Overview of Roots of Decline: How Government Policy Has De-Educated Teachers of Young Children

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1 Overview of Roots of Decline: How Government Policy Has De-Educated Teachers of Young Children Paper by Dan Bellm and March Whitebook of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California at Berkeley Examines the demographic and public policy context of Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education: Declining Workforce Qualifications in an Expanding Industry (Herzenberg, Price & Bradley, Economic Policy Institute, 2005).

2 Trends from the Losing Ground Report The report shows the ECE labor market has changed for the worse since the early 1980s: Fewer center-based teachers and administrators how hold a four- year college degree. More teachers and administrators are now working in the field with a high school education or less. However, more people have completed some college, but short of a four-year degree. This overall decline in educational attainment is most pronounced among younger workers, with the most educated now in their late 50s or older. While educational levels have risen among home-based providers, they are still lower than those of center-based staff: roughly 1 in 9 home-based providers hold a college degree, and less than ½ have completed any education beyond high school. Wages and benefits in the field have remained stagnant at very low levels throughout this period.

3 Central questions of the Roots of Decline paper Why have wages and benefits in ECE remained consistently so low? 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?

4 What accounts for this decline? Rapid expansion of the field and the corresponding need for more personnel. This expansion set off major crises in recruiting and retaining staff, but without significant wage increases that usually accompany a labor shortage. Funding policies emphasize quantity over quality. Federal and state funding increased significantly in order to serve as many children as possible with less attention to program quality, provider reimbursement, or workforce compensation. Public policy has been stuck between two different perspectives about the purpose of out of home care for young children: A custodial service oriented toward keeping parents working (a work- and-welfare welfare-related related service). An educational service oriented toward meeting the developmental and learning needs of young children.

5 Demographic Trends Contributing to the Decline Increased job opportunities for women with college degrees, with better pay. Greater participation of women in the workforce, fueling the growth of the ECE industry. An expanding pool of entry-level workers. Two major trends account for this: The federal welfare reform legislation of 1996, which sent large populations of women from public assistance to the paid labor force, concentrated in low-wage wage jobs such as child care. Major rise of immigration to the US which has expanded the pool of potential ECE providers. Authors acknowledge there is a lack of precise data about the impact of immigration on the ECE workforce.

6 Federal Policy No federal regulations or educational requirements have been set for the ECE workforce, except within the federally funded Head Start and Military Child Care programs. There are neither rewards for states that raise the bar on qualifications, nor sanctions against states that do nothing. The net result of this policy of inaction has been to lower both the floor and the ceiling of child care employment The field has developed within three very different sectors: Head Start, child care, and public school-based programs. This lack of central infrastructure has hindered the development of a common identity. With the exception of Head Start, most ECE policy has devolved to the state and local levels, where various programs, subject to t differing regulations and funding streams, face yearly battles for f re-approval, and wax or wane according to budgetary and political trends.

7 Federal Policy There is little or no fedeal leadership around workforce standards in the current era of federal block grants (CCDF). Mandated quality set-asides have led to some progress in meeting workforce needs in states, although much of this funding has been spent on training that is not linked to standards or college credits. In the absence of any overall federal leadership, the only national nal presence related to teacher qualifications resides in voluntary efforts such as program accreditation standards created by NAEYC. Most have come to expect very little from the federal level, and are focusing attention on state-level reforms, especially the publicly funded pre-k k systems. It can be argued that, with the exception of Head Start and Military Child Care, the federal government s s silence on standards and its promotion of informal, unregulated care has created a climate that not only permits but even encourages the decline identified in Losing Ground.

8 State Responses Teacher Preparation Standards and Professional Development and TrainingT As a society, and a field, we are far from agreeing that a college degree is an appropriate standard in ECE. Most research suggests that college preparation, particularly a BA degree and ECE-specialized training, results in higher-quality experiences for children. Many states are requiring BA degrees for publicly funded pre-k k while emphasizing only a certain amount of training or number of college courses, well short of a degree, for most center-based workforce and even lower educational standards for home-based workers. As selected approaches to raising teacher qualifications have expanded at the state level, they are also having unintended consequences and being met with resistance. Many states have pursued a strategy of rewarding college credit-bearing professional development, not necessarily college degrees, with scholarships and stipends. These policies have contributed to the t current ECE workforce profile whereby more teachers and providers overall l have some college experience, but fewer have attained degrees.

9 State Responses Child Care Subsidy and Workforce Compensation Parent fees cannot cover the full cost of quality services in such a labor- intensive industry. Reimbursement rates for publicly subsidized child care programs generally lag far below the level truly needed to run high-quality services or pay staff a living wage. Efforts to raise compensation have secured significant gains through the T.E.A.C.H., R.E.W.A.R.D., and WAGE$ programs, but have been unable to close the gap. In many states, tiered reimbursement rates and quality rating systems stems have begun to partially address the subsidy problem. While linkage to public school systems is not necessarily the only solution to low pay and high turnover, it will be necessary for the ECE system s to receive a similar level of resources. In the long run, only a major public investment in recognition that ECE is a public good that parents cannot afford to cover on their own is going to solve the problem of low ECE teacher compensation.

10 Recommendations 1. Establish the skills and competencies expected of teachers of young children in early childhood settings, and devote adequate resources to higher education programs and certification systems that are aligned with such standards. 2. Convene a series of strategy discussions focused on upgrading ECE workforce pay and qualifications, with the goal of a well-articulated public education and policy agenda to be implemented over the next decade. 3. Initiate public education and recruitment campaigns to promote the importance of highly trained and skilled early care and education teachers.

11 Recommendations 4. Reassess how federal policies could be revamped to improve early care and education professional preparation, and build support for particular policies. 5. Reassess how federal policies could be revamped to improve early childhood jobs, and build support for particular policies. 6. Develop a research agenda, and provide resources to support it, to generate clearer guidelines for best practices for ECE professional development. 7. Assess progress in improving ECE employment every three to five years over the next decade, and revise strategies as necessary.

12 SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY 1. Reflect: What are you reactions to the Roots of Decline paper? What jumps out at you about the paper? What sticks in your mind? 2. Share: What are you doing in your states related to (1) educator/practitioner tioner professional development, qualification, and teacher preparation standards, and (2) workforce compensation? 3. Strategize: (leave at least the last 15 minutes for this question) What changes/improvements in federal policies would better support your state in improving the qualifications and compensation of the early care and education workforce? Suggestions/thoughts from the paper (p. 28) include: Programs to expand and revamp higher education opportunities; Programs to support the development of a diverse ECE leadership; Incentives for pursuing ECE careers (i.e. loan deferments, paid community service); How to ensure that public resources truly reward higher qualifications; ations; Ho can community-based programs operate on a par with school district programs in terms of benefits and pay; How can the entire ECE workforce be rewarded for investing in their education