Demographic characteristics of early childhood teachers and structural elements of early care and education in the United States.

Publication: Early Childhood Research & Practice

Publication Date: 22-MAR-02

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2002 ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education

Abstract

This paper summarizes demographic information on early childhood programs and teachers of 3- and 4-year-olds. Questionnaires were sent to a random sample of early childhood programs across the United States. Data were collected on teacher characteristics and structural features of early childhood programs (enrollment, class size, hours of operation, and ratio of teachers to students). Results indicate that there are approximately 284,277 teachers of 3- and 4-year-olds in the United States. The vast majority of these teachers are women, and 78% are White. Approximately 50% of these teachers have earned a college degree, although educational attainment varies among program types. For-profit centers currently outnumber other types of centers, although the number of early childhood programs in public schools is increasing rapidly. The findings will be of interest to parents because they must choose among different program types when selecting a setting for their children, and it is therefore important for them to have access to information about the characteristics of early childhood programs and teachers. Additionally, policy makers need to understand the distinctions that exist between different types of early childhood settings as they adopt regulations and make funding decisions that affect parental choice of programs.

Introduction

Over the past three decades, the number of children in early childhood programs before kindergarten has been increasing. Currently, more than 65% of mothers with children under the age of 6 are in the labor force (U.S. Department of Labor, 2001). According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, in 1995, 67% of 3-year-olds and 77% of 4-year-olds spent some amount of time each week in nonparental care (Hofferth, Shauman, West, & Henke, 1998). These numbers are bound to increase, given the increase in numbers of mothers in the workforce and given the emphasis on sending children to kindergarten "ready for school."

The Current Study

This paper aims to fill the gap in current information on the early childhood workforce and structural features of center-based early childhood programs by presenting the results of a nationally representative survey of teachers of 3- and 4-year-olds. This study was conducted by the National Center for Early Development and Learning to provide demographic information on early childhood programs and teachers and to assess teachers' practices, beliefs, and perceived barriers to endorsed practice. The current paper summarizes demographic information and compares it with estimates from other sources, including the 1990 study of child care settings conducted by the Mathematica Policy Group Inc. (Kisker, Hofferth, Phillips, & Farquhar, 1991). Teachers' practices, beliefs, and perceived barriers to practice are addressed in a separate paper (Early, Saluja, & Clifford, 2001). In this paper, we will present data on teacher characteristics as well as structural features of early childhood programs across the United States (enrollment, class size, hours of operation, and ratio of teachers to students). Because previous research has indicated links between early childhood program sponsorship (program type) and many features of early childhood programs, we focus on comparing centers across sponsorship categories (program types). Parents must choose among different program types when selecting a setting for their children. Policy makers need to understand the distinctions that exist between different types of early childhood settings as they adopt regulations and make funding decisions that affect parental choice of programs. Thus a better understanding of how program type is linked to structural features of quality is important.

Types of Programs Serving Young Children

Young children are being served in a variety of settings, including center-based programs, family child care, and care provided by relatives other than parents. The current study focuses on center-based care. These programs vary with regard to for-profit versus nonprofit status. Within profit status, they further vary with regard to organizational affiliation. For example, within the for-profit sector, settings can be independently operated or operated by a national or local chain. Within the nonprofit sector, settings can be affiliated with Head Start, a public school, a religious organization, or another type of nonprofit (e.g., YMCA). Both the setting's profit status and its organizational affiliation have implications for many aspects of the program's operations. Head Start, for instance, has specific guidelines governing class size, teacher education, and curriculum (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Likewise, according to several states' guidelines (e.g., Arkansas, Missouri, and North Carolina), religiously affiliated settings may operate within guidelines put forth by the sponsoring church or synagogue and are often exempt from state child care guidelines/regulations (National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care, 2000).

A study by the Mathematica Policy Research group (Kisker, Hofferth, Phillips, & Farquhar, 1991) estimated that at the beginning of 1990, there were approximately 80,000 center-based programs in the United States. The authors differentiated program types by "sponsorship," defined as "a program's belonging to or having an affiliation with another organization from which the program receives direction and/or funding" (p. 33). The authors found that two-thirds of centers serving children 3 or older were nonprofit. Of those, about 23% were sponsored by a religious organization (such as a church or synagogue), 12% were sponsored by a public school, and 14% were sponsored by Head Start. An additional 51% of nonprofit centers were either independent or sponsored by another organization. Of the 36% for-profit centers, 17% were national or local chains and 83% were independent.

Structural Features of Quality

Despite the increasing number of children in care, we have little national information about the characteristics of early childhood teachers and the structural features of early childhood settings. We know what high-quality programs look like, and we have some evidence that the quality of care varies among different types of settings (Kisker, Hofferth, Phillips, & Farquhar, 1991); however, we lack a current profile of early childhood settings and the early childhood workforce. The current study aims to fill this gap by providing a current national profile of early childhood programs and teachers, including information on various aspects of quality.

Data from the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes study (Cost, Quality, and Outcomes Study Team, 1995) suggest that several structural characteristics of care settings are associated with quality in early childhood programs. These characteristics include the level of teacher education and specialized training, teacher wages, child-to-teacher ratios, teacher turnover, and administrator's prior experience.

Teacher Education

Generally speaking, higher-quality programs employ teachers who have completed more years of education than do lower-quality programs. Further, teachers in high-quality settings tend to have more specialized training in early childhood education and child development, and they are more informed about developmentally appropriate practices and teaching strategies for use with young children. Due to the short supply of teachers trained in early childhood education and the tight budgets of programs, it can be difficult to hire and keep teachers who are highly trained for their jobs (Whitebook, Howes, & Phillips, 1989).

According to data from the 1990 Profile of Child Care Settings (Kisker, Hofferth, Phillips, & Farquhar, 1991), 47% of teachers had a four-year college degree, 13% had an associate's degree, 26% had some college, 13% had graduated from high school, and 1% had...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.