Project Resources
The ECE Profession Bill is informed by the multi-year workforce initiative Advancing ECE as a Profession.
This page includes current and past toolkits, publications, videos, and core documents
to build awareness of the work to advance early childhood education as a profession—and why it matters.
Flyers, Explainers, and Toolkits
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Why Professional Recognition Matters
The ECE Profession Bill is workforce-informed, workforce-strengthening legislation.
How the Bill Aligns with Workforce Recommendations
This crosswalk shows how recommendations and advocacy from Vermont's workforce align with the language in the ECE Profession Bill.
The Process to Create an Early Childhood Educator Profession
From the workforce outreach consensus process, to the ECE Profession Bill, to next steps if the bill passes.
Act 76 Explainer
How Act 76 (the "Child Care Law") supports an early childhood education profession—and what the 2023 law does and does not do.
For FCCH Owners
The ECE Profession Bill includes retention provisions specifically for family child care home owners. Learn about these and other available supports.
Implementation Recommendation: ECE I Preparation Pathway
Recommendation: Create an ECE I preparation pathway with three existing credit-bearing courses at CCV and 80 hours of field experience.
Professional Identity Toolkit: Who We Are and What We Do
Samples, resources, and a thought board to support implementing a professional identity as early childhood educators.
Social Media Toolkit: Using Your Digital Voice
A toolkit to support early childhood educators as digital advocates on social media. Developed by Let’s Grow Kids in partnership with VTAEYC.
Advancing ECE as a Profession Leadership
Charts and Graphics
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Workforce-led Engagement
This graphic shows the Advancing ECE as a Profession initiative’s engagement with Vermont’s early childhood education workforce and stakeholders during the Decision Draft / Consensus Document part of the project. This outreach shaped workforce recommendations submitted to Vermont’s Office of Professional Regulation (OPR).
Proposed Minimum Compensation Scale
This table reflects a model minimum compensation standard informed by feedback from Advancing ECE as a Profession workforce surveys and ecosystem research. This table has been updated by Let’s Grow Kids to reflect the years that ECE Profession implementation is projected to begin.
ECE Setting and Regulation Map
Per the ECE Profession Bill, the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) would license early childhood educators working in state-regulated, non-public settings: family child care home programs and center-based child care programs. Educators who hold AOE teacher licensure with ECE endorsement would be exempt from OPR regulation.
ECE Profession Bill Recommended Timeline
This graphic shows the timeline recommended for phasing in the profession.
Legislation Vs. Rulemaking
Legislation defines what the profession is, what the profession does, and who the profession includes. Rulemaking follows legislation. This is the process by which the profession governing board and OPR staff define the rules and regulations that will guide the profession. The rulemaking process includes public input.
Workforce Recommendations to the State of Vermont
Social Media Assets
From the Advancing ECE as a Profession Initiative: Posts and Videos You May Download And Share
ECE Profession FAQs
Social tiles and reels with our most frequently asked questions about how the ECE Profession will work—and answers from our recommendations.
Teaching And Learning Through Play
Tiles showing how early childhood educators use play to help children learn about themselves and their world.
"I Am An ECE"
Photos of Vermont early childhood educators at work, with quotes from Vermont workforce members about what it means to be an early childhood educator.
Popular Tiles and Reels
The ECE Profession initiative’s most affirming, most liked, and most shared social media tiles and reels.
Consensus Documents
The Task Force's Publications on Workforce Consensus
Quick access to all workforce consensus on how Vermont aligns with the Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession. Scroll down for more detail about each section.
Professional Identity:
Full | Brief
Three Designations with Aligned Preparation Pathways:
Full | Brief | Video
We Are Early Childhood Educators
Our profession is early childhood education. This is a distinct profession within the larger field of early childhood.
When you walk into any hospital or public school in the nation, you can tell by looking at someone’s ID lanyard what their role is and what they are qualified to do.
Early childhood education is specialized work. A cohesive professional identity across states and settings helps our communities understand our qualifications for doing this work, and the importance of providing high quality experiences for young children.Â
Learn more about the roles, responsibilities, and boundaries of the early childhood education profession in our Professional Identity Consensus Document.
We Practice as ECE I, ECE II, or ECE III
Early childhood educators will practice at one of three clear professional designations that represent their specific qualifications to support, lead, and guide.
We recommend preparation qualifications for each designation that are aligned and stackable:
- ECE I: Preparation program of minimum 120 clock hours
- ECE II: Associate degree in early childhood education
- ECE III: Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education
As an early childhood educator’s preparation and competency increase, their responsibilities and compensation also increase.Â
Learn more in our Three Designations with Aligned Preparation Pathways Consensus Document and video, and our explainer.
We Are Individually Licensed to Practice
Individual regulation through licensure allows for reciprocity across states and creates a system of accountability.
A license to practice shows hiring programs, families, and the public that a professional is ready and able to do their job. A license shows that a professional:
- Has specialized knowledge and skills
- Shows professional judgment and ethics
- Holds a position of trust
This simplifies hiring, disciplinary processes, and reciprocity when educators move from state to state. Showing we are willing to be held accountable for our practice strengthens our case for public investment in early childhood education as a public good.
Learn more in our Professional Licensure Consensus Document and video, and explainer.
We Receive Professional Compensation
Compensation will be funded through a supportive system that recognizes early childhood education as a public good.
We recommend that professional compensation will:
- Be comparable to public school salaries, and comparable across settings for educators with comparable qualifications, experience, and job responsibilities
- Include an adequate benefits package
- Increase along with increased preparation and increased competency
- Not differentiate based on the ages of children served
Learn more about compensation and how it will be funded in our Professional Compensation Consensus Document and video, and see recommendations from our Minimum Compensation Design Team.
Video Updates and Archive
Recordings and Recaps
Virtual ECE Profession professional development sessions are saved to our Youtube playlist after we no longer offer that session. Most are available in both full-length and 20-minute brief versions. You can explore all past offerings in our playlist.
The videos here are info sessions, some of which are embedded in current and past professional development sessions:
“The Legislative Process” Understanding how model legislation eventually becomes law with Let’s Grow Kids’ Chief Policy Officer Sarah Kenney.
“The Role of Higher Ed in Advancing as a Profession” Dr. Kaitie Northey describes how ECE preparation programs support the initiative through a study group created to improve collaboration and alignment with NAEYC’s Professional Standards and Competencies.
“Minimum Compensation Standards” A presentation from Sherry Carlson on the Design Team’s compensation research and recommendations. From 2022; numbers to be updated.
Core Documents
Publications That Inform Our Work
- The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession, Power to the Profession, 2020
- Unifying Framework Backgrounder (Commission, 2023)
- FAQ on Aligning to the Unifying Framework (Commission, 2023)
- Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators,  NAEYC, 2019
- Increasing Qualifications, Centering Equity: Experiences and Advice from Early Childhood Educators of Color, NAEYC, 2019
- Transforming the Workforce For Children Birth Through Age Eight: A Unifying Foundation, Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015
- Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment, NAEYC, revised 2005, reaffirmed and updated 2011
- “You can’t have professionals without a profession,” (New America Weekly) and other research, posts, and presentations by Stacie Goffin
- “Early Childhood Education Professional Recognition Act: Summary of ECE Professional Licensure Legislation and Regulations,” Commission on Professional Excellence in Early Childhood Education, 2023
Publications Informed By Our Work
- Vermont Early Care and Education Financing Study: Final Report, RAND Corporation, 2023
- “Implementing an ‘Audacious Vision’: A Collaborative Approach Across Vermont Higher Education Programs”, Young Children, Summer 2023 [written by Kaitlin Northey and Susan Titterton; NAEYC membership required to read]
More Publications and Commentaries
- “Investing in early childhood educators is a lever of change”, Staci Otis and Susan Titterton, 2021 op-ed in vtdigger.org
- “Celebrate visibility. It’s what’s best for young children”, Sharron Harrington, 2023 op-ed in vtdigger.org
- “Giving voice to our educator identity”, Jen Olson, 2024 op-ed in Addison Independent
- “I belong to the next generation of early childhood educators. Vermont needs us”, Alora Zargo, 2024 op-ed in vtdigger.org
- “Vermont must protect and strengthen the programs that prepare early childhood educators”, Heather Duhamel and Kaitlin Northey, 2025 op-ed in vtdigger.org
Publications Related to the ECE Profession Bill
- S.206 as introduced, 2026 (The Early Childhood Educator Profession Bill)
- “Early Childhood Education Sunrise Review Assessment“, Vermont Office of Professional Regulation, 2025Â
Looking For Supports?
VTAEYC offers career supports, scholarships, grants, and bonuses and can connect you with additional opportunities.
No- or low-cost credential opportunities, combined with your experience can help you transition to ECE I, II, or III.