Evidence for the importance of career pathways and ladders in the early childhood field continues to be produced through academic and policy research. In a new report entitled Early Learning Career Pathways Initiative: Credentialing in the Early Care and Education Field, the authors describe the federal pathways framework used by several agencies and how the elements of that framework can help the early childhood workforce.
The need for well-educated and credentialed early childhood professionals is only growing as the number of state-funded preschool and early childhood programs continues to increase. Over 360,000 job openings for child care workers, preschool teachers, and preschool teachers with bachelor’s degrees will be available from 2012-2022. This provides a rich opportunity for states to create opportunities for early childhood educators to enter, advance, and remain in the field. Statewide initiatives such as workforce registries and quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) and effective tools to achieve the goal of a high quality workforce.
New York is one of the 39 states across the country who have launched a QRIS (QUALITYstarsNY) and one of 42 states with an early childhood workforce registry (The Aspire Registry). The New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute is at the forefront of this work, actively involved in these and other initiatives. In identifying career pathways, supporting individuals in their career choices, and focusing on higher education, the Institute continues to advance the field of early childhood through teacher preparation and beyond.