Influence of quality credentialing programs on teacher characteristics in center-based early care and education settings

Abstract

Considerable evidence relates the quality of early childhood education (ECE) to children’s developmental outcomes, with teacher qualifications often cited as a critical ingredient for high-quality care. As a result, quality credentialing programs—including Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Early Learning Program—are increasingly prominent vehicles for improving program quality. This study combines a randomized resume audit study with administrative data on provider participation in QRIS (N = 5607) and NAEYC (N = 10,553) to examine whether these quality credentialing programs influence provider behavior during the teacher hiring process. While NAEYC-accredited providers are strongly attracted to job applicants with ECE work experience, education, and other professional credentials, QRIS participants are not.