Searching for Resources, Documents, and Information on Apprenticeships in Early Care and Education

Early care and education (ECE) apprenticeships combine job-related technical instruction with structured, on-the-job learning experiences. They are designed to help early childhood educators remain employed while they are working toward a credential or degree. A new project, Developing a Learning Agenda on Early Care and Education Apprenticeships, is conducting a scan to assess what is known about ECE apprenticeships and identify gaps in knowledge, with the ultimate goal of developing a learning agenda. The scan aims to address the following questions:

  1. What is known (and not known) about the effectiveness of ECE apprenticeship programs? What are the documented outcomes of ECE apprenticeship programs and what outcomes are of interest to the field?
  2. What is known (and not known) about the development and implementation of ECE apprenticeship programs and associated facilitators and barriers?
  3. What is known (and not known) about participation in and access to ECE apprenticeship programs?
  4. What is known (and not known) about the financing of ECE apprenticeship programs?
  5. What existing data sources are available to address questions about ECE apprenticeship programs? 
  6. How do answers to the above vary, if it all, by the ages of children served (i.e., infant/toddler vs preschool), funding type (e.g., Head Start funded vs. state/local publicly funded vs. privately funded), apprenticeship type (e.g., registered vs non-registered), and setting type (e.g., family child care vs. center-based)?

To inform the scan, we are searching for resources, documents, and information on apprenticeships in ECE that may include, but are not limited to:

  • Documents that describe ECE apprenticeship programs, models and/or approaches;
  • Tools to support those implementing and participating in ECE apprenticeships;
  • Research and evaluation reports and briefs;
  • Journal manuscripts, published or under review;
  • White papers, discussion papers, or theoretical papers on the topic of apprenticeships in ECE;
  • Metrics or assessments used to measure implementation and/or outcomes of ECE apprenticeship programs;
  • Conceptual frameworks; or
  • Information about available survey and administrative data.

If you have or know of these types of materials and would like to share with the project team, you can send all materials and inquiries, along with your contact information, to ECEapprenticeships@urban.org by April 12, 2024. Please include URL information if available.

Submitted materials may be referenced in publicly available documents developed by the project team.

This work is being led by the Urban Institute, in partnership with MEF Associates and is funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.