Title: Shortchanging Teachers, Shortchanging Children
1Shortchanging Teachers, Shortchanging Children
- Marcy Whitebook
- Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
- University of California, Berkeley
2Three major questions
- What do early care and education professionals
need to know and do to meet the rising
expectations for our youngest children? - What is our current capacity to meet teachers
needs? - How can we build our capacity to support early
care and education professionals?
3What do early care and education professionals
need to know and do to meet the rising
expectations for our youngest children?
- Paradigm shift in how we think about the
importance of early years resulting from - Brain research
- Child Care quality research
- Importance of relationships, teacher knowledge
and stability
4What do early care and education professionals
need to know and do to meet the rising
expectations for our youngest children?
- Changing characteristics of children/families/work
force - Working parents in dual parent and single parent
families - Immigration, changing child populations
- Diagnosis of special needs, particularly mental
health problems
5What do early care and education professionals
need to know and do to meet the rising
expectations for our youngest children?
- Half of the children in CA are either immigrants
or the children of immigrants - Three quarters of the Head Start children in LA
County are English Learners or dual language
learners (DLL)
6What do early care and education professionals
need to know and do to meet the rising
expectations for our youngest children?
- Knows how to construct an environment and present
activities that enhance and build upon childs
learning - Knowledgeable about culture and traditions of
children and able to communicate with children
and families - Provides ample verbal and cognitive stimulation
- Interacts sensitively and responsively
- Gives generous amounts of attention and support
7What do early care and education professionals
need to know and do to meet the rising
expectations for our youngest children?
- Observes and assesses skills based on child
development knowledge - Constructs developmentally appropriate
environment and activities - Practices age appropriate classroom management
- Understands adult communication and learning
- Knows inclusion strategies
- Aware of family support resources
- Familiar with cultural tradition and practices of
children in program - Understands needs of children for whom English is
a second language - Understands the whole child
8What do early care and education professionals
need to know and do to meet the rising
expectations for our youngest children?
- Shifting teacher qualifications
9What is our current capacity to meet teachers
needs?
- There has been a decline in the percentages of
center-based teachers with college degrees - Younger people entering the field are less likely
to have college degrees - More teachers have completed high school
- Among family providers, the percentage with some
college and BAs has risen
10Ethnicity of early childhood education students
by educational goal
11Mean percentage by institution of language
capacity of undergraduate and graduate students
At the undergraduate level, data for the
University of California (n1), and the two-year
private (n1) and other public programs (n5) are
excluded because of their small sample size. At
the graduate level, data for the University of
California are excluded because only one program
is represented in this group.
12Mean percentage by institution of language
capacity of undergraduate and graduate students
At the undergraduate level, data for the
University of California (n1), and the two-year
private (n1) and other public programs (n5) are
excluded because of their small sample size. At
the graduate level, data for the University of
California are excluded because only one program
is represented in this group.
13What is our current capacity to meet teachers
needs?
- Wage trends
- Wages have dropped relatively, lowering the
incentives for those with more education to
pursue careers with young children
14(No Transcript)
15What is our current capacity to meet teachers
needs?
- Highlights from the study of early childhood
teacher preparation programs - 136 Institutions of higher education are engaged
in preparing teachers to work with children prior
to kindergarten - Most of these programs are at the community
college level
16What is our current capacity to meet teachers
needs?
- Opportunities for upper-division and
graduate-level work in early childhood are very
limited - Californias population of students studying to
work with young children is very diverse in terms
of language and ethnicity
17Number of colleges overall and number of colleges
providing early childhood education by type of
institution
18A closer look at the four year institutions
offering ece options
19What is our current capacity to meet teachers
needs?
- Faculty in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation
Programs are predominately white and adjunct. - Most of the faculty in the upper division
programs do not have a background in early
childhood education or experience working with
children prior to Kindergarten - Many of Californias degree programs in ECE do
not require a full course in a variety of topics
widely identified as relevant to the profession
20Ethnicity of faculty
21Educational background of part-time and full-time
faculty (in percentages)
22Early childhood program faculty, as compared to
faculty in institutions as a whole Mean
percentage of part-time faculty, and mean number
of students per faculty member
Standard errors are not presented for
institutions as wholes because these values are
population statistics. The sample sizes are lower
than reported elsewhere due to non-response on
some items.
23Recommendation 1
- A concerted effort to build public awareness of
- The value and skill involved in working with
young children which is sensitive to the existing
workforce as well as encouraging to newcomers to
the field - The need for advanced levels of education and
- The need for increased compensation to increase
teacher retention.
24Recommendation 2
- A statewide process, such as a Blue Ribbon
Committee, to - Create a blueprint for a well-articulated higher
education and certification system - Develop a comprehensive set of ECE teacher skills
and competencies - Design a relevant ECE teacher certification
system - Promote improved teacher compensation in early
care and education.
25Recommendation 3
- Increased resources to California institutions of
higher education to update what we teach, how it
is taught and by whom - Expand lower-division programs and practicum
opportunities - Develop more upper-division and graduate
programs with preschool child development focus
26Recommendation 3, cont.
- Hire more full-time ECE faculty
- Attract a more culturally and linguistically
diverse faculty establish Masters program as
one strategy and - Update and revamp the courses of study that
higher education programs offer to prepare early
childhood teachers
27Recommendation 4
- Improve access to higher education for diverse
students through - Tuition support
- Cohorts and community classes
- Academic and linguistic supports and
- Enhanced career and academic counseling.
28Recommendation 4
- Improve compensation in early care and education
jobs - Create new incentives to encourage students to
pursue degrees in early childhood education - Explore benefit pools and mechanisms for ongoing
wage increases.
29Recommendation 5
- Support research that
- Tracks pathways of successful students
- Clarifies best practices for training effective
early care and education professionals who are
culturally competent and - Clarifies best practices for working with
children who are dual language learners.
30You all are in positions to make these changes!