In 2021, California committed to making transitional kindergarten (TK)--a school-based preschool program initially designed for older 4-year-olds--available for all 4-year-olds by 2025-26. As TK becomes universal, California will need to greatly expand the early learning workforce. This brief provides estimates of how many TK teachers California…

Gender-transformative pre-primary education requires a coherent system that integrates gender considerations across all its core components for a quality service delivery. This brief presents a set of tools to support policymakers and/or practitioners to progress towards gender-transformative pre-primary education policy and programming, organized…

Access to pre-primary education has increased significantly in the past two decades and, as of today, boys and girls are participating equally. However, despite this gender parity in access, the pre-primary education system does not always deliver on its potential to tackle gender inequalities and address harmful gender stereotypes and norms. In…

After an active election season, State of the State addresses offer time for new and incumbent governors to outline policy priorities and celebrate state accomplishments. Since 2005, we've tracked, analyzed and identified education policy trends in governors' State of the State addresses to help you understand trending education issues across…

A key goal of preschool to high school education is to ensure that students are "future-ready"--with the knowledge, skills, and drive to navigate their careers and lives. But the future is rapidly shifting. This report reframes what it means for students to be future-ready. To be future-ready, students need academic knowledge, training,…

This article highlights two competency-based coaching and mentoring models for the incumbent infant-toddler workforce, designed and implemented at two Illinois institutions of higher education. Each model has been intentionally developed with an antibias and equity lens, focused on cultivating a diverse workforce of practitioners through…

The pandemic hit the already vulnerable early childhood education (ECE) workforce especially hard, causing almost 40 percent of child care providers to shut their doors and many teachers to lose their jobs. In 2021, enrollment in state-funded preschool also dropped for the first time in 20 years--a nearly 20 percent decline that erased a decade of…

The COVID-19 crisis has been a nearly unprecedented disruption to American education at all levels. Disruptions to early childhood learning have also been widespread. Public pre-K programs attended by 1.6 million children nationwide were closed to help stop the community spread of COVID-19. Roughly one-third of children under age five typically…

The early childhood educator workforce has widely ranging credentials and degrees, qualifications and compensation, typically varying by setting. Yet, there is a national call for aligning and strengthening requirements for preparation of the early childhood workforce to ensure that young children thrive and reach their potential at each stage in…

Mainstreaming gender within pre-primary education is a priority in tackling gender-related inequalities from the early years. Such mainstreaming requires the commitment of a variety of stakeholders within the education system and beyond, including different units within education ministries, pre-service and in-service teacher training providers,…

In the years immediately preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and philanthropists recognized the pressing need to build and strengthen the early care and education (ECE) workforce. Evidence documenting the relationship between early childhood educator professional preparation and children's outcomes spurred a growing…

The 'Spotlight on the Many Voices of the Early Childhood Workforce' Solutions Summit was held on 11 December 2018 as an official side event of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) Partners' Forum in New Delhi, India. The aim of the Summit was to place a spotlight on and develop solutions for the diverse early childhood…

New evidence at the intersection of neurobiology, developmental science, and economics carries vast implications for how the responsibilities, skills, and qualities of children's early childhood teachers are thought about: (1) their influence on early brain and behavioral development; (2) their responsibility for managing many children's first…

This summary describes how an early childhood workforce investment credit, modeled after the Louisiana school readiness tax credit, rewards professional development for child care providers and can foster the quality early childhood education (ECE) workforce necessary to promote children's learning and school readiness. Quality child care matters…

For the first time, the nation's most important federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), prominently features early childhood education. State and local leaders now have ample flexibility and opportunity to focus on early education as a foundational element of ESSA while advancing their state's vision and goals for early…