Advancing the Profession

The Foundation for Child Development’s Advancing PreK-3rd Series No. 6 Rutgers University researchers Sharon Ryan and Carrie Lobman show how New Jersey established a set of mandates supported by incentives to upgrade the qualifications of the PK-3 teaching workforce in the state’s poorest school districts.

The New America Foundation recommends that Congress expand NCLB to cover Prekindergarten teachers.

To reframe the debate about what constitutes a highly qualified teacher, the Foundation for Child Development invited a group of education leaders to participate in a round table discussion about what teachers should know and be able to do. The result, Bridging Two Worlds: PK-3 Teachers As Architects of Children’s Learning, is the centerpiece of the Foundation’s 2006 Annual Report.

Two papers from the Erikson Institute show that state-based teacher preparation standards and teacher education programs do not adequately address the developmental and educational needs of diverse groups of children.

This report on the Characteristics of Teachers in State-Funded Pre-Kindergarten Programs is the first in a series examining state-funded pre-Kindergarten programs on the ground from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).

The National Task Force on Early Childhood Education of Hispanics describes how the requirements of Prekindergarten teachers vary by setting.

The study documents the current state of staff qualifications, stability, turnover and compensation in state-funded prekindergarten programs, and to identify the conditions under which Pre-K initiatives promote a more skilled and stable, and better compensated early care and education workforce.

Concerns about the qualifications, turnover, diversity, and compensation of the early childhood workforce are growing as more children attend private and public preschool programs.