For several years, Connecticut has been facing a significant teacher shortage in early care and education (ECE), which affects the availability and stability of ECE options for families. The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) launched an ECE Workforce Pipeline Pilot (WPP) program in 2022 to address this issue. Over the first two years of the WPP, OEC provided funding to nine workforce development programs that were working to build the ECE workforce. In November 2023, the Partnership for Early Education Research (PEER) launched a collaborative evaluation of the ECE WPP with support from The Connecticut Project (TCP).
The evaluation was designed to engage leaders and participants from the nine OEC WPP grantee programs and other ECE stakeholders with the goal of promoting shared learning that could inform ECE workforce development efforts in Connecticut and beyond. The evaluation was led by Joanna Meyer in collaboration with Dr. Michael Strambler and Suzanne Porco Clement, all of whom serve on the PEER Management Team, and it was designed to address four aims:
- Compare and contrast the key elements and structures of these Connecticut ECE workforce development programs;
- Examine the strengths and weaknesses of these programs’ designs and lessons learned about challenges, solutions, and potential improvements;
- Document the rough costs of key program elements; and
- Co-develop recommendations for future workforce development efforts in Connecticut.
The evaluation used a sequential mixed-methods approach that required the collection of qualitative and quantitative data between January and June of this year. The evaluation plan included multiple opportunities to meet with WPP grantees, OEC, and TCP over the course of the evaluation, including opening sessions with program leaders before data collection began, team interviews with program leaders, and focus groups with WPP mentors and trainees.
In August, the evaluation team presented preliminary findings and draft recommendations to stakeholders from the OEC, WPP grantee programs, and TCP and solicited feedback before finalizing the report in October. In addition, Strambler and Meyer partnered with Dr. Monette Ferguson, Executive Director of Alliance for Community Empowerment in Bridgeport, a WPP grantee, to present a session at the Annual Forum of the National Network for Research Practice Partnerships (NNERPP) about the benefits and challenges of this type of rapid cycle evaluation research.
Evaluation participants and stakeholders from several organizations have said they found the evaluation findings and recommendations to be valuable and timely. OEC Commissioner Beth Bye said, “I just read this report, and it is so helpful for OEC. It was heartening to hear how much the supports helped, and there was clear guidance on how to improve the program.” Dr. Ferguson said, “This evaluation highlights some of the practical ways we can build pathways into early childhood careers for community members who are passionate about nurturing and educating young children. At this critical time in our field, this evaluation validates the need for more resources and support to rebuild our field in a smart, sustainable way.”
To read the full evaluation report, please click here. To read the 3-page executive summary, please click here.