Rachel Perera

REL Northwest conducted randomized trials to test whether emails and differing financial incentives encouraged early childhood education workforce members to participate in Oregon's early childhood education career lattice--a system that promotes continued professional development. We provided coaching to Oregon partnership members and REL Northwest Governing Board members on the study to increase their capacity to understand the study findings and make them actionable.

Randomized controlled trials tested whether sending emails and offering different financial incentives to Oregon's early childhood education workforce members led to increased education and training levels-- an outcome linked to improved quality of care for children. This infographic highlights key findings from the study.

Many states seek to increase the education levels of their early childhood education (ECE) workforce to improve the quality of care for children. Oregon encourages all ECE workforce members to sign up for a career lattice, a career pathway system that helps them determine goals related to increasing their education. The state also offers incentives for reaching specific steps in the career lattice and scholarships for college credit and community-based training. This study used two randomized...

Oklahoma offers state-funded prekindergarten (preK) to all 4-year-old children. The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest Early Childhood Education Research Partnership members in Oklahoma requested more comprehensive evidence on disparities in student participation in state-funded preK by student characteristics and geographic locale. Such disparities in participation can indicate challenges in access to or use of the program. Using administrative records from the Oklahoma State De...