Leveling the Playing Field for Early Educators as They Pursue Degrees: Ensuring Strategies Address Issues of Equity and Diversity
This webinar was presented during the BUILD 2021 National Conference.
As the expectations for degreed early childhood educators increase, effective strategies and supports are needed to ensure that the field does not lose its rich diversity. This session will include a presentation on what the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Initiative is doing to assure equity of access to both scholarships and debt-free degree completion. Participants will hear from T.E.A.C.H. program representatives from NC, WI, and the District of Columbia about how they are making this happen on the ground and the results they are seeing.
Presenters: Marsha Basloe and Edith Locke, Child Care Services Association; Nar Doumbya, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association; Cemeré James, National Black Child Development Institute
Resources:
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BUILD23 JEDI Leaders
Fact Sheet November 22, 2023
The document summarizes the work being done by organizations focused on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Career Pathways
Report November 15, 2023
This brief focuses on the ways that states are using PDG B-5 grant funding to create and sustain career pathways in the early care and education field. “Career pathways” are broadly defined here, referring to a wide range of activities that support prospective and current early educators in advancing in the profession. States’ initiatives span an early educator’s complete career trajectory, from strategies to recruit new candidates into the profession to initiatives that create new specializations for educators who want to propel their careers further.
Financing Highlights
Report November 1, 2023
PDG B-5 Planning and Renewal Grants are being used by states across a wide range of content areas in the early childhood care and education system, and in a variety of ways. The federal funding provides a systems framework and seeks to offer flexibility within that framework. States are using the federal funding to build capacity, create infrastructure, provide direct services, and pilot work that is new for them. This work is occurring within a broad framework provided by the federal government. This brief explores the choices that PDG B-5 grantees plan for the use of the financing provided, which has impact on the overall ECCE systems that they are building and implementing. Within PDG B-5, states had to demonstrate how they would allocate the financial resources available across required and discretionary activity categories. We can learn about their priorities from a look at the choices that they made.