For more information, contact:
Kristina Gawrgy
202-350-8857
kgawrgy@naeyc.org
For Immediate Release:
June 20, 2007
NAEYC Provisions for Early Childhood Educators Included in U.S. Senate Higher Education Act
(Washington, DC) - The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), working closely with several members of the U.S. Senate, successfully established early childhood educators as a critical teaching workforce in the Higher Education Act, which the Senate HELP committee marked up today.
Three new provisions will significantly enhance early childhood educators' access to higher education, compensation when they attain postsecondary degrees, and provide grants to states to create comprehensive systems of professional development.
"We know that the quality of early childhood education programs is closely tied to the quality of teachers' skills and knowledge," said Mark Ginsberg, Ph.D., Executive Director of NAEYC. "By including early childhood educators as an important teaching workforce in the Higher Education Act, Congress has recognized the importance of early childhood teachers and helped strengthen efforts to ensure that every child has high quality early learning experiences that will create school success."
NAEYC worked with members of the U.S. Senate to include three critical early childhood educator provisions in the bill:
- Grants to states to create early childhood educator professional development and career systems that will address teacher's competencies and credentials, better compensation to attract and keep teachers, quality assurances for training and professional development, and articulation agreements so that teachers can move to the next level of degrees more easily. This provision is based on S. 1431, a bill sponsored by Senators Brown and Voinovich, both of Ohio;
- An allowable use of Title II partnership grants to improve compensation of early childhood educators who attain an Associate's or Baccalaureate degree. This provision is based on the PREP bill by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island; and
- An expansion of higher education loan forgiveness for early childhood educators and reauthorization of the CAMPIS program. Both of these provisions are based on legislation sponsored by Senator Dodd.
NAEYC looks forward to working with members of the U.S. Senate as this bill moves to the floor for consideration to pass these provisions.
Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has nearly 90,000 members worldwide. The association is the largest and most influential advocate for early care and education in the
# # #
Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children is the largest and most influential advocate for high-quality early care and education in the United States.
