2021 Report
The first of its kind, the Children’s Learning Institute is pleased to announce the State of the Texas Early Childhood Education Workforce Report. The purpose of this report is to provide rich, descriptive information about the composition of the diverse workforce who support early childhood education in Texas by leveraging aggregate data uploaded into TECPDS.
Policies focused on meeting the needs of the ECE workforce have the potential to promote transformative change in children’s lives. As such, addressing childhood inequities also means addressing workforce inequities that exist across the state. Historically, the work of the early childhood education and care (ECE) workforce has been under-recognized, leading to low pay and high turnover, ultimately impacting our youngest learners. However, in the early 1990’s the concept of an ECE workforce registry emerged and with it the ability to account for and provide recognition of the dedicated, hard-working ECE professionals in the field. Fast forward to today, there are approximately 40 state registries in use throughout the U.S., and one of the largest is here in Texas with more than 50,000 users: TECPDS.
At this time, TECPDS is the only platform with the capability to provide detailed information about the Texas ECE workforce across settings (child care, public school pre-K, and Head Start). The purpose of this report is to provide rich, descriptive information about Texas’ ECE workforce by leveraging aggregate data uploaded into TECPDS. This report utilizes data from TECPDS to provide a descriptive account of:
- ECE workforce (e.g., who are the users, what are their demographic characteristics)
- Types of trainings that administrators and practitioners participate in
Workforce data provides stakeholders with the accurate information required to make data-informed decisions which ultimately expand and advance workforce quality, positively impacting outcomes for our youngest learners and school communities. TECPDS workforce data can be used to:
- Understand the ECE workforce and its professional development attainment
- Supply early childhood policy leaders with important data on the workforce allowing data driven decision making and targeting of resources
- Support assessments such as Texas Rising Star Certification
- Provide data for the state Quality Progress Report and national data for the Early Childhood Workforce Index report