New York City's publicly funded day care and Head Start systems are hindered by an inability to recruit and retain qualified teachers. Data supporting this conclusion came from a randomly drawn sample of 559 teachers working with 3- to 5-year-olds in New York City's early childhood programs. Teachers were surveyed by mail, and a subset of respondents was interviewed by telephone. Data collection was designed to permit a comparison among teachers in the public schools, publicly funded day care, and Head Start on demographic characteristics. Major findings indicated that: (1) as many as 42 percent of the teacher positions in publicly funded day care, and 33 percent of teacher positions in Head Start, are either vacant or turn over each year; (2) only 50 percent of teachers in publicly funded day care and Head Start meet the desired standard of full certification; (3) when teachers rate aspects of their jobs, they are least satisfied with salary and professional prestige; (4) Head Start teachers are particularly dissatisfied with fringe benefits; (5) teachers rate improvements in status and compensation as the strategies most likely to improve the recruitment and retention of qualified staff; and (6) teachers rate themselves as more likely to shift to another classroom than to leave the profession. Policy recommendations are offered. Nearly 50 references are cited, and related materials are appended, including comparative tables on wages/benefits and credentials, as well as one version of the survey instrument. (RH)