Enhancing the early literacy of the nation's children is now a goal shared by parents, educators, and policymakers alike. Fundamental to this goal is a workforce of early childhood educators who are themselves literate: able to become well-informed about child development, to organize learning strategies for young children, to assess children's progress, and to offer the language-rich environments in which children thrive. Yet there have been no systematic studies of the literacy of the early care and education workforce and its role in fostering the early learning environments that the nation's political, economic and education leaders are calling for so urgently. It is a small leap to speculate that the quality of caregiver-child verbal interactions and literacy-building activities would be affected by the adult's language and literacy skills. This report, which examines the literacy levels of early childhood educators in Alameda County, California, provides initial evidence bearing on the important, but missing link between adult English literacy skills and children's literacy environments. (Contains 4 endnotes and 5 figures.) [This report was produced by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.]