A Leader in Early Childhood Care and Education
UD is transforming how the nation recruits, retains and supports its early childhood education workforce
Each April, the National Association for the Education of Young Children celebrates Week of the Young Child, recognizing the importance of high-quality early childhood care and education (ECE) and advocating for the professionals that make it possible.
Rena Hallam, University of Delaware professor and interim dean of UD’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), joins in this celebration each year, but takes her role as advocate seriously year-round. Parents and caregivers depend on ECE centers every day, and yet, ECE providers remain not only some of the lowest paid educators, but some of the lowest paid professionals across all occupations in the country — earning an average of only $13 per hour.
“The science is really clear about how important high-quality ECE is for children’s development and learning, but we haven’t spent enough attention on the ECE workforce,” said Hallam, who studies state systems and policies that affect the quality of center-based and home-based ECE programs. “We can encourage ECE educators and administrators to do all of these things to produce a high-quality program, but they need to be able to earn a living wage, earn a degree and feel supported and successful in their careers.”
Since 2023, Hallam has served as co-director of research for the nationally-funded, first-of-its-kind National ECE Workforce Center with CEHD’s Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood. With a $30 million investment over five years from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National ECE Workforce Center coordinates and provides technical assistance and rigorous research to advance the recruitment and retention of a diverse, qualified and supported ECE workforce.
“This investment in the National ECE Workforce Center marks the first time that the federal government has centered the ECE workforce and how we can improve the conditions of the workforce to improve early childhood education,” Hallam said. “Unlike K-12 education, the labor market and the funds that support it are very fragmented and mostly paid for by parents. We’re working to address the systemic challenges related to compensation, working conditions and career advancement.”
With Hallam’s leadership, the team has accomplished some major milestones. For example, the center has developed the ECE Workforce Systems Change Framework, a tool designed to support state and local leaders in driving meaningful policy change to improve ECE compensation, career advancement and working conditions.
“In the framework, we outline the processes to drive policy change in state and local communities,” Hallam said. “We focus on increasing compensation for the early childhood workforce, which includes earning a living wage and also accessing health care and retirement benefits.”
The framework publication is open-access — available to any educator, policymaker or leader interested in learning more. It is one of many open-access products that outline practical strategies that states and local communities can use to improve ECE compensation, career advancement and working conditions.
“We’re really happy to see that states are responding to the work that we’re doing,” Hallam said. “To date, 12 states have formalized a partnership with our center through what we call ‘communities for action,’ and we’re working to help them achieve specific goals through facilitated sessions with our team, peer learning and guided planning.”
Other states, including Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Pennsylvania, have participated with the center in action research partnerships. These action research partnerships engage leaders from ECE oversight agencies who are ready to collaborate with state or community-level “change teams” on specific practice and infrastructure changes.
Their impact has been striking. Thanks to the work of the center’s action research partnership in New Mexico and its collaboration with the Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD), the state passed legislation in February 2026 that included more than $60 million annually to implement a unified wage scale and career lattice for ECE professionals. This means that ECE professionals have a standardized wage scale and a clear path to promotion, regardless of their place of employment.
This legislation was based on the recommendations put forth by the New Mexico Change Team in July 2025, which included a team of technical assistance specialists, researchers and content experts, as well as representatives from the ECECD, the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Advisory Council and the Council’s Early Childhood Professionals Subcommittee.
“I am so grateful for the hard work of the National ECE Workforce Center and the extended invitation it has given us to have our voices heard and a seat at the table,” said Jaime R. Bangson, a teacher at UD’s Early Learning Center and a member of the Early Educator Board, which contributes to the center’s research and technical assistance activities. “As a member of the advisory board, I have the opportunity to collaborate with many educators across the United States. We discuss common goals, identify needs for resources and offer ideas for necessary research and policy changes that could better support the workforce based on our individual experiences.”
In addition to UD, core partners in the National ECE Workforce Center include Child Trends, ZERO TO THREE and the University of Massachusetts–Boston.
While the center’s research and technical assistance activities will conclude on April 30, 2026, due to a change in federal funding, all of the publications, tools and resources on its website will remain available for ECE professionals and policymakers. Hallam, along with her colleagues in the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood, will also continue their research, outreach and technical assistance to ECE professionals.
To learn more about CEHD’s degrees in ECE — including its online associate program for working ECE educators — visit the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. For more information on professional development, programs and resources for early childhood teachers, administrators and centers, visit the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood.
Header image caption: Rena Hallam, interim dean of the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) and professor in its Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, plays with children at CEHD’s Early Learning Center.
Article by Jessica Henderson. Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson.