Child care and early education (CCEE) programs are essential resources for families and children across the country, yet qualified educators are choosing to leave their positions, and young professionals are choosing not to enter the field. This long-lasting issue is thought to be driven largely by structural and systemic forces that shape the everyday experiences of the CCEE workforce and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report lays out a conceptual framework to serve as a guide for researchers, policymakers, and administrators who are conducting research on the CCEE workforce and who are designing and implementing strategies to enact positive change within the field. The conceptual framework describes the following items:

• workforce dynamics, which encompass the four phases of the CCEE pipeline (entry, retention, turnover, and advancement)
   
• sociocultural, community, workplace, and individual influences on workforce dynamics
   
• five levers of change that workforce development strategies can target to positively impact the workforce, and the underlying structure needed to implement them successfully

The report is also intended to provide information about how to build and sustain this critical workforce.