The Nevada Registry

Workforce Registry Name: The Nevada Registry

Reach: Statewide

Participation status:  Mandatory for all educators working in licensed child care settings.

ECE Workforce Population:  8,288 active members as of September 19, 2023

Registry Functions and Professional Supports:

Vision

Nevada’s diverse and stable Early Care and Education workforce is well-educated, highly skilled, valued, equitably compensated and supported by a comprehensive professional development system to support positive outcomes for children and families.

 Mission

The Nevada Registry recognizes and supports the Early Care and Education (ECE) workforce by promoting members’ professional growth and contributing to workforce data and research to foster high quality early learning for children birth through age eight.

Value Statement

The Nevada Registry is committed to delivering services in a professional and respectful manner while valuing each member’s personal and professional journey. We openly collaborate with partners and stakeholders to strengthen the state early childhood system and elevate public awareness of Early Care and Education as an essential resource for the community.

Fall 2023 Interview with:

Shelly Nye, Program Director

Please give us an overview of the workforce registry in your state. Who does it serve?

The Nevada Registry is a professional development and workforce data system capturing information about the demographics, education, training, and employment of the ECE workforce. It is one of the statewide efforts geared toward reducing staff turnover, increasing wages, heightening professionalism and increasing advancement opportunities for ECE educators.

History

The Nevada Registry launched in 2004 as a voluntary system of professional development. It became apparent very quickly that without the entire workforce participating, our state would not have the ability to create a complete picture of the ECE workforce in Nevada. Almost immediately, collaborative work began to advocate for mandatory participation and in April of 2009, participation with The Nevada Registry was adopted into State Child Care Licensing regulations 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 can be, and is currently being used to inform the work of stakeholders, policy makers and researchers as well as helping to guide decisions regarding future funding and our own continuous program development and improvement.

“In addition to being a workforce data system for the state of Nevada and the host of Nevada’s Early Care and Education Professional Career Ladder, The Nevada Registry is also a recognition system and professional development support helping to advance the careers of ECE educators.”

The ladder is designed to promote mutual respect, cooperation, and equal importance among all roles and settings. It is a person’s level of education and specialized training in ECE that determines his/her placement on the Career Ladder as opposed to his/her job title.

Comprehensive System

Providing a single point of access, the Registry provides professional development planning tools, including an online Professional Development Plan, and hosts a comprehensive website containing an online calendar of approved training, an industry-related NEWS page, statewide job board and community resources/information. The Nevada Registry also operates the statewide trainer and training approval system for all informal, community-based training (not-for-college-credit) in Nevada.

Membership with The Nevada Registry is open to all ECE professionals regardless of role or setting. This includes anyone working with children birth through age eight and families in a variety of settings (Center-Based, Family Child Care, Head Start, State-Funded Pre-K, Tribal Child Care, Out-of-School, Family, Friend and Neighbor, Kith and Kin, etc.) and in a variety of roles (Teachers, Caregivers, Child Care Providers, Family Day Care and Group Home Providers, etc.). Participation is open to professionals who are new to the field as much as to those who have served children and families for many years.

What is the role of The Nevada Registry within the Professional Development System?

The Nevada Registry is an integral component of the professional development system in Nevada. Because participation is required for most of the workforce in our state, we serve as an essential support to other parts of the system by providing a vast amount of workforce data that does not exist elsewhere.

The Nevada Registry is also a vital support for Child Care Licensing. Because participation is mandatory for all educators working in licensed child care programs, The Nevada Registry helps to streamline membership compliance verification as well as the annual training verification processes of Child Care Licensing by providing surveyors limited database access to verify an individual’s membership status. The training transcript available in each member’s account provides a record of all completed Registry-approved training. 

• As the program responsible for the approval of all informal (not-for-college-credit) child care training for the State of Nevada, The Nevada Registry’s statewide system of training approval supports the larger professional development system in Nevada by promoting quality training opportunities for Early Childhood educators and creates consistency within the training approval process. All approved training is linked to Nevada’s Core Knowledge Areas and is based on developmentally appropriate practice and theories of child development. Serving as the central clearinghouse for receiving and approving training requests, tracking approved training and maintaining an online calendar of approved events, The Nevada Registry connects the ECE workforce to training to meet their professional development needs and goals.
• The implementation of an online attendance tracking feature and data import process with approved online training organizations aids in the collection of real-time data and helps create a more accurate snapshot of completed professional development while helping to collect data about training access, frequency and usage on a statewide basis including the completion of CCDBG Health & Safety training.

The Nevada Registry is also embedded within several of the state’s professional development and quality initiatives as a foundational support.

• All staff working in programs participating in QRIS are required to be active members of The Nevada Registry as one of the required criteria within the center-based program standards of our state’s Quality, Rating and Improvement System.
• The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Nevada Scholarship Program provides financial support to ECE professionals to pursue associate degrees in ECE or to complete college credits in ECE to advance on The Nevada Registry’s Career Ladder.
• The Early Childhood Staff Stipend Incentive Program administered by the Nevada Association for the Education of Young Children relies heavily on The Nevada Registry system. The program provides financial incentives to child care providers who are active members of The Nevada Registry working in qualified programs at the time of application. Eligibility determinations are made by The Nevada Registry and application to the stipend is available through the Online Portal accounts of eligible Registry members creating a single point of access.
•  The Nevada Registry serves as the gateway for the Telehealth Services Benefit Program as well. As a result of a partnership between the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, The Nevada Registry, Optima Benefits & Payroll and AllyHealth, active members of The Nevada Registry are eligible to enroll to receive free telemedicine, teletherapy, dental, vision and EAP benefits. Individuals must opt-in to the program from within their Registry membership account.

It is envisioned that Nevada’s future Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) will combine data from The Nevada Registry with data from other relevant databases to build on existing integration efforts and will build a better understanding of the ECE system in Nevada as a whole.

The Nevada’s future public-facing reporting interface and report generator (data dashboard) will allow visitors to The Nevada Registry’s website to generate real-time reports on predetermined data points related to Early Childhood workforce data (broad indicators of the workforce such as ethnicity, education level, geographical characteristics and median hour wage). The interface will allow for internal and external reporting and include API functionality to allow for future integration with the ECIDS and other quality and workforce-related initiatives outlined in the Nevada Early Care and Education Workforce Framework and PDGB-5 grant related to compensation and financial initiatives such as a unified salary scale and compensation model tied to Registry workforce data. 

Please expand on the types of functions and services The Nevada Registry provides that effectively support and strengthen the ECE professionals in your state.

The Nevada Registry performs many functions and provides a variety of professional supports as indicated above. Because all parts of the professional development system in Nevada are not yet integrated, development of new supports and services offered by The Nevada Registry remains centered around creating a single point of access and a streamlined user experience to reduce redundancy and duplication of effort for Registry members, trainers, Directors, QRIS coaches, licensing surveyors and other stakeholders. Several of the activities designed to support and strengthen the ECE workforce in Nevada are highlighted below.

The Adult Learning Academy (ALA) is a classroom-style training session designed to increase the number of high-quality publicly offered training sessions available to the Early Childhood community by preparing individuals with less than 15 hours of previous training experience to initially qualify as trainers. The ALA is focused on adult learning and provides prospective trainers with fundamental principles and foundational information to help support the delivery of high-quality training sessions. Additionally, the ALA provides an opportunity for participants to develop effective presentation skills through the development and delivery of a one-hour presentation with peer-to-peer feedback.

The Employee List feature was designed to further aid in the compliance with Child Care Licensing regarding mandatory participation and to help gain a more accurate estimate of the size of the active ECE workforce in Nevada. Through this feature (available within the Online Portal), Directors with administrative rights can easily determine if their staff are in active status with the Registry and/or steps required to complete the application process. Directors can remove employees who have left and add new employees to their staff listing which helps expedite the verification processes regarding mandatory participation during their annual compliance visits with Child Care Licensing.

Limited database access has been created via the Online Portal for licensing surveyors, QRIS coaching staff and T.E.A.C.H counselors to help streamline their verification processes regarding mandatory participation by allowing a search by name and to generate an employee list by program. Licensing staff can also search by approval code to verify the training approval status of a training session.

The Nevada Registry  free statewide Job Board is provided as a service to the Early Childhood community in Nevada primarily to help licensed child care facilities fill vacant positions but is available to all ECE-related programs hiring staff. The Job Board helps employers advertise current job opportunities in ECE and aids individuals in their search for employment in child care and other ECE-related roles. Administrative access to post positions is embedded within the Online Portal.

“To streamline access to the Early Childhood Staff Stipend Incentive Program and the Telehealth Services Benefit Program, initial application and enrollment to both programs is available within The Nevada Registry’s system via the Online Portal. Utilization of the Registry in this way supports our workforce by creating a single point of access to benefits.”

Please share how you leverage workforce voices and input in the design and implementation of the registry.

Most of the input about the initial design and implementation of the Registry occurred in the years prior to and immediately following the launch of The Nevada Registry in 2004 in the form of various stakeholder convenings, Advisory Committee/Workgroups and subcommittee work. We have implemented a variety of activities that have helped gather stakeholder and beneficiary voices to support positive changes to the Registry system. The most significant efforts are highlighted below:

• In the early years, stakeholders from across the state representing various sectors of the Early Childhood workforce convened to begin discussing Career Ladder and Core Knowledge Areas. Supported by research about the importance of specialized training in ECE and the correlation between formal education and quality environments for children, research about other state’s Career Ladder/lattices and stakeholder input, Nevada’s Early Care and Education Professional Career Ladder was created. In April 2002, the Nevada State Child Care Advisory Committee formally adopted the Career Ladder and Core Knowledge Areas. The adoption of these systems was based on recommendations received from the state’s Quality, Training and Licensing Sub-Committee, as well as hundreds of ECE professionals from across the state.
• Several additional committees, workgroups and sub-committees have been created throughout the Registry’s 19-year history to help leverage voices from the field. First, the Registry Advisory Committee (RAC) was formed shortly after the launch of The Nevada Registry in 2004. The committee was an advising body with a broad range of professional representation across the state who helped guide the early vision of The Nevada Registry. Several RAC subcommittees were created in the early years of the Registry to help inform policy, create transparency and ensure inclusivity and beneficiary voice.
• The Trainer Criteria Workgroup was created in 2005 to begin considering approval criteria for trainers. The group was comprised of members from the Registry Advisory Committee and other community stakeholders. The workgroup met from 2005 – 2008 at which time the work was placed on hold to concentrate on the adoption of mandatory participation.
• Mandatory participation was adopted into State Child Care regulations in 2009 and fully phased in by 2012 for all professionals working in licensed programs. During the time leading up to adoption, The Nevada Registry presented at multiple public meetings hosted by our state and local Child Care Licensing agencies. This provided an opportunity to receive input from the workforce about mandatory participation.
• Prior to the implementation of the new and improved training approval system, focus groups were held with registered trainers to receive input about the proposed trainer criteria. A third-party vendor facilitated focus groups to ensure voices from the field were heard and to create a transparent approach to the implementation of new criteria.
• The Training Approval System (TAS) Advisory Workgroup was formed following the registered trainer focus groups in 2017 to help guide the ongoing development of The Nevada Registry’s implemented trainer criteria, approval and qualification process. The TAS Advisory Workgroup met from 2017 – 2022 and was instrumental in informing the policies that guide the current training approval system. The workgroup was dissolved in November 2022 and now functions as an Ad Hoc Committee as needed.
• Approved trainers have an opportunity to share their feedback and offer suggestions for improvement related to the Training Approval System as part of the annual trainer renewal process.
• Attendees at Registry-approved training sessions have an opportunity to provide feedback regarding Registry-approved training attended via the Training Feedback Form available on the Training Calendar page of our website. The feedback received through this avenue helps us determine what is working well throughout the state and identify areas where additional growth and support could help enrich the training experience for training participants.

Currently, most feedback, comments, suggestions, etc. from the field comes to us via less formal avenues such as through committee work that The Nevada Registry participates in, input from partners and by collaborating with other agencies and programs working to improve the early childhood system in Nevada. All input is considered and where possible, changes are made. We plan to deploy more formal beneficiary voice work in the coming years to ensure the voices of the workforce are heard and factored into future policy and program development to best serve the needs of our membership, trainers and community partners and stakeholders.

The Nevada Registry is doing innovative work to make things easier for the workforce. Are there any other equitable approaches or initiatives the registry has implemented to ensure early childhood providers could both succeed and be supported throughout their professional journey?

There has been increased attention around the power and potential of the data that lives with the Registry’s database and the benefit of tying statewide quality initiatives to a system that already includes most of the workforce in Nevada (due to mandatory participation). Recently, access to two large and important workforce support projects has been embedded within The Nevada Registry. Building the access pathway within the registry database has streamlined the user experience by creating a single point of access to both projects.

In 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Welfare and Supportive Services allocated American Rescue Plan Act funds to support the ECE workforce in Nevada with a financial award in the amount of $1,000. The incentive was originally designed to lessen the financial impact early childhood educators endured during the COVID-19 pandemic. Awards were issued directly to the individual; not the program with which they were employed. Though the stipends were administered by the Nevada Association for the Education of Young Children (NevAEYC), access to the application was tied to the membership accounts of eligible Registry members and embedded within their Online Portal accounts. This approach streamlined the administrative process for NevAEYC by using Registry data to determine eligibility and streamlined the application process for members by granting access within their already existing Registry account. Two cycles of stipends have been administered to over 10,000 eligible members of The Nevada Registry (duplicated) via this streamlined approach.

In 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Welfare and Supportive Services initiated a family-wide supplemental health insurance program to all active members of The Nevada Registry. The Telehealth Services Benefit Program grants members access to free dental and vision coverage, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), unlimited telemedicine calls, ten teletherapy sessions and an optional Whole Life insurance policy. The Nevada Registry serves as the gateway to these benefits as the opt-in enrollment form is embedded within the Online Portal accounts of active Registry members, creating another streamlined approach for ECE educators in our state.

What role has the National Workforce Registry Alliance (NWRA) played to support the workforce registry and professional development efforts in your state?

For me personally, the National Workforce Registry Alliance has been instrumental to my growth in my position as the Program Director and as a leader in this work. Through my participation over the past 20+ years as a general member, regional representative, committee member and Board member, I have been able to gain invaluable knowledge and insight to help transition our registry in Nevada from conceptualization to implementation.

The networking and collaboration provided by the NWRA , as well as the relationships I have built with Registry Directors across the nation have been an incredible support and resource as we continue to grow and improve as a registry system. I feel fortunate to have been able to learn from so many of the transformative leaders in this work when registries were much more unfamiliar and unknown than they are today. The community created by the NWRA has been a valuable resource to our ongoing growth and development as we engage in our own continuous quality improvement. It gives us a space to connect with other registries who are doing similar work in their states and allows us to learn from each other’s successes, failures and lessons learned. The collaborative spirit and supportive community the Alliance has helped to create provides a safe space to explore new ideas and consider more efficient ways to do our work and better support the ECE workforce in Nevada.

Going through the Partners in Employment Reporting (PER) process in 2015 has been instrumental to our development as a registry system. The process allowed us to examine our internal policies and procedures related to data collection and inspired us to incorporate new ways to collect data aligned with the best practices established by the NWRA. The support provided by the Data and Standards Committee was invaluable throughout the process. Being able to contribute Nevada’s workforce data to the national data reports published by the Alliance has given us new ways to speak about data and share the importance of the work we do here at The Nevada Registry.

The NWRA’s work around Training Organization Recognition (TOR) was also instrumental in helping our registry establish criteria and guidelines aligned with the national standards. By aligning our approval criteria with the NWRA’s, we are now able to articulate the approval criteria, create consistent approval policies and streamline and simplify the training approval process for organizations seeking approval in Nevada more clearly.

The white papers, data reports and blog posts published by the NWRA have brought a new level of recognition to the work of registries and have helped us consider new ways to leverage our system and our data to support the ECE workforce and broader professional development system. These reports, and the NWRA, have given registries a voice we did not previously have, and help to position registries as an integral part of the early childhood landscape. They highlight that through the utilization of essential workforce data available within registry systems, states can identify workforce priorities to strengthen and improve working conditions for ECE educators, inform policy, investments, and make data-driven decisions about where to direct targeted support to make the greatest impact for Early Childhood.