There is a growing need for preschool teachers. The enrollment of 3- and 4-year-olds in preschool has grown steadily and the number of young children with working mothers has also increased. Many parents would prefer to place their children in day care centers if they could find centers with staff trained in early childhood education. The number…

Discusses issues important to development of quality child care staff: salaries, working conditions, standards, and status. Discusses use of salary surveys, conferences, campaigns, organizations, and legislation to bring public attention to the compensation issue. Notes current research and future issues to be addressed. (SH)

Discusses the concerns of child care and early childhood workers about compensation. These concerns focus on equity, and the needs for comprehensive compensation systems and written compensation policies. (BB)

Urges the members of the National Association for the Education of Young Children to work together toward achieving more social and economic support for child care programs and workers. (MP)

Examines the reasons for the shortage of teachers for preschool and elementary school age children, discussing possible future trends and suggesting ways to improve the situation through changes in training requirements and advocacy efforts to improve teachers' salaries. (KS)

Sex stereotyping coupled with low salaries, a perceived lack of status, and fears stirred by highly publicized sex-abuse cases involving male teachers have helped to keep early childhood education a predominantly female field. (JD)

Reports testimony given before the Illinois House Labor and Commerce Committee concerning employment, wages, benefits, and conditions that affect the quality of child care and the status of child care institutions as employers of women. (RH)

A survey examined why many early childhood programs either stalled or gave up during the self-study phase of the accreditation process. Significant factors cited by survey participants were lack of time and staff turnover/program instability. Based on these results, it was recommended that the early childhood community address the issues of…

Summarizes the National Association for the Education of Young Children's efforts to address inadequate teacher compensation. The organization's plans for 1992-93, and its role in the Worthy Wages Coalition, are discussed. (BG)

This report examines how Head Start programs have implemented teacher salary increases mandated and funded by the 1990 Head Start Expansion and Quality Improvement Act. It is based on quantitative data found in local grantees' and delegate agencies' reports to the Head Start Bureau on salaries and related questions, as well as qualitative data…

Recruiting and retaining good teachers ranks as one of the most significant roadblocks to solving the preschool quality crises facing the country. Evidence points to the low wages and benefits offered to preschool teachers as the single most important factor in hiring and keeping good teachers. This policy brief examines what is known about the…

Research shows that preschool produces the strongest effects when teachers are well qualified. Noting that most Head Start preschool teachers do not hold even the minimum teaching degrees required to teach kindergarten, this policy brief looks at the costs of putting highly qualified teachers in Head Start classrooms to improve the effectiveness…

Addresses the issues surrounding the problem of providing both high quality and affordable early childhood programs, particularly day care and family day care, to all families. (BB)

Examines church-housed child care programs in terms of their recent history, present status, and issues shaping their future. Issues include the relation of child care to the overall church ministry; the controversy surrounding state regulation of church-run programs; demographic and social pressures; and caregiver salaries and benefits. (BB)

Maintains that early childhood education and care teachers and workers have some hard choices to face in terms of the delivery of high quality programs. Choices concern salaries, differential staffing and salary plans, interagency and institutional cooperation, curriculum design, and research. (BB)