T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® MINNESOTA is a scholarship program that helps early childhood and school-age care early educators increase their levels of education, compensation, and commitment to the field by earning college credits and degrees. Over 230 early childhood educators were awarded a scholarship in state fiscal year 2019-2020, and the program has awarded over 1,200 scholarships since it began in 2002.

The program’s new annual report is now available, and it highlights these program successes:

• Wages increased an average of 13% for recipients working toward associate degrees, and 14% for recipients working toward bachelor’s degrees.
• On average, associate degree recipients completed 16 credits; bachelor’s degree recipients completed 17 credits.
• Average turnover rates were only 5% for those with associate degree scholarships and 6% for those with bachelor’s degree scholarships.

One hundred percent of T.E.A.C.H. scholarship recipients and sponsoring programs surveyed would recommend the program to others. Continued investment in the T.E.A.C.H. program will allow even more early childhood educators to grow and thrive in their chosen field. As one recipient noted,

“I would wholeheartedly recommend this scholarship to other teachers going into the early childhood field. The financial relief T.E.A.C.H. provided was huge and it helped me to reach my higher education goals. Children need teachers who are committed and want to teach them. This program helped to strengthen my belief that teaching was how I wanted to make a difference.”