110 ILCS 28/5

(110 ILCS 28/5)

Sec. 5. Findings. The General Assembly makes all of the following findings:

(1) This State faces a shortage of qualified early childhood educators, with high vacancy rates in child care centers, community-based early childhood programs, and school-based classrooms across this State. Like roads and bridges, early education and child care is an essential part of our infrastructure that enables families to work in all other industries. Beyond addressing the current need, growing federal and State commitments to expanding early childhood services, including the recommendations put forth in the Governor's Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding report in March 2021, suggest that this State must be prepared to meet the growing demand for a qualified workforce to deliver these services in the coming years.

(2) To meet this growing demand and support this critical infrastructure, the Illinois higher education system must support our incumbent early childhood workforce through credential and degree attainment. The workforce is overwhelmingly made up of women and women of color, and many are balancing full-time employment, family needs, and other responsibilities. Often, traditional bachelor's degree programs are not accessible to place-bound, full-time working parents.

(3) In this State, there is a history of partnership among early childhood providers, stakeholders, and higher education to identify workforce needs and strategies to help promote access to higher education and degree completion among the workforce. Illinois institutions of higher education have taken steps to demonstrate a commitment to the early childhood field, as well as underserved student populations. Hybrid program models, cohort program models, and scholarships and financial incentives for students help to promote access to many early childhood degree programs in this State.

(4) Over the past 2 decades, this State has attempted numerous strategies to develop and support partnerships among institutions of higher education that are focused on this State's early childhood workforce. Through these broader initiatives, as well as many individual local partnerships, community colleges and public and private universities have worked to implement articulation agreements, credit transfer agreements, and program delivery models, although not all partnerships have been maintained. Such initiatives include all of the following:

(A) In 2004, this State developed the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree model to promote articulation among 2-year and 4-year institutions of higher education. However, with the challenges in credit transfer contributing to the limited viability and success of the degree model, the Illinois Community College Board stopped approving the AAT degree model and has worked across the higher education system to discontinue these programs.

(B) In 2013, this State dedicated federal Race to the Top funds to create the Early Childhood Educator Preparation Program Innovation (EPPI) Grant program. Among other goals, the EPPI Grant program aimed to foster the creation or further development of partnerships between 2-year and 4-year preparation programs at institutions of higher education, promote articulation and alignment of the curriculum between 2-year and 4-year programs, and support early childhood educator preparation programs in designing a curriculum to incorporate new State standards and program requirements. While the EPPI Grant program led to some effective partnerships that still remain intact today, program evaluations found varying levels of partnership and that, in many cases, successful agreements were contingent upon individual relationships or individual leaders within institutions.

(C) Through the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI), there are 3 early childhood courses approved for articulation among participating institutions. More than 100 Illinois colleges and universities participate in the IAI, though challenges with inconsistent participation and recognition do exist.

(D) Most recently, the creation of competency-based education components for early childhood education will help ensure that higher education and credential programs are designed to prepare early childhood educators to demonstrate the same critical core competencies. The emphasis on core competencies could improve educator preparedness and could ease credit transfer and articulation processes moving forward.

These programs and partnerships continue to benefit many early childhood education students across this State, but, overall, these efforts have not produced adequate early childhood degrees to meet the demands in the field. These types of initiatives are highly contingent upon relationships and partnerships between specific institutions and are often impacted if an institution experiences turnover or program changes. Furthermore, these partnerships often do not address the geographic, structural, and economic barriers the incumbent workforce often faces in accessing bachelor's degree programs while working full-time in the field. These ongoing challenges are not new and have been noted in the development of these previous efforts.

(5) As noted in the provisions of Public Act 101-654, the General Assembly recognizes the critical role of the early childhood workforce and, in response to challenges, including staffing shortages and barriers to higher education, calls upon the Board of Higher Education to better meet the needs of the early childhood workforce.

(6) The General Assembly encourages this State to consider dedicating federal funds for pandemic relief and economic recovery efforts to ensure a successful launch of the Consortium and the opportunities it creates to meet the needs of the early childhood incumbent workforce, including student financial support. This State, the incumbent workforce, and the children in care will benefit as workers enroll, persist, and complete credential and degree programs.

(Source: P.A. 102-174, eff. 7-28-21.)