Early childhood workforce barriers research

The challenge:

Oregon is experiencing a shortage of qualified and available early childhood professionals. Turnover is high in this sector; positions are often high stress with low pay and limited benefits. Women of color, who make up the majority of the early childhood workforce, are unfairly shouldering this burden. This issue cannot be solved by simply recruiting more early childhood professionals; we have to find ways to both remove barriers to entry and create better supports for people to thrive in this field.

The response:

Oregon HB 2991 (2023) “commission[ed] an independent study to identify barriers to a high quality early childhood workforce, including inefficiencies that may exist within the statewide professional recognition database that records licensing and training of ECE workforce… and to provide guidance for future professional development specific to the needs of the early childhood workforce in Oregon.”

How we learned together:

In response to HB 2991, Leonard Research & Evaluation partnered with the Early Childhood Equity Collaborative, AB Cultural Drivers, and the Coalition of Communities of Color to conduct research about the barriers and opportunities experienced by Oregon’s early learning and care professionals. We worked closely with staff from Oregon’s Department of Early Learning and Care to ensure that we understood their information needs and could best support their use of research findings.

Leonard Research & Evaluation supported all phases of the research process and led the secondary research phase, synthesizing existing research and ensuring that new data collection would complement existing knowledge.

The final report is available on the Department of Early Learning and Care’s website.