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ERIC Number: ED614624
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Aug
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Professional Development Incentives for Oregon's Early Childhood Education Workforce: A Randomized Study. REL 2021-111
Pierson, Ashley; Cannon, Jill; Perera, Rachel; Mihaly, Kata; LeMahieu, Rebekah
Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest
Many states seek to increase the education levels of their early childhood education (ECE) workforce to improve the quality of care for children. Oregon encourages all ECE workforce members to sign up for a career lattice, a career pathway system that helps them determine goals related to increasing their education. The state also offers incentives for reaching specific steps in the career lattice and scholarships for college credit and community-based training. This study used two randomized controlled trials in 2018 and 2019 to test whether sending emails and offering different financial incentives to Oregon ECE workforce members increased career lattice sign-up and increased education and training levels or workplace retention. The study found that sending emails encouraging career lattice sign-up had no detectable impact on career lattice sign-up or workplace retention. Sending emails offering a monetary incentive at an earlier-than-usual step on the career lattice had a positive impact on training hours recorded but no detectable impact on career lattice movement, college credit hours earned, or workplace retention. Sending emails about automatic enrollment in a scholarship program had no detectable impact on scholarship use, career lattice movement, college credit hours earned, or workplace retention. Lastly, after participants were randomly assigned to study groups, the email campaigns were implemented as planned, reaching all intended participants, although the interventions ended sooner than planned because of a state policy change. The findings suggest that low-touch interventions such as emails have promise for increasing training hours but are not sufficient to induce changes in career lattice sign-up, continuing postsecondary education, or workplace retention for Oregon ECE workforce members. These results have implications for future research, in addition to demonstrating how better messaging and supports can mitigate barriers to further education and training and how email campaigns can be leveraged for workforce communication efforts. This information is particularly relevant for state agencies and education and training providers. [For the Study Snapshot, see ED614625. For the appendixes, see ED614626.]
Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest. Available from: Institute of Education Sciences. 550 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20202. Tel: 202-245-6940; Web site: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northwest/index.asp
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) (ED/IES); Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest (ED); Education Northwest
Identifiers - Location: Oregon
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: EDIES17C0009
What Works Clearinghouse Reviewed: Does Not Meet Evidence Standards