How policy can help prepare early childhood teachers: the alignment between state childcare licensing policy and teacher qualification attainment

ABSTRACT The qualifications that early childhood (EC) teachers attain vary across the 50 states. This variance is likely associated with the differences in state-level childcare licensing policies governing the qualification attainment of EC teachers. This research explores the relationship between childcare licensing policy and the qualifications that EC teachers attain. We examine secondary data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education merged with secondary policy data on childcare licensing policies for all 50 states. We use a series of linear and logistic regression models to understand how the policy stringency of childcare licensing predicts the attainment of educational degrees, EC certification, and professional development. We find more stringent policies predict teacher attainment of bachelor’s degrees in EC, certification, and professional development. Policy does not predict associate degree attainment in EC. Our finding that policy stringency aligns with qualification attainment demonstrates that policymakers can better target childcare licensing policies to promote qualification attainment among the EC workforce. This research can be used by 1) teacher education programs to illustrate how policies and regulatory standards influence the qualifications of the workforce that they prepare for careers in EC, and 2) policymakers to better craft and target childcare licensing policies that influence qualification attainment among their EC workforces.