Reviewed/Updated October 2024
The Nevada Registry began as a collaborative effort of a diverse group of Early Care and Education professionals and programs across the state who 1) shared the desire to improve the quality of environments for children, 2) saw the need to address the issues that lead to high staff turnover among our workforce, 3) were working to develop innovative systems leading to increased wages and professionalism in the field of ECE and 4) supported the development of a central clearinghouse of information linking all professionals in the state.
In 1998, The Nevada State Child Care Steering Committee established three subcommittees to support its work:
- Policy and Payment Practices Subcommittee, 2) Consumer Education Subcommittee, and 3) Quality, Training and Licensing Subcommittee (QTL). All three subcommittees worked together to create a report and recommendations for the Nevada State Child Care Advisory Committee. The report outlined the following recommendations:
- Establish a Nevada State Early Care and Education Office
- Improve Child Care Licensing Standards
- Establish a Career Ladder for Nevada Early Childhood Professionals
- Develop a coordinated training and education system statewide
- Establish statewide scholarship and wage initiatives
In 1999, the Nevada Apprenticeship Program for Child Care began. The State of Nevada Office of Early Care and Education office (now called the Nevada Department of Education Office of Early Learning and Development) was also established. During this time, the QTL created subcommittees to work on the Career Ladder, Tiered Reimbursement and Core Knowledge Areas. After a tremendous amount of research and discussion, drafts of all three systems were completed in 2001. While researching how other states incorporate each of these components in their states, it became apparent to the QTL committee and the Office of Early Care and Education that a Child Care Registry in Nevada was the next logical step.
Meanwhile, in April 2002, an Early Care and Education Summit was held with over 100 participants. Participants provided feedback on the proposed Career Ladder, Tiered Reimbursement System and Core Knowledge Areas. On April 12, 2002, the Nevada State Child Care Advisory Committee adopted both the Career Ladder and the Tiered Reimbursement Systems. The Core Knowledge Areas remained a work in progress.
In August of the same year, the Office of Early Care and Education contracted with the Washoe County School District (WCSD) to develop the structure to house and implement each of the adopted components. With funds from the Child Care and Development Block Grant, a team from the Wisconsin Registry was hired and met with a small group from the Office of Early Care and Education and the WCSD to help create Nevada’s Registry system. It was at this point that development began on what we now refer to as The Nevada Registry.
Back-end program development continued for the next couple of years. During this time, the Registry concept and Training Approval System were marketed statewide through presentations at most, if not all, Child Care Licensing Board meetings. A small pilot of the Participant Application for Career Ladder placement was also conducted in December 2003.
The Nevada Early Care and Education Professional Career Ladder/Registry system was officially launched in January 2004 as a voluntary career development system. A committee comprised of statewide representatives was formed to serve as The Nevada Registry Advisory Committee and assist with program development. The next component of the Registry, a statewide training approval system, was launched in October of the same year. It was at this point that the program became responsible for the approval of all informal community-based training offered in Nevada, which meant that all training taken to meet annual requirements now had to be approved by The Nevada Registry to be accepted by Child Care Licensing.
In April of 2009, participation with The Nevada Registry was adopted into State Child Care Licensing regulations R112-06 and R001-09 for all Early Childhood educators working in licensed child care settings. Mandatory participation was fully phased-in as of December 31, 2012, positioning The Nevada Registry to collect and provide a vast amount of essential, and previously unavailable, data on the early childhood workforce in Nevada that will be used to inform the work of stakeholders and policy makers in the future, as well as helping to direct decisions regarding future funding and program development.