OPRE Report 2025-136 - Evaluation of the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program Teacher Salary Increase Pilot

Oct 15, 2026

Child care and early education (CCEE) teachers in the United States often face low pay and high turnover, relying on public assistance or additional work to make ends meet. Colorado’s Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) Teacher Salary Increase Pilot was created to raise lead and assistant teacher salaries to local living-wage standards. A randomized controlled evaluation in 74 CCEE centers assessed implementation, impacts, and costs, indicating the pilot as a potentially promising workforce-support strategy while highlighting sustainability concerns.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages136

Reading Time5 h 43 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Program purpose and design

Evaluation approach and study sites

Implementation findings

Impact findings

OPRE Report 2025-136 Evaluation of the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program Teacher Salary Increase Pilot Evaluation of the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program Teacher Salary Increase Pilot OPRE Report 2025-136 September 2025 Authors: Michelle F. Maier, Alexandra Bernardi, Michele Abbott, Rebecca Davis, and Cynthia Miller Submitted To: Jenessa Malin (Project Officer), Krystal Bichay-Awadalla, Dianna Tran, Brian Tchen, and Tutrang Nguyen, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Project Director: Cynthia Miller MDRC 200 Vesey Street 23rd Floor New York, NY 10281-2103 Contract Number: HHSP233201500059I This report is in the public domain. Permission to reproduce is not necessary. SUGGESTED CITATION: Maier, Michelle F. , Alexandra Bernardi, Michele Abbott, Rebecca Davis, and Cynthia Miller. 2025. Evaluation of the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program Teacher Salary Increase Pilot. OPRE Report 2025-136. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: [https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/building-and-sustaining-early-care-and-education-workforce-base](https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/building-and-sustaining-early-care-and-education-workforce-base) [DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the](DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the)[ ](DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the)[Office of Planning](Office of Planning), Research, and Evaluation, the Administration for Children and Families, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This report is in the public domain. Permission to reproduce isnot necessary. This report and other reports sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation [are available at ](are available at www.acf.hhs.gov/opre)[www.acf.hhs.gov/opre](are available at www.acf.hhs.gov/opre). Connect with OPRE MDRC conducted the Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) project with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), under a competitive award, Contract No. HHSP233201500059I. The project officer is Jenessa Malin, the former project officer is Ann Rivera, and the project team reviewers are Krystal Bichay-Awadalla, Dianna Tran, Brian Tchen, and Tutrang Nguyen. The findings and conclusions in this report do not necessarily represent the official positions or policies of the funders. For information about MDRC and copies of our publications, [see our website: www.mdrc.org](see our website: www.mdrc.org). Overview Child care and early education (CCEE) teachers work in one of the lowest-paid occupations nationwide, and they often rely on public assistance or second jobs to make ends meet. Low pay makes it challenging for child care centers to recruit and retain qualified professionals, which may affect the quality and continuity of care and education that young children receive. The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) created the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) Teacher Salary Increase Pilot (hereafter referred to as the pilot program) to address the issues of low pay and high turnover rates in the CCEE workforce in Colorado. The pilot program was designed to raise the salaries of lead and assistant teachers in center-based child care settings to be closer to a wage that meets the minimum standards of living in their counties. The pilot program provided each center with monthly payments—based on the number of participating lead and assistant teachers at the center

FAQs

What problem did the CCCAP Teacher Salary Increase Pilot address?

The pilot targeted low pay and high turnover in Colorado’s CCEE workforce by increasing salaries for lead and assistant teachers in participating center-based settings.

How was the pilot evaluated?

The evaluation used a randomized controlled design to examine implementation, impacts, and costs across 74 CCEE centers.

What did the implementation study find about how the pilot was carried out?

It found strong facilitation through collaboration between state and external partners, a simple program design with a clear salary scale, and direct communication from CDEC to centers during the application process.

Oct 15, 2026

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