In 2017, the National Academies released the second report in a three-part series (Transforming the Early Childhood Workforce for Children Birth through Age Eight was the first in the series. A financing report, yet to be released, will be the third in the series). A committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examined how evidence relevant to the development of English learners can inform policies and practices that can result in better educational outcomes for these young people.
The committee’s report, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures (2017) examines what research evidence reveals about learning English from early childhood through high school, identifies effective practices for educators to use, and recommends steps policymakers can take to support high-quality educational outcomes for children and youth who are learning English.
Chapter 12 of this report specifically addresses building the workforce to educate English Learners. There are a series of recommendations in this report which impact the early childhood workforce including these recommendations:
Recommendation 9: State and professional credentialing bodies should require that all educators with instructional and support roles (for example, teachers, care and education practitioners, administrators, guidance counselors, psychologists and therapists) in serving DLLs/ ELs be prepared through credentialing and licensing as well as pre- and in-service training to work effectively with DLLs/ELs.
Recommendation 10: All education agencies in states, districts, regional clusters of districts, and intermediary units and agencies responsible for early learning services and the pre-K to 12 grades should support efforts to recruit, select, prepare, and retain teachers, care and education practitioners, and education leaders qualified to serve DLLs/ELs. Consistent with requirements for the pre-K to 12 grades, program directors and lead teachers in early learning programs should attain a B.A. degree with certification to teach DLLs.