualifications and educational supports for the ECE workforce. To receive future Eblasts, information about upcoming webinars, and other updates from the National ECE Workforce Center, please sign up for our email list:

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Innovation Spotlight

Learn about a promising initiative in the field to inspire ideas and innovation for your unique context.

The Early Childhood Career Development Center at the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute supports nearly 17,000 early childhood professionals and aspiring early childhood educators throughout New York State. The Career Development Center has played a vital role in helping prospective early childhood educators navigate both traditional and non-traditional pathways to teacher certification and credentials. Almost 70 percent of the Career Development Center’s clients are over the age of 30, work full time, and head a single-income household with children; nearly one-third hold international degrees or high school diplomas. The Career Development Center has also worked with New York State colleges to recognize the competency-based Child Development Associate (CDA) credential issued by the Council of Professional Recognition.

To learn more about the NY Early Childhood Professional Development Institute and read testimonials of their impact, please visit https://earlychildhoodny.org/

Innovative Examples

Learn how states, territories, and Tribes are providing supports for ECE professionals to obtain credentials and other qualifications.

Kentucky is working to recognize ECE as a “high demand field” to facilitate access to the Work Ready Scholarships to support educational attainment. This scholarship program is funded, in part, by the Kentucky lottery and works in partnership with numerous institutes of higher education across the state.
Navajo Technical University recently launched the first Tribal College Ph.D. program with the goal of developing leaders for Diné culture and language sustainability in education and other sectors. This new, first of its kind terminal degree program expands ECE pathways supported by Navajo Technical University including its work through the Tribal College and University Head Start Partnership Programs. In case you missed it, you can learn more about other ECE educational pathway supports provided by Navajo Technical University on this previous webinar hosted by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). [The TCU-Head Start Partnership program invests in degrees and credentials for staff in American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Head Start programs. ACF recently announced an increase in investments in TCUs to $8 million per year which will result in more than 700 tribal educators graduating with a degree in early childhood by 2028.]
Through its 16 regional Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs), Illinois funds higher education navigators to partner with over 60 community colleges and universities to connect ECE workforce members with higher education programs and get credit for previous experience and skills. Community-based navigators provide personalized assistance to early childhood educators in finding higher education programs to meet their needs and provide support through the application, enrollment, and financial aid processes. Navigators have the flexibility to meet with providers and their staff during days and times that work within their schedules to help them plan for advancing their careers in early care and education including by identifying institutional program offerings that will fit with the schedules of working adults. During the 2021-2022 academic year, 412 students enrolled in higher education programs and received approximately $5.7 million in scholarship assistance. Click here to learn more about the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity’s Higher Education Navigators.
Massachusetts’s Department of Early Education and Care has developed multiple strategies aimed at creating systems of support for the diverse population of educators. This system promotes the entry of new educators into the profession and supports current ECE professionals to enter and continue along the higher education pathway. The Professional Pathways program is one strategy designed to help educators, program leaders and providers in building a well-qualified and stable workforce to meet the needs of families. Participants receive free early childhood coursework, books, tutoring, advising and technical support. In partnership with the Urban College of Boston, the professional pathways program was able to offer 42 courses in four different languages including Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Mandarin, with community colleges tailoring offerings to their local communities. From FY 2019-2022, 7,429 educators received support from the Career pathways grant. More than 400 educators completed their CDA credential and over 2,000 educators completed ECE credential programs for Preschool Teacher, Director I or II and Infant Toddler.
In addition to state efforts in Massachusetts, the City of Boston is investing in efforts to increase the number of credentialed ECE professionals. This partnership with several institutes of higher education supports new and current educators in attaining credentials ranging from CDAs to Bachelor level degrees, preparing participants to work across the range of ECE delivery systems.

What We're Reading Now

Read about the importance of supporting ECE professionals in their efforts to pursue training and education.

A blog by The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment sheds light on the unevenness around expectations for ECE workforce qualifications and the mismatch between educator skills and children’s needs.
A Learning Policy Institute brief describes ECE workforce strategies and pathways to meet the increased demand in California for Transitional Kindergarten and the field at large. The brief also offers recommendations to help stabilize, support, and expand the entire ECE workforce. The full report can be found here.
The Early Educator Investment Collaborative engaged School Readiness Consulting to develop a learning community to foster peer learning and collective problem solving among their grantees. A report from this effort describes the strategies grantees used for systems change, as well as their reflections on next steps and sustainability of their efforts.
ZERO TO THREE’s Critical Competencies resources translate evidence-based knowledge into practice in support of systems that service infants and toddlers. These competencies can serve as guidance to states, local programs, and institutions of higher education in the development of credentials and educational pathways specific to the infant toddler workforce.

Upcoming Events

Council for Professional Recognition is offering a free webinar series on Educator Pathways. Find more information and register here.
The National ECE Workforce Center is offering a series of webinars designed to support ECE leaders in transforming policies and programs in support of the ECE workforce. The webinars, titled the Foundational Technical Assistance Series, will continue November 27th, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (EDT) Find more information and register here.
Stay tuned: National ECE Workforce Center will be launching a Recruitment and Retention Campaign this winter.

For the latest information on the ECE workforce and to sign up for upcoming events, please visit the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center website.

If you have questions or requests about the National ECE Workforce Center, please email us at workforcecenter@childtrends.org.

This work is funded by The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) through a financial assistance award (Award Number 90TA000004-01- 00) totaling $30 million over five years (2022-2027) with 100 percent funded by ACF. Resources and products developed by the National ECE Workforce Center do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, ACF, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit the ACF website, Administrative and National Policy Requirements.