Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education, 1980-2004

Since the early 1980s, there has been a large and unsettling dip in the qualifications of the center-based early childhood workforce nationwide, with 30% of teachers and administrators now having just a high school diploma or less, according to a comprehensive new report published on September 15, 2005 by the Economic Policy Institute, the Keystone Research Center, and the Foundation for Child Development.

Losing Ground In Early Childhood Education – authored by researchers Stephen Herzenberg, Mark Price and David Bradley -- finds that declining qualifications have resulted, in part, from persistent low wages and benefits. As more educated women have enjoyed expanding opportunities in other fields, low pay has made
it hard for the early childhood education (ECE) field to hold onto experienced teachers with proper training and educational background. As a result, more teachers are entering ECE without a college degree. Home-based early childhood educators (for which consistent data exist only since 2000) have even lower education
levels than those who are center-based.

The national report, released together with a table on qualifications and pay in 39 states and companion reports for seven states, uses a unique new data set from the 1979-2004 Current Population Survey to examine trends in ECE qualifications and pay. The authors emphasize that these educational trends can reduce the effectiveness of these ECE programs and the long-term academic outcomes of preschool children nationwide.

Download the Research Papers

Losing Ground In Early Childhood Education and seven companion state-level reports for California, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Wisconsin are available for download in Adbobe PDF format. On-line summaries of the national and state-level reports are also available, together with tables describing the characteristics of early childhood educators in 39 states.

Losing Ground Studies Get
Nation-Wide Press Coverage

Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education, has received press attention around the county. The study was the subject of articles in the Bergen County (New Jersey) Record, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the New Mexico Business Weekly. Other press coverage included articles in:

The Rochester Chronicle and Democrat, Rochester, New York.
San Jose Mercury News, San Jose, California.
The Southeast Missourian, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The Tulsa World, Tulsa Oklahoma.
Ventura County Star, Ventura, California.
The New York Daily News, New York, New York.
The Newark Start-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey.
The Daily Record, Morristown, New Jersey.
The Herald-Sun, Durham, North Carolina.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan, Fort Collins, Colorado.

The Keystone Research Center's Losing Ground in Pennsylvania Early Childhood Education report was the subject of a report on Harrisburg's WHTM-TV during its News at 6 program on September 14, 2005. It has also been the subject of newspaper article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The video is available as a KRC video podcast.

Broadcast coverage of the national report has included stories on:

KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
WAMU-FM, Washington D.C.
WBAY-TV, Greenbay, Wisconsin.

About this Web Site

This web site is being developed by the Keystone Research Center as a resource for elected officials, school administrators, teachers, community leaders and parents who are concerned about fostering the development of high-quality early childhood education programs in their communities. As the research presented here confirms, the quality of early childhood education depends on the qualifications of early childhood teachers.