Home » For Grantees » Past Convenings » National Conference on the Early Care and Education Profession
In recent years, the Alliance for Early Success has invested in and grown a network of state advocates and national experts who are producing research and communications resources and developing and implementing state strategies to advance the early care and education (ECE) profession. In 2019, we brought these organizations together, along with state leaders and early childhood educators from beyond the Alliance network, at a national conference about how to better support and advance the ECE profession.
This conference provided an opportunity for state leaders, advocates, national experts, and early childhood educators to engage each other on their diverse views about what’s needed to create an ECE profession that is well-prepared, supported and compensated, and possesses the competencies and diversity that help them serve young children and their families effectively and equitably. Our goals were to:
8:30 – Registration
10:00 – Welcome
10:30-11:30 – Opening Plenary Panel with Early Childhood Educators: Seeing the Future of the Profession through the Eyes of Today’s Educators
The field of early care and education has been doing a lot of advocating for the profession, and less of advocating with. Where do current early childhood educators see the profession in 50 years? What strengths do they treasure? What improvements do they think are critical to make? What will it take for them to be truly engaged in this journey of transformation with advocates, researchers, higher education faculty, and policymakers?
12:00-1:15 – Lunch
1:30-2:45 – Breakout Sessions
Building Systems That Help Family Child Care Thrive: A New Framework
Resources:
Examining Quality in Family Child Care: An Evaluation of All Our Kin
The Economic Impact of the All Our Kin Family Child Care Tool Kit Licensing Program
A Strength-Based Approach: Increasing Health and Safety in Family Child Care
Moving the Needle on Early Childhood Workforce Compensation: State Teams in Action
Resources:
T.E.A.C.H. Moving the Needle Compensation Initiative
Florida Child Care WAGE$® Incentive Scale
Rising up to Increase Opportunities for the Professionalization of the Early Childhood Workforce
Stories from the EarlyEdU Alliance: Lowering Barriers to Higher Education and Strengthening the EC Workforce
Resources:
EarlyEdU Fact Sheet
Increasing Access to Credits that Count and Degrees that Matter
Using Higher Education Data to Inform Practice, Policy, and Advocacy
Resources:
Early Childhood Higher Education Inventory
3:15-4:30 – Breakout Sessions
Compensation, Retention, & Recruitment: Program, Community, Policy & Systems Innovations in Colorado
Resources:
Denver Preschool Program 2018 Report
Colorado Early Childhood Workforce Survey 2017 Key Findings
Colorado Early Childhood Workforce Survey 2017 Executive Summary
Transforming the Early Childhood Workforce in Colorado – 2018 Grantee Report Summary
Educator Voice is “No Small Matter”
Increasing Teacher Compensation – How Do We Get There?
Resources:
Supporting States Policy Strategy to Improve the Early Care and Education Workforce
Consensus Statement on Early Childhood Educator Compensation (IL)
Early Childhood Educator Compensation: Literature and Landscape Scan
Washington’s Compensation Initiatives
Overcoming the ECE Workforce Data Deficit to Improve Policy
Resources:
The Workforce Data Deficit: Who It Harms and How It Can Be Overcome
Illinois’ Early Childhood Education Workforce: 2017 Report
Illinois 2017 Salary and Staffing Survey of Licensed Child Care Facilities
Quality for All: Towards Unified Standards and Competencies, Effective Professional Preparation, and Equitable Access to Higher Education
5:30 – Reception
8:00 – Breakfast
9:00-10:00 – Plenary Panel with Policymakers: Making the Political Case for Investing in the ECE Profession
After decades of focused advocacy and research on early childhood development, it is common today for policymakers and elected official on both sides of the aisle to express support for ECE programs. This support has often translated to bipartisan agreements on funding, at both the state and federal levels. However, as much as elected officials profess their belief in the early years, we have not been able to move the needle very much on policies and investments that promote the competence and well-being of early childhood educators. Through this plenary session, we will hear directly from elected officials and their staff on how advocates and early childhood educators can make a more compelling case for investing in the workforce.
10:30-11:45 – Breakout Sessions
Equity for California’s ECE Workforce: Supporting Diversity Using Provider Voice
Resources:
A Framework for Equity and Access in the Workforce
Exploring Innovations in Higher Education to Better Support Early Childhood Educators
Resources:
How Can We Help Higher Ed Strengthen Early Ed?
Central New Mexico Community College’s Early Childhood Mentor Network
San Francisco State University’s EDVance Program
Upskilling Virginia’s Early Learning Workforce
If Not Us, Then Who? Educator Voice in Advocacy, Policy ,and Making a Difference!
Promoting Equity & Success in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation through Competency-Based Education
Resources:
ECE Career Lattice
Map of ECE Credential Entitled Institutions
Competency Timeline
Using Refundable Tax Credits to Improve Professional Development and Increase Wages
Resources:
Colorado HB 19-1005 Early Childhood Educator Tax Credit
Colorado 2019 Child-Related Tax Credits
CED The Workforce Investment Credit Executive Summary
CED The Workforce Investment Credit Infographic
CED Child Care in State Economies Economic Impact Infographic
MN ECE Refundable Tax Credit Infographic
State Tax Credit Examples NC Early Childhood Foundation Summary
12:00-1:15 – Lunch
1:30-2:30 – State Team Reflection and Planning Time (with national organizations as facilitators/consultants)
2:30-3:30 – What’s Next? A Discussion About How to Grow the Movement
The Alliance is grateful for the support of the Early Educator Investment Collaborative for their generous funding, and the planning committee for this conference:
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