Examining Regional Differences in the Arkansas Early Care and Education Workforce

This issue brief analyzes characteristics of the early care and education (ECE) workforce in Arkansas and identifies research on the correlation between high-quality ECE and child development, as well as ECE providers’ emotional well-being. The brief focuses on variance of the ECE workforce by region or in terms of rural versus urban relative to teachers’ and caregivers’ self-reports of well-being, economic pressures, and education levels. Also highlighted are the factors that stakeholders identify as contributing to the variation of these characteristics across the state.