In 2021, California committed to making transitional kindergarten (TK)--a school-based preschool program initially designed for older 4-year-olds--available for all 4-year-olds by 2025-26. As TK becomes universal, California will need to greatly expand the early learning workforce. This brief provides estimates of how many TK teachers California…

In California, 2021 legislation expanded transitional kindergarten (TK) to be universal for all 4-year-olds by 2025-26. This expansion will require an additional 11,900 to 15,600 credentialed teachers. Given projected workforce needs and historic investments in teacher preparation, early childhood-focused residencies can help districts…

This study examines two longstanding but thinly evidenced claims regarding credentialing requirements for teachers in the early grades (pre-K, K, 1, 2, and 3): 1) that elementary education (ELED) educator standards, under which many U.S. early grade teachers are prepared, address early instructional practices less adequately than early childhood…

In 2021, California made major new investments to advance its commitment to early childhood education through universal preschool. One important investment was extending state funding for transitional kindergarten (TK), previously just for older 4-year-olds, to all 4-year-olds by 2025-26. To ensure the quality of new preschool investments,…

China has the largest job market in the world for English language teachers (Shuo, 2019). Individuals from all over the world move to China for work teaching English language acquisition in a variety of settings from preschool to higher education. However, a problem arises upon inspecting the credentials of these foreign teachers, many of whom…

Education reformers have spent decades doggedly working to improve student outcomes in K-12 education by championing policies spanning federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Higher education is a much different story. Policy ideas at the federal level are plentiful; however, state- or institution-level policies are examined and implemented far…

In 2013, the North Carolina state Task Force on Global Education put forth a goal of preparing students to be globally prepared for the twenty-first century. This study explored, through interviews with officials from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) as well as NCDPI's website, the influence of that global initiative on…

In light of the strong correlation between Kindergarten performance and later cognitive and achievement outcomes, this paper investigates the link between student achievement and the educational background characteristics of Kindergarten teachers. This study will utilize the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a…

In 2004, the State of Florida imposed the Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (VPK). This legislation provides free prekindergarten services to all four-year-old children in the State of Florida (Agency for Workforce Innovation [AWI], 2005a). The legislation outlines the requirements of the VPK schools. This outline addresses specifications for…

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), was first launched in 1997 as a periodic longitudinal study of program performance. Successive nationally representative samples of Head Start children and their families,…