Data and Policy

Many national organizations are investing significant resources to develop comprehensive data sets and/or recommended policy frameworks that address the challenges in the early education profession on a national scale.

Inside this Resource Center

Four New Policy Briefs

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® National Center — This series of briefs informs and provides recommendations for policymakers, programs, advocates, and other stakeholders in early childhood, higher education, and workforce development systems for a strong early childhood workforce. The briefs include information related to the following areas:
Career Pathways: Supporting Early Childhood Educators;
Affordability, Accessibility, Support and Compensation: Higher Education and the Early Childhood Workforce;
Retaining Educated Early Childhood Educators;
Creating Equity for and within the Early Childhood Workforce
(Partially Alliance Funded) (July 2021)

The Early Childhood Workforce Index: 2020

Center for the Study of Childcare Employment — The Early Childhood Workforce Index is a biennial report that describes early childhood employment conditions and policies on a state-by-state basis. Providing states with periodic appraisals of their efforts based on measurable status and policy indicators, the Index is aimed at encouraging states to step up their efforts to address persistent workforce challenges. (Partially Alliance Funded) (March 2021)

Supporting Early Educator Degree Attainment

New America -- In 2019, with support from the Alliance for Early Success, New America convened the Supporting Early Educator Degree Attainment working group to delve into the barriers institutions of higher education (IHEs) face to serving and preparing early educators and to explore opportunities for reform. The group selected five pressing barriers, identified promising practices to address those barriers, and then examined the policy and institutional levers needed for broader reform. This paper presents the working group’s findings and shines a light on 11 of the bright spots that already exist in IHEs around the country. (Alliance Funded) (October 2020)

Power to the Profession

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) — NAEYC's Power to the Profession Task Force has released its Unifying Framework, which reflects the consensus of 15 national organizations and is the result of this multi-year, profession-led effort. It is based on the recommendations from the series of eight Power to the Profession decision cycles and demonstrates how they all come together to advance a unified, diverse, equitable, and effective early childhood education profession. (Alliance Funded) (November 2019)