General Information

The Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood^® Scholarship Program provides scholarships for early care educators and center directors to work towards earning an Associate's degree or credentials in early childhood education. It is funded by the Agency for Workforce Innovation Office of Early Learning and involves a three-way partnership for the sharing of expenses by the caregiver receiving the scholarship, the sponsoring child care center or family child care home and T.E.A.C.H. The majority of tuition and books costs are paid for and most T.E.A.C.H. participants receive a per-semester stipend for travel or for internet access as well as a bonus for caregivers and directors who complete their scholarship contract. In most scholarship models, reimbursement to the early childhood program or family child care home for release time given participants. Through T.E.A.C.H., the education, compensation and retention of the early childhood work force is improving.

The T.E.A.C.H. program works with 48 colleges, universities and vocational technical schools throughout the state as well as 14 community-based training institutions. Under management of the Forum, the Florida T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood^® Scholarship Program serves as an umbrella for a variety of educational scholarship opportunities for people working in early care and education programs. Since 1998, more than 22,000 scholarships have been awarded. The turnover rate for these T.E.A.C.H. program participants is less than 8 percent - a testament to the success of this program.

To help you think about and choose a college, view the Early Childhood Degree database. The Early Childhood Degree database provides information on the colleges and universities offering courses leading to credentials and degrees in early childhood. T.E.A.C.H. does not offer scholarships for every credential or every degree at a specific college.

For more information, please call 877-FL-TEACH.

• Online Courses
• Scholarship Applications