Much of this discussion expands on an earlier report, Building a Skilled Teacher Workforce: Shared and Divergent Challenges in Early Care and Education and in Grades K-12, which provided a comprehensive examination of multiple aspects of ECE and K-12 teaching conditions and personnel systems, including teacher preparation, career pathways, leadership, and work environments, among others. This brief focuses in depth on two specific aspects of personnel systems -- educator qualification requirements and earnings -- and includes new assessments based on updated data, some of which are drawn from the Early Childhood Workforce Index. Each section provides an overview of the current state of affairs for both ECE and K-12 as well as a discussion of the differences in educator expectations and earnings, exploring the implications for the teachers themselves and for the children they serve. (author abstract)