Pennsylvania

In 2017, Philadelphia implemented a sweetened beverage tax to fund the city's Pre-K program. The tax charges distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages 1.5 cents per ounce. In its first year, it generated nearly $79 million in revenue, creating 2,000 pre-K slots. From 2017 to 2022, the tax generated $409 million for the city. Pre-K programs received $158.1 million, or 38.6% of that revenue.

In 2017, Pennsylvania established the Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program, a career pathway that combines college coursework, coaching, and on-the-job learning assessments. Participants can transition from a Child Development Assistant certification to receive an associate degree and/or a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education while working in an early childhood classroom. Each apprentice works with a peer coach who provides onsite coaching and mentorship. The program is funded through the 1199c Training & Upgrading Fund. Employers can support apprentices through a combination of credit-bearing on-the-job learning, classroom instruction, mentorship, and credit for prior learning, and employers are expected to provide incremental wage increases as apprentices advance in their training.

Sources:

The Pennsylvania Key. (n.d.). Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship.

National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning. (n.d.). The Pennsylvania ECE apprenticeship program.

Child Trends. (2019). Spotlight on Pennsylvania’s Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program.

Since 2017, the Philadelphia Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program has been led by the District 1199c Training & Upgrading Fund. Partner organizations include the Community College of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children. The program supports apprentices by helping them earn college credits and participate in classroom instruction, on-the-job training, and mentorship. It receives public workforce development funding under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The Training Fund began developing its apprenticeship model in 2015, and the organization produces guides for replication.

Sources:

Early Childhood Action Collective. (n.d.). Philadelphia Early Childhood Education Apprenticeship Program. EditSign

District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund. (n.d.). Program Replication Tool Kit.

Pennsylvania’s Enterprise to Link Information for Children Across Networks (PELICAN), created in 2006 by Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare and Department of Education, is the state’s early childhood integrated data system. PELICAN links data on care, education, and workforce services for all of PA’s early learning and education programs (e.g., Head Start, Family Visiting, Pre-K, etc.). It also provides demographic, program, workforce, and individual data by request and data-sharing agreement. Individual data is deidentified through common identifiers. For public use, the Office of Child Development and Early Learning has used PELICAN to create Early Learning Dashboards using demographic and program data related to certification and licensing, early intervention, family engagement, integrated programs, children eligible vs. children served, location density, subsidized child care, and more.

Sources:
Holman, D., Pennington, A., Schaberg, K., and Rock, A. (2020). Compendium of Administrative Data Sources for Self-Sufficiency Research. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services..
PDG B-5 TA Center. (2021). State Highlight: How Pennsylvania State Leaders Used Data to Distribute CARES Act Funds Equitably During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
LiBetti, A. & Fu, R. (2022). A State Scan of Early Learning Assessments and Data Systems. New America.

Philadelphia’s Office of Integrated Data for Evidence and Action was created in 2022 to host the city’s integrated data system. The system collects, stores, links administrative records on demographic, program, individual data on social services across multiple city programs (e.g., birth records, health records, foster care, pre-K, early intervention) and agencies (e.g., Education, Early Childhood, Housing). The private individual-level data is matched and deidentified using an internal matching system. The data system is used internally for policymaking and research in the city and has strong ties to Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Office of Integrated Data for Evidence and Action was created by Mayor James Kenney’s Executive Order 2-22. But the city's integrated data system—formerly known as both CARES and KIDS—had existed since 2002, funded by seed grants from William Penn Foundation and by a collaboration among the City of Philadelphia, the School District of Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania.