Alabama

The Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education's Data Dashboard is a data visualization tool. It provides demographic and program information for public use on the state's First Class Pre-K program and other services offered by the Department, including First Teacher Home Visiting and Preschool to 3rd Grade Continuum sites.

Since November 2021, Alabama educators in licensed child care programs have been eligible for quarterly bonus payments of $3,000 (full-time employees) or $1,500 (part-time employees). These bonuses are designed to help recruit and retain educators as the early education field continues to recover from the pandemic. Bonuses are delivered to educators via a grant to the child care programs that employ them; since the program began, the state has administered grants to nearly 7,000 programs across the state. In the last quarter of 2022, nearly 12,000 educators received a bonus through this program. Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the program is slated to end in September 2023.

Sources:

Alabama Department of Human Resources. (2021). Alabama DHR Announces Grants for Stabilizing Child Care Workforce.

Alabama Department of Human Resources (2023). Application period starts next week for 6th round of child care bonuses.

Established in 2021, the Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Apprenticeship is a partnership between the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE), Wallace State Community College, Troy Univesity-Dothan, and Athens State University to increase opportunities to enter the early education workforce. Students can train in early education programs in 15 counties. The ECE Apprenticeship provides on-the-job training with a mentor, and participants complete related technical instruction from institutions of higher education. Apprentices can obtain stackable credentials, including a Child Development Associate certification, an associate degree, and/or a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, all while employed with a child care provider. Apprentices pay no cost to participate, and they earn progressive wage increases while they are learning. To offset the cost of the apprenticeship for the employer, all apprentices submit a FAFSA and apply for TEACH scholarships, Leadership in Childcare Scholarships, and C3 Scholarships. They also work with a business service representative to seek additional funding through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and other grants. Any remaining costs are covered by ADECE and the Coleman Center for Early Learning and Family Enrichment at Troy University.

Sources:

Alabama Works!. (n.d.). Alabama's first apprenticeship for early educators established.

WAFF. (2023). Early Childhood Educator Apprenticeship program could help combat Alabama’s teacher shortage.

The Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE) provides coaching and technical assistance support to early childhood programs across the state. Under the Office of Early Childhood Development, ADECE offers a variety of programs, including Early Head Start–Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) Coaching, which provides coaching and technical assistance for programs (childcare and family child care) in the EHS-CCP partnership; First Class Foundations Coaching for educators in the state-funded First Class pre-K program; DHR–ASSIST, which provides coaching and technical assistance related to social emotional learning and resilience for adults and children in child care and family child care; and Quality Rating and Improvement coaching and technical assistance to early childhood programs to support teacher and child interactions in the classroom.

Sources:

Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. (n.d.). Professional Development.

Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. (2021). Alabama Early Childhood B-8 Coaching Framework.

In 2015, Alabama enacted a salary parity policy to ensure that First Class Pre-K teachers in all types of settings were paid the same as educators in comparable roles in public K-12 schools. This policy was introduced in part to address high levels of turnover among community-based early educators. This pay paritypolicy applies to both lead and auxiliary (assistant) teachers in all settings. Alabama's First Class pre-K program provides pre-K services for 4-year-old children in many types of settings, including public schools, community-based centers, Head Start programs, faith-based programs, and military programs. In addition to salary parity, this policy also provides First Class Pre-K teachers with one hour of daily planning time and seven paid planning days per year, which is equivalent to the planning time that similarly educated K-12 educators receive.

Sources:

Gebhart, T., Carlson, J., Harris, P., & Epstein, D. (2020). Workforce Perceptions and Experiences with the Alabama Early Care and Education Salary Parity Policy, Child Trends.

Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. (2017). Alabama First Class Pre-K.

In 2015, the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education was created as an executive department of state government, replacing the Department of Children’s Affairs, to oversee programs that support young children in the state. This cabinet-level agency is led by a secretary who reports to the governor.  Within the department, four offices guide the state’s early childhood priorities: the Office of School Readiness, the Office of Early Learning and Family Support, the Head Start Collaboration Office, and the Office of Child Development and Professional Support. The Alabama Children’s Policy Council, which coordinates services across the state through a local entity in each county, was created by executive order in 2015, the same year the Department was renamed. 

Source:

Education Commission of the States (2018). Education Governance Dashboard State Profile Alabama.