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Supporting the Child Care Workforce: Education and Compensation Inititatives

Background

The level of education and training attained by a child care provider is one of the strongest predictors for the provider's ability to offer high quality care, but many states do not require child care providers to complete training in early childhood education before beginning work. The child care field is also plagued with a high teacher turnover rate, a barrier to quality programs that hinders the continuity of care that children receive and results in more experienced teachers being replaced by less experienced teachers. Low wages are part of the problem. Child care providers earn an average wage of $8.74 per hour and few have access to health benefits. Compensation initiatives created by state and local organizations seek to address these problems by helping providers finance their education and tying training and experience to higher wages.

Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood Project

The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Project was created by the North Carolina Child Care Services Association in 1990 to address the problems of under-education, poor compensation, and high turnover among child care providers. T.E.A.C.H. offers scholarships to child care workers to help them obtain training in early childhood education. The program is based on a system of shared costs. Funding for the scholarships comes from a variety of sources, including private foundations, the United Way, corporations, Child Care and Development Block Grant quality funds, and state governments. Scholarship recipients and the programs they work in are expected to contribute to the total cost of training. 23 states now operate similar programs.

To qualify for T.E.A.C.H. scholarships in North Carolina, applicants must be currently employed in a child care program and earn less than $14.60 per hour (less than $15 for program directors). Qualified participants can apply T.E.A.C.H. scholarships towards earning a Child Development Associate (CDA), another approved early childhood credential, or an associates or bachelors degree in early childhood education. There is also a scholarship program for those who wish to become mentors to other providers entering into the early childhood field. Recipients of all T.E.A.C.H. scholarships must commit to working in the field for six months to a year (depending on the scholarship) following the completion of their educational requirement and are eligible for a bonus or raise.

The following states operate T.E.A.C.H. programs: Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Child Care WAGE$ Project

WAGE$, a second project of the North Carolina Child Care Services Association, was created in 1994 to address low compensation and high turnover in the child care field. The program provides an annual salary supplement to child care providers who earn below a state-determined hourly rate ($14.75 per hour for teachers and family child care providers and $15 per hour for directors in North Carolina). Recipients must work at least 10 hours per week in a program serving children between the ages of birth to five and have completed some level of education beyond a high school diploma. Participants are eligible to begin receiving the supplement after 6 months of work in the same child care program.

The salary supplements offered through the WAGE$ program are set up to create incentives for providers to seek higher levels of education and training and increase as providers move up an educational scale. In North Carolina, supplements range from $200 a year for providers who have completed 6 semester hours in early childhood education or child development or have a North Carolina Early Childhood Credential up to $6,250 a year for providers with a bachelors degree including at least 24 semester hours related to early childhood education and child development. Supplements for providers with any educational level below an associates degree with 30 hours of coursework in early childhood education are temporary, and these providers must move up to the next level on the scale within two years to remain eligible for the salary supplement. Family child care providers have three years to move up.

In North Carolina, WAGE$ is funded by local Smart Start partnerships and the Division of Child Development. Florida, Kansas, and South Carolina operate similar programs.

Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards (CARES)

The E3 Institute (Advancing Excellence in Early Education) in Santa Clara County, California created the CARES program in 2002 to address low compensation and create incentives for early childhood educators to remain in the field. The program is funded by state money allocated to First 5 Santa Clara County from a state cigarette tax.

To be eligible for a CARES stipend, providers must have a minimum of 6 units in early childhood education, be employed for a minimum of 9 months in the same licensed child care program, and provide care for at least 20 hours per week to children ages five and under. In 2005, stipends ranged from $200 for entry level applicants up to $4,000 for providers with a bachelors degree and 24 units in early childhood education. Family child care providers are eligible for an additional $500 stipend if their program is accredited by the National Association of Family Child Care or the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Even if they do not move up the scale, providers who participate in CARES must complete new semester units each year to remain in the program at their current level.