The Registry is designed to collect information about people working in the field in order to do the following:
- Bring recognition and professionalism to all those who work in early childhood
- Assist individuals and program directors in professional development planning
- Inform policymakers and state planners about the early childhood workforce to track progress in meeting state and federal workforce goals and requirements.
Who benefits from the Registry and how?
Individuals: Individuals who register have their qualifications verified and can print out their profiles as documentation for employers and other entities.
Benefits:
- Placement on career ladder and official Registry certificate
- OEC scholarship is open only to Registry participants
- Application for licensing Head Teacher is only accessible via Registry account; Head Teacher certificates are live in the holder’s account
- Application for the Early Childhood teacher Credential (ECTC) is only accessible via Registry account; the ECTC document is live in the holder’s account
- Application for technical assistance providers
- The Registry auto-calculates eligibility to be a Qualified Staff Member in a state-funded program
- OEC advisors give individualized counseling to help individuals map out an education plan for advancement on the career ladder.
Program Administrators: Those individuals authorized to have administrative access to a program’s information in the Registry have access to tools and services to support their leadership. In addition to being able to see data from individuals with confirmed employment in the specific program, employee data wraps up into program-wide reports.
Benefits:
- Streamline the reporting process and unify the requirements of workforce qualifications for the state
- Real time reports on qualifications of program staff
- On-going and historical reports on the status of scholarships that program staff have requested from the OEC
- Tools and web links for professional development planning for program staff
- Tool to assess a program’s readiness for the accreditation process through the National Association for the Education of Young Children; through a partnership with NAEYC, programs can print and send NAEYC a streamlined report that serves as proxy for the candidacy / renewal education qualifications
Technical Assistance Providers: Early childhood technical assistance providers are able to have their qualifications verified and post information on the website to be viewed by programs seeking qualified individuals.
Benefits:
- Process that allow programs to identify qualified technical assistance providers for interdisciplinary training and technical assistance
- Capacity for licensing to track consultants to early childhood programs for compliance with center and group home licensing.
Policymakers, Planners and Researchers: The Registry contributes data and information about staff and programs in early care and education in Connecticut.
Benefits:
- Real time data on the career ladder levels and qualifications of staff who work in state-funded programs to identify needs, track progress and assess how programs are meeting quality standards
- Data on the status of NAEYC accreditation of Connecticut programs
- Workforce data for state and community planners to identify needs and track progress.