National Worthy Wage Day 2013!

Today, May 1st, 2013, marks the 22nd Anniversary of Worthy Wage Day, a national campaign to draw attention to the importance of the work of early childhood educators. Though the field of early childhood education has come a long way in the past two decades, there still remains an urgent need to continue to improve the wages, benefits, and professional development opportunities for early childhood educators. According to the U.S. Department of Labor (2011), the median wages for child care teachers and preschool teachers are between $7.90 and $9.53 per hour. This salary is lower than cooks, cashiers, and parking lot attendants. It’s not surprising with those low wages, that the turnover rate for the field of early childhood education is more than 30% (National Association for the Education for Young Children, 2004).

I have personally worked in the field of early childhood education in the Seattle area for the past thirteen years. The average tuition rates for the centers where I have worked range from $700 to $1900 per month for full-time care. Families who can afford to pay the twelve hundred dollar difference have a good chance of receiving quality early childcare for their children. These centers typically have lower ratios, provide better staff benefits and training, and are able to follow state licensing guidelines for safety and developmentally appropriate practices. Parents who can afford to pay only $700 per month, or those receiving state or city subsidies for childcare, will probably experience more staff turnover, higher ratios, and perhaps even insufficient safety for their children.

The legal teacher-to-child ratio in the State of Washington is one to seven for toddlers, age 12 months to 21 months. I have worked in what I would consider high-quality centers, where the teacher-to-child ratio is at four to one or below. I have also worked in centers I would call low quality, where the teacher-to-child ratios rarely stay below the legal one to seven. In a low quality center with only one teacher caring for seven toddlers, physical contact and verbal interactions are lower. Much of the teacher’s time is spent tending to the basic needs of the children; like preparing food, cleaning up the environment, and changing diapers. Teachers caring for seven or more toddlers alone have little time to sing songs, read stories, or nurture the emotional, physical, and intellectual development of the children in their care. If you are a parent, you can imagine how difficult the job of caring for seven toddlers would be. Coupled with the low pay and insufficient benefits that often accompany these jobs in low quality centers, you can also probably imagine why so many teachers get burnt out and leave the field.

It is widely acknowledged by child development experts that the first five years of life are crucial to brain development. Numerous research studies show that high quality early childcare programs can positively affect the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children. Research illustrates a strong relationship between high quality care in early childhood programs and better language and math skills in elementary school. High quality childcare significantly decreases the likelihood of social and behavior problems in elementary school. One study, The Abecedarian Project, followed a group of at-risk children from infancy through 21 years. The study showed that those individuals who received high quality care during the first five years of childhood were more likely to complete high school, attend college, and delay having children. High quality early childhood programs benefit society because they increase the likelihood that children will enter school ready to learn and increase the possibility that they will also become productive members of society in the future. Though research has shown us the valuable benefits of high quality early childcare programs for children, many thousands of children in the United States are enrolled in mediocre childcare homes and centers.

At Tiny Tribe Preschool we are committed to ensuring that our teachers are paid well, each earning over $15.00/ hour and receiving the benefits of vacation, sick, and holiday pay as well as monthly medical stipends. As long as early childhood educators are paid poverty- level wages and teachers continue to leave the field due to low wages and insufficient benefits, we will never be able to ensure that our nation’s youngest children receive the high level of early childhood education that they deserve. All children should have access to high quality early child care regardless of their parent’s income. All children deserve to be cared for by qualified well-trained professionals who are paid a living wage.
Sincerely,
Jena Inghram- director of Tiny Tribe Preschool and Childcare

You can learn more about the Worthy Wage Day movement from the American Federation of Teachers by going to the link below.
http://www.aft.org/yourwork/ece/wwdtoolkit/index.cfm

This month President Obama announced his early learning initiative, a three part plan that could change child care in our country by increasing the availability of affordable high-quality childcare. You can let the president know that you support this initiative by signing the petition at Momsrising.org!

http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ELI_4_13/?akid=4219.25576.XvJ92J&rd=1&t=4