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DCYF presents workforce definitions aimed at clearer counts of early‑learning workers
Summary
DCYF staff outlined two workforce definitions — a ‘big picture’ count of active professionals and a qualifications‑focused view tied to compliance — and said those definitions will guide forecasting for training, turnover and staffing supports while acknowledging important data limitations across Merit, ELMS and other systems.
DCYF officials on a provider‑supports call on March 25 explained a new two‑part approach to measuring Washington’s early learning and school‑age workforce.
Karma Hugo, workforce systems integration administrator, and Julie Dean, workforce data and systems manager, said DCYF will publish both (1) a ‘‘big picture’’ definition that counts unique professionals and active jobs and (2) a qualifications‑focused definition that counts jobs and professionals subject to ongoing staff‑qualification requirements. ‘‘We needed a clear, reproducible definition so we can compare year‑over‑year and forecast training and coaching needs,’’ Hugo said.
The big‑picture view counts each professional once (unique professionals) and separately counts active jobs; the qualifications view counts jobs tied to specific staff‑qualification rules and helps answer how many professionals meet particular credential thresholds. Dean said the definitions are anchored to Merit records (a unique STARs ID), require an active employment record and a licensed or active program location as of a fixed date (for example, Dec. 31).
DCYF emphasized the project’s limits. Hugo and Dean said no single system contains all workforce data: Merit covers licensed‑provider information; ELMS, WA Compass and other systems hold different pieces. They warned that family‑friend‑neighbor care, some tribal and military child care and certain Head Start data may not be fully represented.
DCYF said it will work with the Office of Innovation, Alignment and Accountability to submit data queries, publish dashboards and host discussions about how to surface limitations to users. ‘‘Data can reinforce inequities if we’re not intentional,’’ Hugo said, adding that presentation choices should make constraints and caveats obvious.
DCYF staff asked providers for feedback on what workforce metrics would be most useful — such as turnover by role, counts of professionals by qualification, and regional distributions — and invited providers to use Padlet links and upcoming office‑hour sessions to share requests and local data that might refine statewide estimates.
DCYF said initial outputs will include counts of active professionals, active job roles, and qualification‑by‑job views; it plans iterative improvements as systems and data quality evolve.
