This interactive describes the National Early Care & Education (ECE) Workforce Center’s aims for improving conditions for the ECE workforce and explains how the ECE Workforce Systems Change Framework (the Change Framework) supports state and local leaders to achieve the aims.
The Change Framework focuses on three aims based on the most immediate challenges facing the ECE workforce. It takes a systems level approach for achieving the three aims. Specifically, it identifies nine related primary drivers that research has identified as impacting the practices, infrastructure, and principles that shape systems. These nine drivers are further operationalized through secondary drivers that are specific to each aim for improving the ECE system. Viewers can explore the interactive by selecting one of the three aims and primary driver category to review the specific secondary drivers. You can also access the PDF version here.
ECE Workforce Systems Change Framework Structure
Aims
The ECE Workforce Systems Change Framework (the Change Framework) focuses on three aims for improving conditions for the ECE workforce.
Competitive and fair compensation
Early educators are among the lowest paid professionals in the U.S., with a national median wage of just $13.07 per hour. They often cannot afford basic living expenses and offered supports are too limited and unstable. Most states lack structured wage systems, which lead to inconsistencies in and across settings. This aim strives to ensure that the wages and benefits for ECE workforce reflect their knowledge and experience and enable them to provide and save for themselves and their families.
Clear and accessible career pathways
Early educators face inconsistent standards, high education costs, and limited workplace support, making it hard to grow their careers. Variation in expected qualifications across settings and program funding sources result in uneven preparation across the field. This aim seeks to build unified, flexible career pathways with multiple entry points that allow educators to build on previous education and experience. Additionally, training and educational advancement should be linked to rewards like higher pay so educators can see value in progressing in their career.
Positive working conditions
Limited resources make it difficult for ECE programs and centers to establish and maintain supportive work conditions. Demanding environments, coupled with low compensation, can lead to educator stress, burnout, and high turnover. This aim focuses on establishing clear workplace standards that support the ECE workforce’s health and safety. It also calls for funding and leadership support to implement the standards well so that educators have the respect, resources, and capacity needed to thrive in their roles.
Primary Drivers
Levers for change that can lead to progress towards achieving the aims
Practice Drivers
Practice drivers are the programmatic and policy actions within a system. The three drivers within this type are 1) policy-specific promising practices, 2) targeted and aligned policies, and 3) data-driven decision making.
Infrastructure Drivers
Infrastructure drivers create the structural aspects that support action and can sustain change. The four drivers within this type are 1) leadership & governance, 2) multi-sector & multi-partner collaboration, 3) data infrastructure, and 4) sustainability.
Principles Drivers
Principles drivers are the underlying beliefs and mindsets that shape a system. The two drivers within this type are 1) engaging educators (i.e., the people most affected) in systems change and 2) culture & narrative shift.
Secondary Drivers
Practices and strategies needed to put the primary drivers in place
Defining Our Aims
The ECE workforce includes educators who provide direct care for children from birth to age five in licensed ECE programs, including center-based programs, family child care (FCC), preschool, and pre-K. They are professionals with specialized competencies. Additionally, they play a necessary role within communities by providing families with reliable care that is high-quality and supports young children’s education. Yet, the ECE workforce continues to be impacted by challenges that have caused instability across the child care system. The National ECE Workforce Center recognizes this need and focuses on three aims for improving conditions for the ECE workforce:
- Competitive and fair compensation that reflects the roles and qualifications of the ECE workforce and includes benefits such as health insurance, retirement contributions, and paid leave;
- Clear and accessible career pathways that provide holistic supports for professional growth and have multiple entry points for early educators with varying qualifications, experiences, and education levels and;
- Positive working conditions that are safe, healthy, and supportive and that these conditions are ensured through clear work environment standards.
Learn more about these aims and the challenges they address, hover over the individual aim in the figure above and watch the video below.
Taking a Systems Change Approach
The challenges facing the ECE workforce are complex problems that do not arise from a single cause. Instead, they are shaped by multiple, interrelated factors, such as policies, governance structures, and underlying norms and beliefs. Changing one part on its own rarely works when the issue is interconnected with other parts of the system. Additionally, without considering the broader system, solutions may fail to address underlying causes or be difficult to sustain over time. Addressing such complex issues requires a holistic approach focused at the systems level.
A systems change approach moves beyond fixing a single broken part. It examines key system-level factors to understand how they contribute to improvements. By shifting from isolated solutions to a systemic perspective, change efforts become more sustainable and impactful, leading to meaningful improvements.
Evidence about systems change from research, policy, and practice have identified nine primary drivers that are the most impactful in achieving systems change. These nine primary drivers can be grouped into three types: practice, infrastructure, and principles. Practice drivers include a system’s policies, practices, and the role of data in decision making. Infrastructure drivers include governance, collaboration, data infrastructure, and sustainability. Principles drivers for the ECE system including engaging early educators in change and culture & narrative shifts. Together, the nine drivers reflect how a system operates and sustains its progress.
These primary drivers are activated in the ECE system through secondary drivers, which put in place the necessary conditions for change. Secondary drivers are concrete practices. They also are unique and specific to each of the three aims.
Learn more about the drivers by clicking “Explore the Framework.”
Who Should Use the Change Framework
The Change Framework is designed to guide a broad range of stakeholders who want to take intentional, coordinated action to strengthen the ECE system so that it can support a stable and qualified ECE workforce. These stakeholders or change leaders may include:
- State-level administrators
- State and community ECE agencies
- Local ECE program leaders and early educators working in settings such as Head Start; FCC; community-, center-, and school-based ECE programs
- Researchers
- Institutions of higher education that support the professional development of the ECE workforce
Change leaders can explore the interactive to learn more about the drivers that can improve the ECE system. As they learn about these drivers, change leaders also can use this framework to spur discussions within their communities about where they would like to focus improvement efforts.
About the Change Framework
The Change Framework is based on the Early Childhood Workforce Index, which was developed by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE). The Early Childhood Workforce Index identifies five policy areas, which guide the National ECE Workforce Center’s overall work. The three aims outlined above represent the most immediate challenges that can be addressed to create good jobs for the ECE workforce. The other two policy areas (workforce data and financial resources) are embedded within each of the three aims as a means to support improvement efforts.