Professional Development Incentives for Oregon's Early Childhood Education Workforce
August 24, 2021
Can emails and financial incentives increase early childhood education workforce members' participation in professional development?
Increased educational attainment among early childhood education (ECE) workers has been linked to improvements in classroom quality. Oregon ECE workforce members can pursue various professional development opportunities by participating in the state's career lattice, a system that helps them determine goals and navigate pathways to higher education and training levels.
To help Oregon education stakeholders understand how to encourage career lattice participation, REL Northwest conducted randomized controlled trials to test whether sending emails and offering different financial incentives to ECE workforce members increased career lattice sign-up, education and training levels, and workplace retention.
Study findings suggest that low-touch interventions such as emails have promise for increasing training hours but are insufficient to induce changes in career lattice sign-up or continuing postsecondary education for Oregon ECE workforce members.
Professional Development Incentives for Oregon's Early Childhood Education Workforce
Report | Infographic