U of I System pilot builds flexible pathways for working early childhood educators
Her workday finished, keys in hand, Yolanda Flowers is halfway out the door when a coworker catches her. “How did you find money for tuition?” They squeeze into the tiny chairs her preschoolers sit in every day, brushing Play-Doh off the table. In this room, she’s the teacher. In her program, she’s the student. Right now, she’s both — walking her coworker through the path she found.
Flowers is site director at the It Takes a Village early learning center at River City in Chicago’s South Loop. Skilled at navigating financial aid and scholarship opportunities, she’s pursuing her Illinois Professional Educator License and working on her second master’s degree so she can continue advocating for what she believes in — the power of early childhood education and the teachers who make it possible.
Early childhood educators help shape the lives of tomorrow’s data scientists, nurse practitioners, and civil engineers. But teachers’ paychecks don’t always reflect that reality.
That disconnect has statewide consequences. Gov. JB Pritzker’s recent budget address highlights the urgent need for well-trained early childhood educators, but many who want to boost their skills are working full-time and raising families. They can’t afford to stop earning to go to school.
Building the workforce
The University of Illinois System’s Early Childhood Education Collaboration addresses that barrier, ensuring clear pathways to career and financial success.
In the pilot program, adult learners can take online courses — from both the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at the same time — to build skills, achieve professional licensure, and earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Financial aid and scholarships, including through Illinois Gateways, Chicago Early Learning, and the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity, help make those pathways possible.
“We had to make early childhood education accessible,” said Sophia Gehlhausen Anderson, U of I System director of policy, academic programs, and strategic initiatives. “The early childhood educator target population is generally adult students who are working, mostly women, mostly mothers.
“They want to upskill. They want to learn, expand opportunities for themselves, and increase their income.”
Pritzker’s proposed budget seeks a $55 million boost to the state’s Child Care Assistance Program to support services for an additional 155,000 Illinois children. He also wants funding that increases pay for childcare educators so they can afford to upskill.
With current barriers in place, low wages make it nearly impossible to afford credentials, and traditional programs require daytime attendance when educators need to be working.
The gap is unsustainable. The U of I System pilot helps close it.
Pathways for every stage
The collaboration meets educators wherever they are. A teaching assistant with an associate degree can pursue a bachelor’s online without leaving their students. A head teacher can add a master’s or specialized endorsement.
The common thread: No one has to stop working to keep growing.
Still, Flowers spent a year asking herself if she could do it. Working full time. Helping raise her nephew. Going to graduate school.
“I had to make sure I was all in,” she said. “I knew I had to give 100 percent or nothing at all.”
The program’s flexibility gave her the answer: yes.
Because she’s benefited from support throughout her journey, Flowers takes every opportunity to share what she’s learned about scholarships, financial aid, and programs designed for working adults.
Access changed her trajectory. She makes sure others know it can change theirs.
