The proposed project tackles two aims: (1) to understand the extent to which completing the ECAC is linked to developmentally- and policy-relevant outcomes including: teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and wellbeing; the quality of teacher-child interactions; and rates of teacher turnover, and (2) to identify key barriers early educators face when attempting to complete the ECAC, and evaluate a low-cost strategy to support these educators through the ECAC completion process. Through a longstanding research-practice partnership between the University of Virginia and LDOE, the proposed four-year project combines secondary analysis of administrative data, new primary data collection, and a low-cost randomized controlled trial to help Louisiana iteratively refine their ECAC program and to inform other states’ early childhood policymakers as they consider how to best support the professional growth of early educators.