Guidance for Reporting Data on Your Early Care and Education Workforce

Early care and education (ECE) workforce data are increasingly imperative for building a high-quality ECE system that works for educators, children, and families. We have developed guidance and three example reports¹ to assist states in taking steps toward converting existing siloed pockets of ECE workforce information into more uniform and accessible data collection and reporting.

Public reporting on common workforce data elements helps create a clear picture of workforce needs and supply. This crucial data can then be analyzed to guide and monitor initiatives and investments.

This reporting guidance focuses squarely on the workforce, their realities and needs, not children or programs. First, it serves to strengthen uniformity in reporting and to illustrate who is missing from existing workforce data. Second, it prioritizes data elements needed to improve working conditions and professional development opportunities that promote high-quality learning and experiences for all children. Third, it contributes to advancing equity by guiding policy and funding decisions that can prioritize efforts to recruit and retain an ethnically and linguistically diverse workforce. There are numerous additional elements to consider, with various outcomes and social impact possible. Some of the ways we envision the reporting guidance being leveraged include:

Building the workforce pipeline;
Supporting language accessibility;
Informing compensation parity;
Improving access to professional development and financial assistance; and
Encouraging support for professionals on their career pathways.

Why is national workforce data-reporting guidance needed?

The collection of critical information reflecting the ECE workforce makes data-informed decision making possible. These important snapshots in time contribute to how we conceptualize who is caring for young children and what they most need. Data feedback also informs us about who is missing, if what we’re doing is working, and where to prioritize future investments. Policymakers, members of the research community, change agents, and funders are looking for current workforce information and attempting to understand how these data change over time in order to help mitigate staffing shortages, strengthen preparedness, attend to provider well-being, and take stock of quality efforts.

While data have always held value in decision making, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the significance of access to these specific data for the purposes of stabilizing the ECE sector and supporting the workforce. To date, there is no unifying guideline for what workforce reporting should contain or which variables states should prioritize. As a result, the field is left with an assortment of reports that may not contain the same information or be presented in similar ways. Lack of consistency in reporting makes it difficult to examine what we have, identify what we don’t know, highlight trends, or synthesize understanding across states or regions. The purpose of this guidance is to support the field in taking a step in that direction, making workforce data more accessible and easier to analyze, increasing consistency and connection.

Who should be included in the ECE workforce?

Local needs and context will inform which professional roles to include in your definition of the early care and education workforce. It is important to define who is included in workforce data collection and to communicate the definition of the workforce clearly when reporting data.

Clarify who the data in your report represent. Will you include only professionals with direct day-to-day care and education responsibilities for young children, such as teachers in child care centers and home-based family child care providers? Will you also include other early care professionals, such as early intervention specialists? What settings will you include? Your definition should also mention the age span of the children who are served by the ECE workforce. The 2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index provides one example of defining the workforce.

For the purposes of our national data guidance and reporting example, we have defined the ECE workforce as the following:

Assistant teachers, lead teachers, and program directors or administrators in licensed child care centers, including community-based organizations, Head Start programs, state preschool, and school-based ECE settings that may not have a child care license;
Licensed home-based family child care providers and assistants;
License-exempt home-based providers;²and
Home visitors.

The sample reports can be amended as needed to include additional care and education professionals such as early intervention specialists, mental health consultants, coaches, trainers, and Out-of-School-Time³ teachers.

In addition to defining the ECE workforce, be sure your data report also includes:

The scope and representativeness of the workforce data included (for example, if you are using registry data, describe whether participation in the registry is voluntary, mandatory for all, or mandatory only for some participants, perhaps those who work in programs in the state’s quality rating and improvement system); and
The source and date of data collection (this could be the date the data were pulled from a registry or the dates during which a workforce survey was conducted).

Why were these workforce data elements selected?

The data-reporting guidance prioritizes data elements that policymakers can use to identify workforce supports needed to recruit and retain an ethnically and linguistically diverse workforce that is well trained and compensated to meet the development needs of young children in different settings. Authors reviewed existing national and state data collection efforts and hosted input sessions to engage stakeholders to further revise the focus (see Acknowledgments). Table 1 summarizes the proposed data elements and goals for inclusion by the data-reporting guidance and three sections of the sample workforce data report.

1. Supply and Diversity of the Workforce

Increase gender and racial equity: Advancing equity in the field of early care and education requires combating the gender and racial discrimination that formed the foundation of our country’s institutions and systems. This history is evident in the unequal treatment of workers in caregiving roles who are underpaid, undervalued, and predominantly female. Racial inequities in compensation within early care and education mirror discriminatory practices historically felt by communities of color that are more likely to earn less than their White counterparts despite having the same education and experience. Women of color are also disproportionately in roles such as license-exempt or unregulated care, assistants, or aides who earn lower wages compared to roles that are predominantly held by White women such as center directors and lead teachers. Efforts to increase gender and racial equity require close attention to data about the current disparities experienced by women and communities of color because of public policies and investments.

Build the ECE workforce pipeline: To develop strong plans for expanding the ECE workforce to meet the growing demand for child care services, policymakers need to take into consideration several key areas. Years of experience in the field help to identify the vast expertise of the workforce but also signal areas where greater support is needed to onboard newer professionals or to build needed skills.

Support language accessibility for ECE professionals and families: Data about the language capacity and fluency of the ECE workforce are critical for creating workforce initiatives (i.e., QRIS, scholarships, coaching), higher education, certification, and training infrastructures that are easily accessible in the languages spoken by ECE professionals. This support in turn helps to build the pipeline of staff who can provide continuity between a child’s home language and their child care setting as they build their literacy skills.

2. Wages, Benefits, and Workforce Support

Achieving compensation parity for ECE professionals: Low wages that are not commensurate with the expertise and education of the ECE workforce make it impossible to recruit and retain ECE professionals. In fact, many early educators leave the field for employment that offers higher pay, benefits, and working environments that support staff to do their best work. As states implement workforce initiatives and policies to improve compensation, corresponding data collection on staff wages and benefits are needed.

Access to professional development and financial assistance resources: Workforce initiatives are typically intended to reach professionals working in underserved and/or under-resourced communities and those caring for children experiencing poverty or at risk of poorer development outcomes. Robust data about who does and does not receive these opportunities are needed to ensure the equitable use of these funds.

3. Education, Experience, and Training

Support ECE professionals along career pathways: There are ongoing policy debates about the type and level of education, experience, and training needed for the ECE workforce prior to and throughout their careers. These policy decisions must be grounded in current data about professionals’ skills, years in the field, and access to staff development to determine what accompanying support may be needed to meet or maintain education requirements. Linguistic, financial, and geographic barriers to education and training must also be examined to address systemic inequities that restrict access and support to professionals along multiple career pathways.

What additional data elements should I consider?

Our model includes core data elements that are crucial to understand and improve the status of the ECE workforce, but it is illustrative, not exhaustive. Additional data elements not included in the model (e.g., use of and eligibility for public assistance) and further analyses of data elements that are included should be added where possible to provide greater clarity and context.

To help identify and disrupt inequities in working conditions and access to supports, we recommend that data elements in the model be further analyzed by individual characteristics such as role and race, as well as program-level characteristics, such as setting, ages of children served, and funding stream.

Additionally, these data on the workforce can be paired with information collected from administrators at the program level, such as turnover data, or with qualitative information on ECE professionals’ experiences to provide insight into recruitment and retention or other key policy questions. Table 2 shows examples of other data elements you may also consider including in your workforce data report by section.

How can I use this data-reporting guidance in my community?

You can use this guidance to help guide your decisions at multiple stages of the data collection and reporting process.

As part of planning for data collection, consider the following aspects.

Who will be included in the early care and education workforce? See our suggestions for possible populations to include depending on the needs of your local context. Be sure to clearly define which populations are (and aren’t) included in your data when reporting, as modeled in our sample data reports.
Which data elements will you include in your data collection, analysis, and reporting and to what level of detail? See some of our suggestions. Solicit input from stakeholders in your community, such as educators, advocates, researchers, and policymakers.
How will you source the data? Consider whether there are existing sources to fill in the data elements for your report (from your workforce registry, surveys, licensing data, or other agencies’ ECE data collection) or if you will need to collect new data.

When creating and sharing your report, complete these steps.

Use our sample reports for ideas on how to tell a story with your data. The sample reports include spaces that you can use to share key findings and insight from your community, such as quotes. What are your data telling you about the status and well-being of the ECE workforce in your community? Are certain populations of the ECE workforce facing worse conditions than others? Is this finding related to the setting they work in (age of children, funding stream)? How have their conditions changed over time or have they remained the same?
Consider how to share your report with other stakeholders. Reports can be uploaded to the website(s) of your organization and/or your partner organization(s) to provide greater public access to and understanding of workforce data. You might also host webinars or other convenings to discuss your findings.
Think about how your data might support policy and planning efforts in your community. Your workforce data report might be used to inform:
- Reporting and evaluation by a range of stakeholders, such as understanding the impact of the COVID pandemic and federal relief funding on the workforce;
- Workforce development plans and evaluation by state agencies;
- Advocacy and legislative agendas to strengthen supports for the workforce and the quality of early learning; and
- Required federal reporting such as the Quality Performance Report or the efforts of the federal Administration for Children and Families in examining needs, progress, priorities, and accountability across states

How do I cite the data-reporting guidance?

Belcher, K., King, C., McLean, C., & Montoya, E. (2024). Guidance for Reporting Data on Your Early Care and Education Workforce. Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley; Early Childhood Data Collaborative at Child Trends; & the National Workforce Registry Alliance. https://cscce.berkeley.edu/publications/brief/guidance-for-reporting-data-on-your-early-care-and-education-workforce/

Where can I learn more?

Acknowledgements

This data-reporting guidance was generously supported with grants from the Alliance for Early Success, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Richard W. Goldman Foundation.

We extend many thanks to attendees of the 2021 National Workforce Registry Alliance conference as well as members of the Alliance for Early Success Partners on the ECE Profession workgroup for their input on the development of the reporting guidance and sample data reports. We extend our appreciation to the staff and leadership at the Montana Early Childhood Project Registry, the Nevada Registry, and the Pennsylvania Key Registry for their support and contributing their data for the sample reports.

Additional thanks to the National Workforce Registry Alliance Standards and Data Committee, Early Childhood Data Collaborative staff members Elizabeth Jordan, Gabriella Guerra, and Tamara Halle and to Center for the Study of Child Care Employment staff members Lea Austin, Yoonjeon Kim, Abby Copeman Petig, Anna Powell, and Marisa Schlieber for their contributions in reviewing earlier versions of the guidance.

The views presented herein are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of the report’s funders or those acknowledged for lending their expertise or providing input.

All authors contributed equally to this report.