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Teachers
Unlike K-12 teachers, those who work with preschoolers represent a wide range of educational backgrounds and experience. A 4-year-old in one child care program might have a teacher with no more than a high school diploma and a few hours training, while a similar child in another center a mile away has a teacher with a master’s degree who attends annual professional development seminars.
One of the primary strategies for improving early-childhood education programs in recent years has been to gradually increase standards for teachers. A 2000 report from the National Research Council, called "Eager to Learn," recommended that classrooms for preschoolers be led by teachers with no less than a bachelor’s degree.
This shift toward more formal educational requirements for teachers is most obvious in the growth of state-funded preschool programs. Oklahoma’s public pre-K program, for example, requires teachers to have bachelor degrees, as does New Jersey’s "Abbot" preschools, named after the lawsuit that started the preschool programs. In Georgia, teachers in the lottery-funded pre-K program are only required to hold a two-year college degree, but higher per-child funding is available to programs that hire teachers with four-year degrees.
Most surveys of teachers’ salaries in the early-childhood field reflect history: little preparation has been required for those who work with young children. A 1998 study by the Center for the Child Care Workforce showed that most teachers in the child-care field still earned about the minimum wage. Salaries had increased, however, for the highest-paid workers to more than $10 per hour.
And because of such low wages generally, early-childhood programs struggle to hang on to their teachers. When teachers work to improve their skills and earn more education, they often leave the preschool field to work in K-12 schools where they can double their income. Public policy in recent years has focused on rewarding qualified teachers through bonuses and wage supplements in order to keep them in early-childhood.
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Sue Russell
Executive Director
Child Care Services Association
Chapel Hill, N.C.
(919) 967-3272
Helped create the TEACH Early Childhood program to improve educational levels ofchild-care and preschool teachers.
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Early Ed Watch Blog
The Early Ed Watch Blog provides up-to-the-minute analysis, reporting, and commentary focused on policies that affect children's access to high-quality, aligned PK-3 educational programs for our children from ages 3 through 8.
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National Institute for Early Education Research
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, N.J.
(732) 932-4350
Think tank that collects information andresearch on early-childhood education, making it available to policymakers, journalists, and educators.
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Jerlean E. Daniel
Professor
University of Pittsburgh
(412) 624-6356
jdaniel@pitt.edu
Expert on early-childhood teacher quality and instruction.
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Marilou Hyson
Expert on early-childhood teacher quality and instruction of young children.
Associate Executive Director for Professional Development
National Association for the Education of Young Children
Washington, D.C.
(202) 232-8777
mhyson@naeyc.org
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Marcy Whitebook
Director
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
University of California, Berkeley
(510) 643-7091
mwhbk@uclink.berkeley.edu
Researcher on child care and preschool staff and salary issues.
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Marci Young
Director
Center for the Child Care Workforce
A project of the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation
Washington, D.C.
(202) 662-8005
ccw@aft.org
Expert on training, working conditions, and salary issues affecting early-childhood teachers.
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Preparing Teachers of Young Children: The Current State of Knowledge, and a Blueprint for the Future
By Marcy Whitebook
No early-childhood education program can succeed without teachers who can establish warm and caring relationships with children, light the fires of children’s curiosity and love of learning, and foster their development and readiness for school.
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, May 2009
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Implementing Policies to Reduce the Likelihood of Preschool Expulsion
This policy brief makes recommendations for solving the issue ofexpulsion from pre-kindergarten. It is a follow-up to the 2005 study "Prekindergartners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Prekindergarten Programs" which reports on expulsion rates by program setting, gender, race/ethnicity, and state and shows that expulsion rates are alarmingly high.
Foundation for Child Development - Walter S. Gilliam, 1/10/2008
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"Roots of Decline: How Government Policy Had De-Educated Teachers of Young Children" pdf
Why have wages and benefits in early-childhood education remained consistently so low, during a period when other occupations have evolved quite differently? In particular, why has compensation remained stagnant in such a growth industry ? given the huge increase in demand for child care services and a sharply rising need for more child care workers? How can so important a service still be so undervalued?
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment - Dan Bellm, Marcy Whitebook, 12/1/2006
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Better Teachers, Better Preschools: Student Achievement Linked to Teacher Qualifications pdf
National Institute for Early Education Research, 7/5/2004
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Bachelor's Degrees Are Best: Higher Educations for Pre-Kindergarten Teachers Lead to Better Learning Environments for Children pdf
by Marcy Whitebook and the Trust for Early Education, 1/1/2003
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Low Wages=Low Quality: Solving the Real Preschool Teacher Crisis pdf
National Institute for Early Education Research, 1/1/2003
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Inside the Pre-K Classroom: A Study of Staffing and Stability in State-Funded Prekindergarten Programs pdf
Center for the Child Care Workforce and the Instit, 1/1/2002
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Then and Now: Changes in Child Care Staffing, 1994-2000 pdf
Center for the Child Care Workforce, 1/1/2000
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Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education
A new study co-published by EPI and the Keystone Research Center, shows a substantial decline in workforce qualifications in center-based ECE and the even lower qualifications in home-based ECE. Both areas of ECE today have workforce education levels well-below those needed to improve long-term academic outcomes for children.
Economic Policy Institute - Stephen Herzenberg, Mark Price, David Bradley
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Asking more of preschool
By James Vaznis, The Boston Globe
To help teachers meet the new academic rigor and to reduce socioeconomic achievement gaps that start before kindergarten, Massachusetts wants more teachers to earn bachelor’s degrees. June 10, 2010
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Video: Solid emotional skills play a critical role for academic success
By Ruth Liao, Statesman Journal (OR)
Early-childhood advocates say that how safe and secure young children feel with their parents and primary caregivers leads them to pay closer attention and feel more confident in school. Dec. 21, 2009
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Data from school system's Pre-K program shows results
By Mark Hicks, The Leaf-Chronicle
Data from the Clarksville-Montgomery County, Tenn., school system shows that its pre-K program is getting results that help young children create a sound footing for their education. Jan.6, 2010
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Early childhood educators anxious about jobs due to full-day kindergarten
By Ciara Byrne, The Canadian Press
As Ontario swiftly ushers in full-day kindergarten in September, early childhood educators are panicked, anxiously waiting to see what will happen to their jobs, their centres and their profession. Dec. 13, 2009
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Proposed bill calls for tougher Pre-K teacher requirements
By Isabel Mascarenas, CBS News, WLCY-TV (FL)
A proposed state bill (HB 383) in Florida calls for all pre-k teachers to have a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. Dec. 14, 2009
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Delaware schools: Young teachers learn on the job
By Edward L. Kenney, The News Journal
The older students, all majoring in early childhood education, are teachers three days a week for 3- and 4-year-olds who have enrolled in the Preschool at St. Georges Technical High School near Middletown, Del. Dec. 6, 2009
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The playtime's the thing
On a recent Thursday, 5-year-old Estefani Lovo Rivera took charge of a make-believe hair salon in her preschool classroom at Oakridge Elementary in Arlington County. Wielding a plastic fork as a hairbrush, dispatching customer after customer with a certain cool efficiency, she looked around the room for more classmates to entice.To the untrained eye, such play appears to be nothing more than a distraction from the real letters-and-numbers work of school. But research shows that it might be an essential part in determining these children's social and emotional makeup as adults. Emma Brown, The Washington Post, November 23, 2009
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From Birth, Engage Your Child With Talk
I recently stopped to congratulate a young mother pushing her toddler in a stroller. The woman had been talking to her barely verbal daughter all the way up the block, pointing out things they had passed, asking questions like “What color are those flowers?” and talking about what they would do when they got to the park. This is a rare occurrence in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I told her. All too often, the mothers and nannies I see are tuned in to their cellphones, BlackBerrys and iPods, not their young children. Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, Oct. 1, 2009
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Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?
The ability of young children to control their emotional and cognitive impulses, it turns out, is a remarkably strong indicator of both short-term and long-term success, academic and otherwise. There is a popular belief that executive-function skills are fixed early on, a function of genes and parenting, and that other than medication, there’s not much that teachers and professionals can do to affect children’s impulsive behavior. In fact, though, there is growing evidence that the opposite is true, that executive-function skills are relatively malleable — quite possibly more malleable than I.Q., which is notoriously hard to increase over a sustained period. Paul Tough, New York Times Magazine, Sept. 28, 2009
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Lacking funds, several Head Start programs lay off employees
By Jennifer Reeger
Possible state budget cuts are affecting Head Start, a federally-funded educational program for low-income children ages 3 to 5. The state of Pennsylvania offers supplemental funds to open up more classrooms for children in need.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Aug. 29, 2009
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Pressure-cooker kindergarten
Christine Gerzon is the epitome of a kindergarten teacher: warm and wise, quick to get down on her knees to wipe a tear or bandage a boo-boo. Yet two years ago, after 38 years as an educator, she threw up her hands and retired. She couldn’t stand the pressure. Increasingly in schools across Massachusetts and the United States, little children are being asked to perform academic tasks, including test taking, that early childhood researchers agree are developmentally inappropriate, even potentially damaging. Patti Hartigan, The Boston Globe, August 28, 2009
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Kindergarten crunch: Lack of playtime killing joy of learning, say advocates
Child development experts have long bemoaned the structured, test-driven course of early education. But a national push for universal kindergarten and preschool has raised the stakes.School administrators are now pressed to show these public programs are a worthwhile investment. That means teaching and testing literacy and math skills. Child advocates, though, worry play, exercise and exploration in most public kindergartens is vanishing. Kristen Stewart, The Salt Lake Tribune, August 24, 2009
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Kindergarten Waiting Lists Shrink, but Parents Fret
In May, the New York City Department of Education stirred rage among middle-class parents when it put hundreds of children on waiting lists to attend kindergarten at their neighborhood schools. Now, school officials say, they have made some progress in resolving the situation. Javier C. Hernandez, The New York Times, July 7, 2009
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Why are there such high turnover rates for preschool teachers?
By Valerie Carver
The hard truth of the matter is that preschool teachers simply aren't paid enough and don't earn enough benefits to deal with such a demanding job. Rewarding - yes. But highly demanding. The Examiner (IL) June 23, 2009
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Kids in 'low-literacy' homes to get help
By Mark Zaborney
By kindergarten, children who live in what Jim Funk calls "low-literacy households" might have only one-eighth the vocabulary of classmates.
The Toledo Blade, June 15, 2009
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Group funds idea: Start kids off with better teachers
Friday, May 22, 2009
Group funds idea: Start kids off with better teachers
Group funds idea: Start kids off with better teachers
A new statewide program aimed at improving the education of Oregon's young children will give money to early child care and education workers who complete college courses or training. The program -- launched on Monday by a partnership of six groups -- will use nearly $3 million in federal stimulus dollars, as well as private donations, to pay for the incentives. Casey Parks, The Oregonian (OR), 5-12-09.
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Teaching has a few good men
by Nguyen Huy Vu
Men like preschool teacher Mario Cornejo are disappearing, especially in early education. He is among a dwindling number of male teachers in American classrooms - a number that has been declining for 40 years toward a historic low.
Daily Breeze, 1/4/2009
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Preschool mandate has colleges ready to meet certification need
by Diane D'Amico
As public school districts make plans to meet the new state mandate for expanded public preschool, they are also grappling with how to make sure teachers who work with those children have the required state certifications.
The Press of Atlantic City, 10/20/2008
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Teach for America Goes to Preschool
by Debra Williams
Teach for America, the national program that sends top-tier college graduates to teach in high-needs public schools, has a new mission: Early childhood education.
Catalyst Chicago, 6/30/2008
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Raising the bar for early education
by Jennifer Torres
By 2013, under federal regulations, half the teachers who work in Head Start preschools - which serve children from low-income families - must hold a bachelor's or advanced degree in early education. Teaching assistants must have a child development associate's credential or be enrolled in a program that will lead to a degree.
Stockton Record, 6/26/2008
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Project aims to give low-income Dallas toddlers an educational boost
by Staci Hupp
Preschool is moving to the potty-training set. Toddlers are shaping up to be the next generation of preschoolers, a pattern fueled by fears that poor children aren't ready to learn when their first school bell rings. University of Texas researchers say the answer is to start younger. They are using a $6 million federal grant to test out preschool for poor 2- and 3-year-olds in Houston and Tallahassee, Fla., day-care centers.
Dallas Morning News, 5/19/2008
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Tutors for Toddlers
by Pamela Paul
Call it kindercramming. These days, one of the fastest-growing markets for after-school tutors is preschoolers and kindergartners, whose parents are hoping that if their kids learn to read before first grade, it will ultimately help them get into college and get good jobs.
TIME Magazine, 11/21/2007
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Crist: Pre-K teachers need degrees
by Anna Scott
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and children's advocates called on lawmakers Tuesday to mandate college degrees-- not an associate's degree as is currently required-- for pre-kindergarten teachers by 2013. Of the 37 states with free pre-kindergarten programs, 22 require teachers to have a four-year degree.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 4/10/2007
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"Fairfax program is helping day care providers bolster teaching skills"
by Maria Glod
The efforts in Fairfax come amid a nationwide movement to improve pre-kindergarten programs and help children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, prepare for school.
Wasington Post, 11/26/2006
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"Sharing at the Sand Table 101"
by Emily Bazelon
The experts disagree over how much college coursework preschool teachers should have -- a two-year associate degree vs. a four-year baccalaureate. The more vexing question is how to take what is now an underpaid, low-skilled workforce and magically restock it with college-educated professionals.
Slate, 10/16/2006
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"Getting children ready for school--and life"
by Bob Ray Sanders
Last year, Camp Fire and the Fort Worth school district started a pilot Kindergarten Readiness program, targeting day-care centers and family child-care providers near public elementary schools that have large numbers of unprepared kindergartners.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10/6/2006
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"Teacher diversity doesn't match that of pupils"
by Sarah Evans
The lack of bicultural, bilingual teachers is evident throughout the country, national pre-kindergarten experts say. And some worry that as education requirements for preschool teachers increase, it could further shut out certain minority groups that might be interested in the profession.
Statesman Journal, 4/17/2006
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The Pied Piper of Preschool
by Tara Bahrampour
"Mr. Steve," a preschool teacher in Alexandria, Va., isn't your typical early-childhood educator - he's a man in a field typically dominated by women. Now this popular teacher is going back to school to get his bachelor's degree in education.
The Washington Post, 2/8/2005
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Childhood Teachers on Poverty Pay Scale
by Katherine Alden
The Nashville City Paper, 5/1/2004
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Child-Care Teachers Tune in to Early-Childhood-Ed. Show (free registration required)
by Linda Jacobson
Education Week, 6/1/2001
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Study: Calif. Child-Care Centers Struggle to Keep Good Teachers (free registration required)
by Linda Jacobson
Education Week, 5/1/2001
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