APPENDIX

APPENDIX (PDF)  Dear Colleague Letter (PDF)

 

Examples of State & Local ECE Workforce Recruitment & Retention Strategies

Improve child care subsidy payment rates to providers

  • Louisiana made substantial increases in the subsidy rates paid to child care programs. Infant rates in center-based child care increased from the 40th to the 85th percentile. Toddler rates increased from the 31st to the 75th percentile and preschool rates increased from the 25th to the 80th percentile. In family child care settings, rates increased to the 85th percentile of the market rate for infant care and toddler and preschool rates meet or exceed the recommended federal benchmark of the 75th percentile. Further, Louisiana used 2020 price and cost study results Visit disclaimer page, including data collected on the impact of the pandemic and other emergencies, to improve their payment policies, including shifting from reimbursement based on attendance to reimbursement based on enrollment.

Increase staff compensation: wages, benefits, and incentives (e.g., hiring/retention bonuses)

Several states are using ARP Child Care Stabilization Grants to incentivize increases in staff compensation.  For example:

  • Minnesota Visit disclaimer page (PDF) included a requirement that programs use a minimum of 70% of their Child Care Stabilization Base Grant amount towards increased compensation, staff benefits, or premium pay. Allowable expenses include hourly wages, staff benefits (such as health, retirement, education), or other bonus structures (such as hiring bonus, staff bonus, etc.). Programs have the flexibility to disperse the 70% of the base grant as they see fit, so long as compensation is increased as outlined in State Statute.
  • Kentucky Visit disclaimer page (PPTX) provides a base payment determined by child care program capacity with additional funds available for programs that pay staff at higher rates.  The program allows providers who are not currently meeting the higher hourly pay rates ($10 or $13/hour) to apply for the 10% or 20% additional funding in order to increase compensation.  Providers who receive additional funds are required to document that raises have been made within four months.  Kentucky also increased their payment rates for their subsidy program and increased income eligibility for families.
  • Illinois Visit disclaimer page developed a Child Care Workforce Bonus program to recognize the efforts of child care staff who continue to serve children and families in-person during the pandemic. The one-time bonus is available to all staff employed at a licensed or license-exempt provider who participates in the CCDF program. Bonus amounts are between $750 and $1,200 per full time equivalent. Eligible programs will apply to administer the funds directly to their staff and funding will include a percentage for payroll taxes and for non-teaching staff.
  • New Hampshire Visit disclaimer page (PDF) is requiring that provides allocate 25 percent of Stabilization Grant awards to employee incentives, such as increased wages, premium pay, one-time bonuses, and has an incentive bonus for programs that provide free child care for their staff. 

Provide benefits including paid leave, health, child care, or retirement benefits;

  • Connecticut Visit disclaimer page is investing in benefits for the ECE workforce along with increased compensation.  Providers can opt in to receive an additional 25 percent of Stabilization Grant funds by agreeing to increase regular staff compensation, which may include:
    • Bonuses or increases in wages for any period between January 2020 and September 2023
    • Contributions towards health insurance costs that reduce such costs for staff
    • Contributions to staff retirement plans
    • Educational advancement or tuition reimbursement for staff
    • Coverage of child care costs for staff members’ children
  • Nevada Visit disclaimer page (PDF) is requiring that all providers that employ staff use a portion of their Stabilization Grant funds to support their staff with compensation and benefits.  Providers — including centers, group/family child care homes and out of school time programs — must use at least 20 percent of their total award to provide financial supports and/or benefits to staff which may include, but are not limited to: bonuses, stipends, salary increases, paid leave, transportation assistance or other compensation/benefits that are in addition to their normal wages and/or benefits.

Invest in scholarships and time off for training or enrollment in educational coursework, apprenticeships, or other practice-based learning that leads towards a credential or degree;

  • Colorado Visit disclaimer page is using their ARP Supplemental funds to help eligible child care providers recruit and retain early childhood professionals.  Eligible providers may use grant funds for employee benefits, employee compensation, professional development, and hiring additional staff. The state is also providing opportunities for free educational coursework to help bring new professionals into the field. This effort will provide a pathway to employment as an ECE educator without the upfront cost of coursework and help address Colorado’s overall unemployment concerns.  Combining free coursework with work experiences through apprenticeship programs and teacher peer mentorship programs, ECE professionals will have opportunities to obtain paid work experiences while pursing credentials or degrees, and gain support along the way from a mentor educator.
  • The YMCA of the East Bay Visit disclaimer page (PDF) serves 1,200 children across four counties in Head Start, Early Head Start, state-funded preschool, and child care settings.  In 2015, with support from an Early Head Start — Child Care Partnership grant, the YMCA recruited 21 parents to participate in a teacher training program.  Through the practice-based program, all earned a California state-based teaching credential.  Since that time, the YMCA has expanded their Early Educator Apprenticeship Program to serve additional apprentices, many of whom go on to earn their Associate’s and/or Bachelor’s degree.  In addition to classes, the apprenticeship model includes daily on-site work in early education classrooms.  The YMCA provides commensurate increases in salary as the qualifications of apprentices increase.  In this work, the YMCA partners with multiple local 2- and 4-year colleges.  The YMCA has worked hard to recruit instructors of color into the apprenticeship program, to be more reflective of the diverse communities they serve.  The apprenticeship program includes the following key components to support success of the apprentices: embedded tutoring and mentoring, technology support, soft skills training, mental health consultation, and tuition, fees, books, and other supplies.  Graduates of the apprenticeship program are offered employment opportunities with the YMCA or other local child care programs.  The apprenticeship program has served nearly 400 participants since it began in 2015. To learn more, see this annual report from the YMCA of the East Bay on their Early Childhood Impact Visit disclaimer page (PDF).
  • Kentucky Visit disclaimer page (PPTX) is using a portion of ARP Supplemental funding to build the supply of child care for underserved populations and support scholarships and training for the ECE workforce.  A new preschool partnership will support children who qualify for CCDF and those with special needs to get IEP services through 3-hour public preschool and still obtain full-day child care so that families can work.  This program will provide or supplement salaries to extend hours, open new classrooms or provide social and emotional supports to all children enrolled. In addition, through their infant and toddler pilot project, programs will receive monthly payments for contracted slots along with a required compensation floor for all staff members.  In addition, Kentucky is investing in several scholarship and training opportunities, including:
    • Scholarships for employees working at least 20 hours per week in a child care program that provide full coverage of a CDA program or full tuition for AA or BA in ECE at a Kentucky community college or university;
    • Scholarships for ECE directors or administers working at least 20 hours per week in a child care program covering full tuition for a master’s degree in ECE or early childhood special education at a KY state university;
    • Apprenticeships to support mentor teachers and host programs to train apprentice candidates in the preschool, infant/toddler, or director apprenticeship programs. Apprentices will have their CDA fees covered, along with fees for orientation, First Aid/CPR training, and any other needed certification;
    • Two training academies, one focusing on working with children with special needs and one focusing on director skills.

Expand shared services models, substitute pools, and family child care networks;

  • Maine Visit disclaimer page (PDF) is using ARP CCDF Supplemental funds for an initiative for newly licensed Family Child Care providers.  FCC providers licensed as of or after July 1, 2021 are eligible to receive a one-time $2,000 stipend. At time of initial contact to receive the stipend, providers are informed of the many funding and quality improvement opportunities available for programs along with a CCSP Provider Agreement.
  • New Mexico Visit disclaimer page launched Elevate New Mexico Child Care to enhance support for child care businesses throughout the state so that providers will have support for the day-to-day administrative tasks needed to run their programs.  Thorough this initiative, New Mexico provides child care centers, licensed and registered homes free access to child management software that eliminates paperwork, and provides tools for everything from outreach and enrollment to collecting copayments online.

Provide staff wellness supports, such as guaranteed breaks during the work day, access to adult-sized furniture in classrooms, mentoring and coaching, and/or mental health consultation for ECE staff and providers.

  • Montclair Child Development Center (MCDC) is located in Essex County, New Jersey. The program is funded to provide services to 490 children through center-based services for children birth to 5 years old and home-based services for children enrolled in Early Head Start.  MCDC operates out of 4 sites with 61% of staff living in the communities where they work. Thirty-six percent of staff are former Head Start parents. As other employers are experiencing talent leaving for other opportunities, MCDC has a low turnover rate (less than 10%) which is attributed primarily to its caring culture. They provide intentional support to their staff through coaching, mentoring, and a program design that encourages the team to “be patient and kind with themselves first so that they can be patient and kind with others.” The approach is supported through mental health and employee assistance programs in addition to a Head Start Director who centers programing around the MCDC’s mission of “embrace, empower, and strengthen.” Watch this video Visit disclaimer page to learn more about Montclair’s approach to supporting staff retention.
  • East Coast Migrant Head Start Project (ECMHSP) is funded to provide services to 2,759 children from birth to 5 years of age. The program offers early childhood education and comprehensive services in 49 centers across 10 states. ECMHSP services are designed to meet the unique needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and provide extended center-based services from 8-12 hours each day. The program returned to in-person services at the height of the pandemic to meet the needs of families, all of whom are essential workers. Staff adapted and responded to innumerable changes, and supported children, families and communities in crisis, many while dealing with their own families in crisis. The program’s leadership saw signs of compassion fatigue, stress and exhaustion and knew they needed to help better support staff health and wellness. The program used COVID-relief funding to provide: 
    • Wellness activity days for whole centers — activities were selected by center teams and could include art therapy, mindfulness walks, yoga or Zumba, and other group activities. Teams selected activities that all staff would be comfortable with, many facilitated by mental health consultants.
    • Mental Health consultant facilitated group meetings with full center staff or smaller teams to discuss and process the experiences of the past season. Referrals were made for those that needed more support.
    • Two additional paid days off for center directors. Center Directors were on the front lines supporting staff and families and were making many difficult decisions.  They needed some time away.
    • Respite week to ensure the health and safety of children and to provide care for staff. Centers closed for one week of paid time off, and staff were urged to take time to rest, care for themselves, and care for their family members. The difficult decision to close was made in consultation with parents, who strongly supported the need for staff to get some rest.
    • Crisis support — When tragedies impacted centers, local teams worked collaboratively to develop individualized crisis plans.  Teams could select from a menu of online or in person supports, and included resources provided by insurance providers, the employee assistance program, mental health consultants, and local supports.
    • Watch this video Visit disclaimer page to learn more about ECMHSP’s approach to supporting staff health and wellness.

Selected ACF Resources to Support the Early Care and Education Workforce

  • The Developing a Staffed Family Child Care Network: A Technical Assistance Manual Visit disclaimer page (PDF) provides key considerations and questions necessary to implement Family Child Care (FCC) networks. It will guide leaders who wish to support the FCC provider community with staffed networks. The first section of this manual explores adopting networks as a promising approach to improve FCC quality. Section one also addresses the role of FCC in serving a range of diverse populations. The second section explores the critical components of a staffed FCC network. The third section outlines the four stages of successful network implementation.

  • The Family Child Care Network Cost Estimation Tool (CET Visit disclaimer page (PDF)) is designed to assist State, regional and local organizations in better understanding the costs associated with operating a staffed family child care (FCC) network. The CET can be used to estimate the operating costs for states and communities for services offered by a staffed FCC network. This document is a user's guide that provides instructions for the CET.

  • The Staff Recruitment and Retention Visit disclaimer page (PDF) brief includes examples of state systems and policies that help support recruiting and retaining a highly-qualified workforce. The resource also includes strategies for data collection on staff turnover.

  • The Supporting Diverse Populations Within the Early Childhood Workforce Visit disclaimer page (PDF) resource offers strategies to support a diverse early childhood education workforce and help them serve the diverse populations of children and families in their communities. Explore related research, toolkits, and presentations. Find three state examples of ways to include diverse populations in workforce core knowledge and competencies.

  • The Professional Development System Cost Analysis Brief Visit disclaimer page (PDF) helps States and Territories understand current investments and target resources for professional development systems and initiatives that result in a well-qualified early childhood and school-age workforce. It generates data analyses related to workforce qualifications and professional development investments, defines and categorizes workforce investments, and estimates annual costs to advance the workforce from one level of qualification towards the next.

  • The Early Educator Central Visit disclaimer page (PDF) portal supports career pathways for the infant and toddler workforce by linking to federally-funded free or low-cost online courses and professional development (PD) resources. The portal also hosts tools for program administrators, trainers, coaches, PD leaders, higher education curriculum designers, and policy makers. .

  • The State/Territory Infant/Toddler Credential Overview Visit disclaimer page (PDF) informs the development or enhancement of state and territory Infant/Toddler Professional Development systems. States and territories can access examples of credentials offered by a number of states.  They can use the document to crosscheck their state or territory’s effort towards creating or updating an infant/toddler credential, as well as identify strengths and gaps and get a glimpse of other state and territory efforts, beyond one’s state or territory’s professional development system needs.

  • The State/Territory Preschool Credential Overview Visit disclaimer page informs the development or enhancement of State and Territory preschool professional development systems. It provides a summary of credentials offered by a number of States. States and Territories can use this overview to create or update a preschool credential and identify strengths and gaps.

  • The EarlyEdU Alliance Visit disclaimer page®works to increase access to affordable, relevant courses leading to college degrees that prepare early educators for success in the ECE classroom. All of the competency-based course materials are free for Alliance members. The courses follow a practice-based framework which can be delivered online or in-person.

  • The EarlyEdU Alliance® Higher Education Learning Modules Visit disclaimer page are public-facing highlights of courses from the EarlyEdU Alliance® which follow an innovative competency- and practice-based framework. Trainers and instructors can use these free modules for PD or higher education classes. The nine modules range in length from 1.5 to 3 hours and include rich support materials for course instructors.