What are the characteristics of CCEE workforce members?

Understanding the characteristics of the CCEE workforce can help identify disparities and opportunities regarding CCEE workforce member wages, benefits and professional development. It can also provide valuable information about the characteristics of workforce members in relation to the characteristics of the families and children they serve. This question can be answered by linking practitioner and site level information. If family and child level characteristics are of interest, these can be linked to site and practitioner level information.

A full list of elements that could be used to describe the characteristics of practitioners is listed in the Practitioner Level set of elements in this document. The categories of practitioner level elements include: Identification; Demographics; Credentialing/Licensure; Employment; Education; Professional Development; and Work Experience. While a multitude of descriptive analyses could be performed, examples of a few of these analyses are provided below. Examples 2 and 3 show the ways in which data elements can be combined to understand patterns for sub-groups of practitioners. Other sub-group analyses could include by Child Care Years of Experience, Early Childhood Degree Holder, or Practitioner Gender.

Example 1. Of practitioners with an early childhood credential, what number/percent of them have a CDA? Total the number of practitioners (Practitioner ID) with a “Yes” for the data element Early Childhood Credential for the category, “Child Development Associate.” Divide the number of practitioners with a CDA by the total number of practitioners with any type of credential for the percent of credentialed practitioners with a CDA.

Example 2. On average, how many hours are Assistant Teachers working in a week? Select the practitioners with a “Yes” response for the category “Assistant Teacher” in the data element Staff Classification. Calculate the average of the data element Hours Worked per Week of those who responded “Yes.”

Example 3. What number/percent of Directors have a Bachelor’s degree? Select practitioners with a “Yes” response for the category “Administrator” in the data element Staff Classification to determine the total number of administrators. Total the number of administrators that have indicated “Bachelor’s degree” for the data element Degree or Certificate Type for the total number of administrators with a Bachelor’s degree. Divide this number by the total number of administrators for the percent.

2.3 Please report on the number of staff by qualification level as of the end of the fiscal year. Count only the highest level attained by staff (CDA, Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, State child care credential, State infant toddler credential, Other). The QPR requires that this information be stratified by provider type (Licensed child care center and Licensed family child care) and provider classification (Licensed child care center directors, Licensed child care center teachers, Licensed family child care providers). First, split practitioners into two groups based on the setting in which they work, family child care or center-based. Use the Practitioner Level data element, Type of Setting, and assign a code “1” for practitioners working in settings that are indicated with a “Yes” for the category “Family Child Care” and another code “2” to practitioners at settings that are “Center-based (including a school setting).” The Practitioner Level data element Staff Classification can be used to further stratify data by staff role. The option set for the Staff Classification data element includes “Administrator,” “Early learning assistant teacher,” and “Early learning teacher.” Each of these categories can by assigned a code to facilitate analysis. For the purposes of QPR reporting, both assistant teachers and teachers fall into the teacher category for child care centers. The Licensed family child care provider category includes assistant teachers, teachers, and/or administrators employed in a family child care home. For each of these groups, complete the calculations described below.

To ascertain the number of practitioners that have a CDA or State/Territory Credential, total the number of practitioners (Practitioner ID) with a “Yes” for the data element Early Childhood Credential for each of the categories (Child Development Associate, State-Administration/Director Credential, State-Infant/toddler Credential, State-Preschool Credential, State-School-age Credential, State-Teacher Certification/Licensure, State-Special Education Credential). Add all State credentials for the total number of State/Territory credentials. Next, use the data element Degree or Certificate Type and sum the number of practitioners with a “Yes” response for the categories Associate’s Degree, Bachelor’s Degree, and Graduate/Advanced Degree. Perform this calculation for each of the setting types.

2.4 Please report on the number of staff by qualification level (CCDF providers) as of the end of the fiscal year. Count only the highest level attained by staff (CDA, Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, State child care credential, State infant toddler credential, Other). To answer this question, repeat the analysis described above for QPR question 2.3. The Site Level data element Type of Funding can be used to filter the dataset to only select those providers employed at program sites that receive CCDF funding. This can be accomplished by selecting only the program sites that have a “Yes” indicated in the option set for the “CCDF” field.

2.5 How many providers received the following additional forms of professional development and/or technical assistance during the fiscal year? The QPR requires that this information be stratified by program type (Licensed or registered center-based programs, License-exempt center-based programs, Licensed or registered family child care homes, License-exempt family child care homes, and In-home) and training/technical assistance topic (Business practices; Mental health; Diversity, equity and inclusion; Emergency preparedness planning, and Other).

First, split practitioners into three groups based on the setting in which they work, family child care, center-based, or license-exempt. Use the data element, Type of Setting, and assign a code “1” for practitioners working in settings that are indicated with a “Yes” for the category “Family Child Care”, code “2” to practitioners at settings that are “Center-based (including a school setting)”, code “3” for practitioners in “License-exempt” settings and code “4” for “Home-based”. For each of these groups, complete the calculation described below.

Select practitioners with a Training Completion Date or Technical Assistance Datein the last federal fiscal year. Training records should be linked such that each completion date is tied to additional information about that training such as whether the training was approved by the state. Limit the number of completion dates to those that were also indicated as a Professional Development Activity State Approved Status. Narrow down to practitioners who received training or technical assistance in the specified topics by selecting those that have a “Yes” indicated in the option set for the “Inclusion”, “Mental Health,” “Program Administration,” or “Emergency Preparedness” fields of the Training Focus or Technical Assistance Focus data elements. Count the Practitioner IDs for all practitioners in this subset. Perform this calculation for each of the setting types.