AC21 - C2 - Realizing the Promise of Early Educator Apprenticeships
Early educator apprenticeships and residency programs have the potential to transform both the quality of childcare and the access the early care and education field has to high quality professional learning and higher education. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with projections related to ongoing turnover in the field indicate that the need to invest in robust workforce development initiatives will be particularly acute in the coming years. And because the skills, knowledge, and competencies of those who teach and care for young children is the most impactful element of an ECE program, it is essential to create professional development pathways for childcare teachers that lead to higher credentials, recognize their existing skills, and compensate them justly. New Federal funds, including the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”), offer a critical opportunity to invest in the necessary one-time planning costs to establish high-quality residency or apprenticeship programs for early childhood educators. In this workshop, members of the Learning Starts At Birth initiative at Bank Street College will share key design recommendations, cost considerations, and a free cost estimation tool for states, cities, and communities interested in establishing robust apprenticeship/residency models that support the ECE workforce in the complex task of fostering the foundation of early learning.
Brandy Jones Lawrence
Executive Director
Bank Street College- Education Center
Brandy Jones Lawrence joined Bank Street Education Center as Senior Director, Birth-to-Three, Communication & Partnerships in February 2020. Brandy Jones Lawrence is a seasoned early childhood policy and advocacy leader who has worked on behalf of needs of low-income, high-potential families with very young children at the state and national levels at Start Early (fmr. Ounce of Prevention Fund) and in the philanthropic sector at the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation. Brandy brings 20 years of experience in early care and education policy development, analysis and consultation, early learning program partnership development to her role at Bank Street. Brandys work focuses on partnering cross sector leaders across the country to develop and implement sound programing and systems designs to achieve equitable professional training, support and compensation for the early care and education workforce and developmentally meaningful learning experiences for the very young children in their care.
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