Project Summary
This project will produce comprehensive, streamlined, quality data on the early care and education (ECE) workforce able to inform high-priority policy decisions. This builds upon an earlier LINC project that exclusively examined data within the CDHS Office of Early Childhood data systems. While these data greatly improved our knowledge on the ECE workforce, there remained significant gaps in knowledge critical for understanding sector differences and informing the rollout of the recently-funded universal Pre-K effort. The current LINC project will integrate key information from new LINC partners to fill in the data gaps identified in the previous work, including:
- Post-secondary pathways pursued by prospective and working ECE professionals
- Turnover within the ECE field and where professionals go when they leave the field
- Compensation by ECE professional roles and disparities by key subgroups
This work will result in a refreshed annual ECE Workforce Snapshot Report, an updated ECE workforce data dashboard, and the piloting of My Colorado Journey pathways for prospective ECE professionals.
This project has multiple phases and anticipates expanding to include data from other LINC partners to evaluate youth outcomes such as homeless services, labor and employment records, and higher education records. This first phase of work will connect the research study data collected through surveys with child welfare records to assess baseline information for youth enrolled in the study in the early months of recruitment and to obtain a statewide look at the descriptive picture of youth in foster care who would be eligible for the Colorado Pathways to Success program.
The subsequent phases of the research study to examine youth outcomes will be accomplished annually through December 2026.
Data Partners
- Colorado Department Early Childhood
- Colorado Department of Higher Education
- Colorado Department of Labor and Employment