It Takes a Community: Leveraging Community College Capacity to Transform the Early Childhood Workforce

Over the past decade, educators and policymakers have sought to increase the number of students pursuing and completing postsecondary credentials. Community colleges play an important role in efforts to increase the percentage of Americans with postsecondary education. Community colleges play an important role in educating the early childhood workforce today--and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Thus it is important to ensure that community college early childhood programs are high quality, provide the supports that early childhood workers need to successfully complete degrees, and enable graduates to successfully transition to four-year degree programs. To maximize the value of community colleges in developing both the current and future early childhood workforce, policymakers and advocates need a clear understanding of the roles that community colleges currently play in preparing and developing early childhood workers and the quality of existing programs, as well as a clear vision for the role that these institutions should play going forward. This paper seeks to help early childhood stakeholders understand the role that community colleges play in preparing and developing early childhood workers and the challenges they face in doing so. First, it provides an overview of the current state of community college early childhood programs, the students they serve, and the outcomes they produce. Then it highlights models of innovative strategies--at both the institution and state policy level--to help early childhood educators succeed in community college programs and go on to obtain higher levels of credentials. Finally, it offers recommendations for community college leaders, early childhood advocates, and policymakers seeking to maximize the potential of community colleges to support professional development and credential attainment for early childhood educators.