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Efforts to improve quality in early education frequently focus on raising requirements for pre-k teachers—to a BA or certification in early education. That’s a good thing, because , and the discrepancy that currently exists between standards for K-12 and pre-k teachers in many states, or between pre-k teachers in different settings, undermines quality early education. But policymakers must be thoughtful in how they implement new early education credential requirements.

Alabama offers a case in point: are coming up against an . Alabama requires pre-k teachers in public schools to hold state certification in “early childhood education,” a credential that allows teachers to work in grades PK-3. But teachers in Alabama usually bypass the early childhood credential in favor of an “elementary education” credential that allows them to teach grades K-6, making them eligible for more jobs than the PK-3 credential does. Result: Too few certified pre-k teachers.

This is a good example of why efforts to raise standards for pre-k teachers can’t just look at pre-k–they have to also take into account the existing state system of teacher certification and licensure, because pre-k and early elementary teachers are part of the same labor market and often work in the same schools. Simply layering a new credential on top of the existing (and already complicated) state credentialing system can lead to problems–as it is in Alabama.

Instead, early education advocates need to work together with K-12 school reformers to improve licensure and certification policies for both pre-k and early elementary school teachers, creating streamlined requirements that are the same for all early educators and based on solid evidence about how young children learn and . We have the knowledge base in early education to support research-based, competency-based licensure for early educators, and that’s what we should work towards–not just in pre-k, but across the early grades.

Alabama’s experience also demonstrates the desperate need to pair new credentialing requirements with high-quality alternative certification programs. , as part of NCLB reauthorization, that would provide incentives and funding for states, higher education institutions, and non-profit groups to create innovative, high-quality alternative pathways that offer accelerated and streamlined programs to prepare experienced pre-k teachers, recent college graduates, and elementary teachers without early childhood experience, to become certified as pre-k teachers. Such programs would go a long way to helping Alabama and other states address the shortage of qualified early educators.