But earning higher education credentials also takes time, effort and money (both from students themselves and from public financial aid
programs). Public policies that demand more training for early educators
must also ensure that credentials lead to a competitive wage (which
likely requires increased public funding for preschool programs and more
help for parents with child care costs) and make them better teachers.
Unfortunately, we know very little about the quality or effectiveness of most existing early educator preparation programs. Most
teachers in child care settings don't have bachelor's degrees, but over
half complete some form of postsecondary education, often at community
colleges. We know very little about the experience or outcomes for many
of these students, however. Increasingly, publicly funded preschool
programs require teachers to have either state teacher certification or a
bachelor's degree in early childhood or a related field. Yet training
that leads to these credentials may not match the skills early childhood
teachers need. Many early childhood bachelor's programs, for example,
weren't designed to prepare students to work as classroom teachers, but
in higher-paying roles in research or early intervention. As a result,
they often provide little or no student teaching experience and don't
cover key pedagogical and classroom management skills teachers need. On
the flip side, some state teacher certifications cover such a wide range
of grades (such as Texas' pre-K to grade 6 teaching credential) that
candidates don't get enough specialized training to work with
preschool-aged children.
Moreover, there's very little data or research about the outcomes of different early childhood preparation programs or approaches. Few
states track completion rates for early childhood preparation programs,
the rate at which graduates enter and remain in the field, settings they
work in or their effectiveness in the classroom. This means we don't
know if some community colleges or four-year colleges are doing a better
job of preparing early childhood teachers than others. Without such
knowledge, it's hard to replicate effective practices or help programs
get better.
To ensure that increased training for early educators leads to better results for kids, we need to be more intentional about quality
and support increased innovation in the field. Simply extending down the
existing K-12 teacher certification regime – which has its own problems
– won't achieve this. Seven years ago, Kevin Carey and I argued that
states should create new systems of competency-based, stackable
credentials for early childhood educators. Our point was not that early
childhood educators shouldn't get bachelor's degrees (both of us
appreciate the value of teachers with a Bachelor of Arts degree), but
that existing higher education and credential structures are not well
designed for this purpose, and we need new, better pathways.
By and large, that's still the case today. Yet innovative models are emerging. EarlyEdU Alliance, a higher education collaboration for Head
Start and early childhood training, offers one example. It developed a
set of high-quality, competency based courses that focus on effective
teaching practice, are based in research, and integrate coaching. Dozens
of higher education institutions, as well as states and community
stakeholders, have joined the Alliance to extend these courses to early
educators seeking degrees.
