Teaching the Teachers of Our Youngest Children: The State of Early Childhood Higher Education in Arkansas. Highlights

The importance of early care and education (ECE) to children's lifelong learning and to the nation's economic well-being is recognized up to the highest levels of government and in businesses, schools, and living rooms across the country. Stakeholders and advocates in Arkansas remain committed to advancing strategies that improve ECE services, including workforce preparation and development in order to ensure that early educators have what they need to meet the complex needs of young children. Critical to these efforts is the establishment of a well-coordinated, comprehensive professional preparation and development system that can prepare and support an incoming generation of educators, while also strengthening the skills of the existing early education workforce. Institutions of higher education are crucial to meeting the evolving and increasing demands identified as improving developmental and learning outcomes for the state's young child population. This document highlights findings from the "Arkansas Early Childhood Higher Education Inventory" and the extent to which ECE higher education programs offer course content and learning experiences that are associated with effective teacher preparation. The full report, "Teaching the Teachers of Our Youngest Children: The State of Early Childhood Higher Education in Arkansas" presents the full findings. [For the full report, see ED614285.]