{"id":143030,"date":"2021-06-04T12:25:10","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T22:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=143030"},"modified":"2021-06-08T09:18:19","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T19:18:19","slug":"1-3m-to-support-early-childhood-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/06\/04\/1-3m-to-support-early-childhood-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> receives $1.3M<\/abbr> to support early childhood workforce in Hawai\u2018i"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"female\"<\/p>\n

A University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa College of Education<\/a> (COE<\/abbr>) early childhood instructor has been awarded $1.3 million from the Early Educator Investment Collaborative<\/a> (EEIC<\/abbr>). Under the direction of Theresa Lock, who is in the Institute for Teacher Education (ITE<\/abbr>), the two-year grant program, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Early Childhood Educator Excellence and Equity (Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> ECE3<\/abbr>) Project, will develop, expand and implement innovative approaches and dismantle structural barriers to early childhood education workforce preparation and compensation.<\/p>\n

Lock will work in close coordination with more than 20 partner agencies, including the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Teacher Standards Board, Executive Office on Early Learning, Early Learning Board, Honolulu Community College<\/a>, Chaminade University, INPEACE and Kamehameha Schools.<\/p>\n

“For decades, training and compensation for the early care and education workforce in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> have been sorely neglected,” Lock stated. “This is especially evident among those serving infants through preschool. Well-prepared and well-compensated teachers will ensure that all children make significant and sustained gains in physical, cognitive, social and emotional development.”<\/p>\n

Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> ECE3<\/abbr> will establish “The Center” at COE<\/abbr> to coordinate Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s innovative educator preparation program reforms. The Center will work with a coalition of interdisciplinary partners to coordinate and complete two major activities: 1. A statewide teacher career pathway from recruitment to induction for students from diverse backgrounds to attain their early childhood education associate and bachelor degrees; and 2. An early childhood workforce compensation equity plan to better understand how to build options for competitive compensation for early childhood education lead teachers.<\/p>\n

“By almost all measures, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> lags behind the rest of the nation in providing access to high-quality early childhood education programs, particularly for children and families most in need,” Lock continued. “This funding opportunity is the accelerant we need to spark a fire of transformation to improve our state\u2019s early childhood workforce system.”<\/p>\n

ITE<\/abbr> Elementary Director Kuʻulei<\/span> Serna<\/strong> said, “Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is incredibly blessed to receive this grant among a highly competitive pool of applicants. I couldn\u2019t think of a more qualified person than Dr. Lock to direct the ECE3<\/abbr> Project. The Center\u2019s activities will unify multiple sectors of our community to transform early childhood education in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. Dr. Lock\u2019s hard work in cooperation with other professionals across the state as well as public-private partnerships are invaluable and will greatly benefit Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s children, families and the early childhood education profession.”<\/p>\n

Part of an EEIC<\/abbr> Transforming Early Childhood Education Lead Teacher Preparation Grant, the project is also supported by local matching funds and in-kind support from the COE<\/abbr>, Executive Office on Early Learning, Kamehameha Schools, Samuel N. & Mary Castle Foundation and the K\u014daniani Fund at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Foundation.<\/p>\n

Read the news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This work is an example of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015\u201325 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Institute for Teacher Education Instructor Theresa Lock will develop, expand and implement innovative approaches. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[95,908,598,1363,933,1486,9],"class_list":["post-143030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-college-of-education","tag-early-childhood-education","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-manoa-research","tag-teacher-education","tag-teaching","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143030"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143036,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143030\/revisions\/143036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}