As California develops local and statewide efforts to make high-quality preschool education available to all four-year-old children, the attention of policy makers and program planners has turned increasingly toward how to ensure a well-trained, stable, and linguistically and culturally diverse preschool teaching workforce. A central part of this…

Throughout the field of early care and education, it has been generally recognized that the quality of services, and their benefits for young children, are closely intertwined with the qualifications, stability and compensation of the teaching and caregiving workforce. But in the absence of substantial gains in compensation for this profession,…

Since universal preschool for California is still in its early planning phase, most of the details remain to be decided, including the scope and structure of the program, whether or not it will be coordinated by the public schools, where it will be housed, whether it will be full-day or part-day (with or without wrap-around care), the extent to…

This report analyzes emerging workforce issues as California develops a universal preschool system, focusing on service delivery mechanisms, workforce standards for staff qualifications and compensation, and professional development and higher education system capacity. The review covers current conditions, emerging questions, research findings,…

This report presents the most recent salary and benefits data available for the U.S. child care workforce. Median level child care salaries are compared to the median salaries of other occupations. In addition, data for average wages of preschool teachers and child care workers are presented for each state, with information on wages available by…

In response to increasing concerns about preparing young children to succeed in the primary grades, many states have increased their investment in prekindergarten programs over the past decade. Noting that increased demand for prekindergarten education coincides with a staffing shortage in the early care and education, this study documented the…