NCDHHS to Extend Compensation Portion of  Stabilization Grant

Grant support to boost compensation for North Carolina’s early care and learning teachers and staff will continue through December 2023, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced today.

 Busting the Myths

The NC Institute for Child Development Professionals has created a great resource to help better understand Early Childhood Educators and their important work and break down some of the typical stereotypes and myths about our field.  Check it out!

Potential Changes for the NC Teacher Licensure Model Process

Learn more about the potential changes being discussed for the state’s teacher licensure process.

DCDEE Releases an Update (Jan. 13, 2022) to the “COVID” Toolkit

Access the latest version of the ChildCareStrong NC Public Health Toolkit to assist NC early childhood/child care programs with COVID related questions, concerns and policies.

Did your program apply for a stabilization grant?  Here are some great resources from the Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance System to assist you as a child care provider (or a lead agency assisting the workforce) in implementing and utilizing the child care stabilization grants.  

COVID-19 Resources for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Field

Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child has developed an extensive list of national resources to support the ECE field during the COVID 19 pandemic. You can find the resources here.

In addition, you can find helpful NC COVID-19 Early Childhood resources through the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education and the NC Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center and the NC Early Education Coalition

The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession

The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession was developed over the last three years by a task force of 15 leading national organizations, including the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which facilitated this collective effort. Together, these organizations, which represent members of the early childhood field working across states, settings, and age bands, partnered with a diverse range of stakeholders and more than 11,000 individuals to produce the Unifying Framework.  Learn more about the Power to the Profession initiative here.

Your Voice Counts

The NC Early Education Coalition (Coalition) is the only statewide advocacy coalition dedicated to promoting high quality, accessible and affordable child care in NC.

Through research and advocacy, the Coalition builds partners with early childhood educators, early care and education providers, Smart Start, child care resource and referrals agencies, higher education and others to improve programs and policies and/or increase funding for low income families through child care subsidy, scholarships and wage supplements for early educators, NC Pre-K, Smart Start and more.  Learn how you can become involved and become a member of the Coalition.

Announcement:  New Salary Scale Toolkit Project

The NC Institute for Child Development Professionals (the Institute) is pleased to announce the receipt of a grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to take the work that has been done on an early childhood teachers model salary scale, and disseminate a salary scale toolkit and corresponding training modules. In 2007 the  Institute created model salary scales for master teachers, teachers and assistant teachers working in licensed child care settings.  This initial effort recognized different levels of knowledge, skills and experience in order to create equitable wage scales.  In 2021, the Institute, along with other partners across the state, released a revised Model Salary Scale for Early Childhood Education (ECE) Teachers. This scale built upon the early work of the Institute’s original salary scale. The purpose of this current project is to support NC’s child care administrators and family child care home providers to review and analyze their budgets and hiring practices to ensure a consistent and fair approach to ECE workforce compensation.  In addition to early childhood educators, program administrators and owners, training modules will also support NC’s ECE technical assistance providers and NC’s ECE higher education faculty, both of whom work directly with ECE providers in child care facilities. They will be able to assist providers with creating or revising a salary scale to support fairer approaches to workforce compensation.  Long term goals and outcomes of the project are to help programs sustain compensation gains made from receiving NC stabilization grants, and align with the goals of state compensation workgroups and committees and national movements to improve ECE workforce compensation.

Be on the lookout for more information including training opportunities in 2023.

Institute End of the Year Fundraising Campaign

These past couple of years have been difficult for our field, for families and for young children.  Early care and education programs are struggling and many in our workforce have left the field to stay home or to find better-paying jobs. Our work is more important than ever, as we try to build back a better early childhood professional development AND compensation system for our early childhood professionals. Please consider making a donation to help us continue to do our work. We are an IRS-approved tax-exempt organization. Your help would be much appreciated.  Donate here.

Lean In and Learn With Us on Dec. 9, 2022 from 12:30-3:30 p.m.

“Investment, Innovation & Action: Strategies in NC to Revive the Early Care & Education System in a “Post” Pandemic Era”

Join us as we gain perspectives from three panels focused at the national, state, community and provider levels looking at new strategies to address workforce issues.

Panel One: What’s New in Federal and State Policy and Funding to Address Workforce Education and Compensation Issues?

 Presenters: 

Lauren Hogan, Managing Director of Policy and Professional Advancement at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

New and Needed NC Strategies and Funding to Help the ECE Workforce and What We Can Do

Susan Butler-Staub, NC Early Education Coalition & NCAEYC Board President

Panel Two: What are Some New or Model Strategies or Resources to Support the Early Childhood Workforce in NC?

Presenters:

Linda Chappel, Child Care Services Association; Using Every State and Local Resource to Implement High Quality County Pre-K with Well-Compensated Teachers

Edith Locke and Allison Miller, Child Care Services Association; What’s New With Statewide T.E.A.C.H. scholarships and Wage Supplements

Mary Olvera, NC Community College System Office; New Strategies to Support Community College ECE Credentials and Degrees

Panel Three: What Innovative Strategies are Child Care Providers Using to Attract and Retain Early Childhood Educators?

Presenters:

Rhonda Rivers, Regional Director of Curriculum and Training at LeafSpring Schools in Charlotte, NC and Adjunct Instructor at Central Piedmont Community College

Michele Miller-Cox, Executive Director at First Presbyterian Day School, in Durham NC and Adjunct Faculty at Durham Tech

Register for this event here!

December NCICDP Lean In and Learn Flyer

ECE WORKFORCE INDEX:  NC’s Profile

The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) released the 2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index, which provides a state-by-state look at policies and conditions affecting the early childhood workforce.  Access NC’s state profile here.

NAEYC Releases Brief for the ECE field navigating through COVID

Navigating Relief:  An Overview of the Help that May Be Available for Child Care Providers- Feb. 2021