Current Early Care and Education (ECE) and School-Age and Youth (SAY) Initiatives
Periodically in this e-newsletter we provide updates on key professional development initiatives taking place in Illinois. Additional information and updates about each initiative are available on the Gateways Web site.
Who’s Caring for the Kids Report: The Status of the Early Childhood Workforce in Illinois—2008
A report updating the status of the early childhood workforce in Illinois will soon be released. Who’s Caring for the Kids: The Status of the Early Childhood Workforce in Illinois—2008 sheds light on the landscape of early childhood professional development in Illinois and how it has changed in the years since the initial report was published in 2001.
Findings included in the 2008 edition of Who’s Caring for the Kids are based on surveys completed during the spring of 2008 by 800 lead teachers and 400 directors in child care programs throughout the state, as well as 150 PreK teachers in public school settings with Preschool for All funding.
Following are a few highlights from the 2008 report shared by Susan Fowler, a professor of special education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a principal author of the report. Reflections on how the 2008 report differs from findings in the 2001 report are included.
A coherent professional development system is in place today.
A significant change in the professional development landscape since the 2001 Who’s Caring for the Kids report is the presence of a coherent system for initial preparation and ongoing professional development for staff in early care and education programs—Gateways to Opportunity. One resource available through Gateways is a career lattice, which illustrates the specific training and education needed to take advantage of the many early care and education opportunities in Illinois. A Training Registry is also nearing completion through Gateways, which will allow early care and education professionals to track their professional attainments and trainings. And many financial resources are available through Gateways to Opportunity to help practitioners pay for their education, credentials, and accreditation, and improve the quality of their programs. Gateways to Opportunity was not part of the professional development landscape in 2001.
Education levels have improved in some cases.
The education levels of lead teachers in community-based programs have increased since 2001. In 2001, about one-third of the lead teachers had BA degrees. Survey responses suggest that today nearly one-half have BA degrees. The 2008 report shows us that education matters. Three-quarters of the lead teachers without Type 04 teacher certification, whether they have a BA or not, report that they would like to continue their education to complete their degree or obtain certification. Education levels have not increased, however, in infant/toddler settings, where survey responses indicate that only one-third of lead teachers have a BA.
Salaries and benefits remain central to employment decisions.
One area that has sadly remained the same between the 2001 and 2008 reports is that teachers and assistant teachers in child care continue to be among the lowest paid of all professions. What has changed is that more certified positions are available for preschool teachers because of Preschool for All (PFA) positions, which offer higher salaries and benefits—including retirement benefits—which are seldom part of compensation packages in child care. The 2008 report indicates that compensation levels (wages and benefits) are attracting teachers with Type 04 certification away from community-based programs as more positions open up in public school PFA-funded programs.
Disconnect exists between the background of teachers and the children they serve.
The 2008 report indicates that our early care and education teachers and practitioners are not representative of the demographics of the changing population in Illinois. Teachers often do not speak more than one language, even though 23% of young children in the state are English language learners (ELLs). Another disconnect uncovered in the 2008 report is that 70% of the lead teachers in community-based settings and 88% of public school teachers identify themselves as white, even though only 57% of young children in the state are white. Another element of the diversity disconnect is in the area of special needs. Over 53,000 children birth to age 5 in Illinois have developmental delays or disabilities, and many are enrolled in family child care or community-based early care and education centers. Unfortunately, few providers in these centers have an endorsement in special education at the early childhood level or much experience with this population.
Opportunities for professional development are still needed.
A high interest was expressed in the 2008 report in continuing professional development, both in formal and informal ways; however, many practitioners indicated difficulty continuing their formal, college-bound professional development because courses weren’t affordable or available at times or locations they could access. The report includes professional development recommendations for statewide groups and institutions of higher education. The report also calls for systemic change through state government.
The report calls on statewide groups to increase scholarship support and offer incentives aimed at increasing language and cultural diversity in the early childhood field. The report recommends that higher education develop more flexible program models, recruit more early childhood teachers who speak Spanish and other languages, and develop certificates combining bilingual competence with early childhood education. The report recommends embedding professional development credentials in state rule making and attaching the state’s tiered reimbursement rates to levels of professional credentials. All of these recommendations point to the critical importance of the mentoring available through Gateways Professional Development Advisors (PDAs).
Copies of Who’s Caring for the Kids: The Status of the Early Childhood Workforce in Illinois—2008 will be available on the Gateways Web site and the National-Louis University McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership Web site. The expected release date is early December.
Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program
In the fall of 2008, the new Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program replaced the former T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® scholarship program. The Gateways Scholarship Program is an individual-based scholarship opportunity for practitioners working in early care and education. The program provides financial assistance for early childhood education and child development (ECE/CD) coursework and degrees offered through participating colleges and universities. The Gateways Scholarship Program is administered by the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (INCCRRA) and funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS).
To be eligible for the Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program, practitioners must be working in an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) licensed full-day, full-year child care center, Head Start, or family/group child care home or an IDCFS licensed full-year school-age child care program. Applicants must be caring for Illinois children (positions without direct contact with children are not eligible for the scholarship program), have been employed at their current center or home—working at least 15 hours per week—for a minimum of six months, and must commit to work in early care and education. The work commitment period is based on the scholarship type that participants receive.
The Gateways Scholarship Program pays a percentage of the cost of tuition, fees, and books based on the practitioner’s income. For example, currently, the Gateways Scholarship Program will pay 90% of the tuition, fees, and books if the practitioner’s hourly wage is $12.50 or less. The Gateways Scholarship Program will pay 80% of the costs if the practitioner’s hourly wage is between $12.50 and $15.00, and so on.
Scholarship participants may also receive a cash bonus based on their cumulative grade point average and on their completion of work commitment in early care and education, depending on scholarship type.
Find out more about the bonuses, eligibility requirements, and work commitment obligations for participating in the Gateways Scholarship Program.
The following resources and resource links have been added to the Web site since the last issue of Inside Gateways.
Research Reports
Build Supply of Quality Care: Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care
Research-Based Rationale
http://www.clasp.org/publications/cp_rationale13.htm
Credentials for the Infant/Toddler Child Care Workforce: A Technical Assistance Tool for Child Care and Development Fund Administrators
http://www.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/ITC_TA_Tool.pdf?docID=4245
Designing Quality Rating Systems Inclusive of Infants and Toddlers
http://www.nccic.org/itcc/PDFdocs/qrsdesignelements.pdf
Impacts of Early Childhood Programs
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2008/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2008/09_early_programs_isaacs/09_early_programs_isaacs.pdf
Infants and Toddlers in Child Care
http://www.clasp.org/publications/ztt_clasp_federal.pdf
Preschool Curriculum Decision-Making: Dimensions to Consider
http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/12.pdf
Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications
http://epicpolicy.org/files/PB-Barnett-EARLY-ED_FINAL.pdf
Proven Benefits of Early Childhood Intervention: Proven Results, Future Promise
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~scpp/nat_allies/na_archive.cfm?nrID=171
Quality of Childcare Affects Language Development
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~scpp/nat_allies/na_archive.cfm?nrID=216
Relationship of English-Only to Young Children’s Social and Language Skills
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~scpp/nat_allies/na_archive.cfm?nrID=224
Role, Relevance, Reinvention: Higher Education in the Field of Early Care and Education
http://cayl.org/files/Role%20Relevance%20Reinvention.pdf
State-Funded Preschool and Home-Based Child Care: The Community Connections Model
http://www.actforchildren.org/files/reports/AFC_CCM_low.pdf
Title I and Early Childhood Programs: A Look at Investments in the NCLB Era
http://www.clasp.org/publications/ccee_paper2.pdf
Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2009
http://www.preknow.org/documents/LegislativeReport_Sept2008.pdf
Walking the Walk: A Guide to Diversity Resources for Trainers
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~walkingthewalk/pdfs/WTW_guide.pdf
Workforce Designs: A Policy Blueprint for State Early Childhood Professional Development Systems
http://www.naeyc.org/policy/ecwsi/pdf/Workforce_Designs.pdf
Advocacy
Illinois State Board of Elections
http://www.elections.il.gov/
National Association for the Education of Young Children: Public Policy
http://www.naeyc.org/policy/
Ounce of Prevention Fund Action Center
http://advocacy.ounceofprevention.org/site/PageServer
Training
Ounce of Prevention
http://www.ounceofprevention.org/user_cate.php