Considerations for States & Concluding Thoughts

As the ECE field continues to work towards professionalization, higher education needs to be accessible for prospective and current educators so that we are building up the workforce instead of keeping people out. Based on the findings of our working group, here are the top three takeaways states should be thinking about to support this work:

1. Bring together stakeholders—including faculty, policy experts, and practitioners—to identify solutions to barriers that students and IHEs face. Our working group identified numerous barriers that IHEs face to serving the ECE workforce before narrowing down to the five discussed in this paper. States could benefit from identifying which barriers are most pressing for their IHEs and bring together the necessary groups to explore solutions. The relevant parties will differ based on the problem stakeholders are trying to solve and which entities in the state are able to influence it. It is particularly important that faculty members have a seat at the table.
2. Establish grant programs to spur innovation and collaboration around these and other barriers. Once states have identified the barriers their IHEs face to serving the ECE workforce, they can award grants to IHEs to implement potential solutions or to third parties, such as nonprofits trying to expand, change, or implement a program across institutions. Depending on the state's processes and circumstances, various funding sources may be provided to support such grants, including general appropriations to an institution or budget line-items for a project. One area that states would be wise to invest in is faculty recruitment and development, as more research is needed to find additional promising practices, especially for efforts specific to ECE.
3. Dedicate more funding to higher education and adjust state rules for federal programs to better align with student needs. Increased funding for higher education can improve program quality and lower the cost of attendance. Funding directed to early educator preparation programs can address the particular needs facing this population, such as offering course materials in languages other than English. Funding is especially important as all states face massive budget shortfalls in the wake of COVID-19. But stakeholders should also be mindful that states likely already have access to federal funds that could be better leveraged to support the ECE workforce. For instance, the federal government allows states to set guidelines around which parental activities (work, education, or training) qualify for child care assistance under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). States determine how student-friendly eligibility is. Kentucky, for example, reformed its CCDBG guidelines in 2018 to allow higher education students to be eligible for child care assistance without needing to also meet a work requirement.¹

The coronavirus pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for the ECE and higher education sectors and this is the time to explore innovative solutions. Institutions and families are experiencing high levels of instability. Many early childhood educators have left the field, making it critical that there are efficient and effective ways to support a pipeline to produce well-educated early childhood professionals. Now more than ever, advocates, policymakers, practitioners, and students need to work together to use the resources at hand. Flexibility will be key to ensuring that IHEs can continue to effectively prepare early educators. Many of them have already found ways to offer courses and clinical experiences that they would have deemed impossible one year ago. There may be lessons learned from how governments and IHEs respond to this crisis that we can take into the recovery period and beyond.