Resources to Support Early Care and Education Workforce Strategies

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is committed to building an early childhood system that attracts, prepares, supports, and retains a qualified, diverse workforce across settings and programs that serves all children and families effectively. This includes compensation and benefits, pathways for career advancement and working conditions that demonstrate the value of the early childhood workforce to our communities. 

  • ACF awarded nearly $300 million of Preschool Development Birth through Five Planning and Renewal Grants to 42 states, which are accelerating state and local efforts to recruit, retain, and support the ECE workforce. 

  • The Office of Head Start (OHS) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposes standards for staff compensation that require programs to promote competitive wages for staff by August 2031. The NPRM also proposes to require programs to pay all staff a wage that is at least sufficient to cover basic costs of living. Finally, it proposes to require programs to provide or facilitate access to comprehensive benefits for full-time staff, including health insurance, paid leave, and short-term behavioral health services. 

  • ACF’s new National Early Care and Education Workforce Center supports research and technical assistance for states, territories, tribal nations, and local communities to improve the recruitment and retention of a diverse and qualified workforce across early care and education programs.   

ACF published guidance for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) administrators and Head Start programs strongly encourages leaders to continue to utilize federal resources to increase staff compensation, strengthen ECE professional development and career pathways, and invest in other strategies to recruit and retain a strong ECE workforce. 

Strategies to support the ECE workforce include the following.  

ACF, in partnership with a collaborative of technical assistance partners, and now with leadership from the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center, has provided a series of Workforce Wednesday Webinars to help states, territories, tribal communities, and ECE programs explore many of these topics. 

  • Increase staff compensation or provide hiring or retention incentives.  

  • Provide benefits including paid leave, health insurance, child care, and retirement benefits.  

  • Fund scholarships and time off for training or educational programs including practice-based learning that leads towards a credential or degree, such as registered apprenticeships.  

  • Improve ECE career and higher education pathways including through career and technical education, offering credit for prior learning, more accessible coursework, and academic supports.  

  • Strengthen compensation and career supports for early childhood educators with high-need skills (special education, linguistic diversity, etc.) and those from traditionally underserved populations, communities, or parts of the ECE system.  

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

  • Provide staff wellness supports improve the working environment, such as guaranteed breaks during the work day, mental health consultation, etc. 

Click on a tile to find content-specific resources for states, tribes, territories, and local programs. 

Compensation and Fiscal Stability

Explore resources and examples and learn how some states and local programs are increasing ECE wages, benefits, and incentives.

Early Childhood Career Pathways Strategies

Discover resources and examples and learn how states and local programs are creating education pathways thru PD, scholarships, training, and higher ed.

Staff Wellness Initiatives

View resources and examples on staff wellness supports that improve the working environment such as guaranteed breaks and mental health consultation for ECE staff and providers.

Expanded Services

Discover resources and examples and learn how states and local programs are supporting child care networks, shared services models, substitute pools, and more

Leadership

 

Discover resources and examples and learn how states and local programs are supporting ECE leadership

 

Equitable Financing

 

Discover resources and examples and learn how states and local programs are supporting equitable ECE financing strategies to support the workforce

 

Workforce Wednesday Webinars

Review recordings and related materials from past Workforce Wednesday Webinars hosted by the Administration for Children and Families.

Need More?

See additional resources on strategies to support the ECE workforce.

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