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Worcester's Early Educators deserve Larger Investment

The Worcester Telegram, May 9, 2005
As I See It by Mara Aspinall

Over the past year, Massachusetts has had much to celebrate about its efforts to better educate young children. Last July, the Legislature and Gov. Mitt Romney made a historic move in education reform by creating a new board and consolidated Department of Early Education and Care. The board and a commissioner were recently appointed and the new department becomes operational on July 1.

This is a very positive step for the future of early education in the commonwealth. However, there is still much work to be done to build on this foundation.

This is an issue that directly affects us in Worcester. According to the 2000 Census, 55 percent of preschool-aged children (2.9 years to 5 years) in Worcester are enrolled in school. Massachusetts Department of Education data show that of those children enrolled in school, 678 children (24 percent) attend public school preschool, while 2,069 children (76 percent) are enrolled in community-based or family child care programs.

And while Worcester has 35 public school preschool programs, 55 licensed center-based programs and 219 licensed family child care programs (as of June 2004), 461 eligible children were on a waiting list to receive a child care subsidy from the Office of Child Care Services, including 98 who are preschool age.

Providing quality early education opportunities is one of the most proven steps we can take to positively impact the future of children. The overwhelming preponderance of evidence and research indicates that children who participate in high-quality early education are more likely to develop better language skills; score higher in school-readiness tests; have better social skills and fewer behavioral problems; and are more likely to be literate, employed, and enrolled in college.

This research also shows that the main determinants of program quality are the education, training and compensation of the teacher. As this new department takes shape, it is critical that the leadership focus on developing the early education work force. While the commonwealth has committed to the development and implementation of a program of voluntary, universally accessible high-quality early education, before major resources are expended it first needs to ensure that the educators are being given the tools to make their classrooms meet the highest quality standards.

A new study by a Wellesley College research team led by Nancy Marshall (“Massachusetts Capacity Study Research Brief: Characteristics of the Current Early Education and Care Workforce”), provides an up-to-date assessment of the early education work force that indicates that there is much work to be done. Some of the findings include:

Private preschool center teachers with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education earned an average of $16 less an hour compared to the lowes-paid full-time public school preschool teachers.

Only about 50 percent of current early childhood teachers have taken college-level coursework or hold a higher degree in early childhood education or a related field.

Turnover among teaching staff in Massachusetts’ preschool centers is high. Preschool directors reported that 26 percent of their teaching staff had left in the previous 12 months.

If we want to improve outcomes in our students’ performances, we must invest in early educators. The data demonstrate that children progress further in areas such as language and math skills, social and emotional development, and later academic success when their teacher or provider has more years of college and specialized training in child development. Well-educated early childhood educators are more effective in knowing how to guide and encourage individualized learning, how to plan appropriate activities and how to respond to children’s needs.

Teachers’ education levels also are linked to greater gains in children’s early writing skills, language and math skills, relationships with peers and later academic success. Adequate wages and benefits help to ensure early educators stay in classrooms, leading to more stable environments and better outcomes for children.

The average salary of a preschool teacher is $25,020 in the greater Worcester area, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data are especially concerning when you consider that the Department of Education estimates that 1,056 of Worcester’s jobs are in the early education and care industry.

Massachusetts’ early educators also face considerable barriers to educational advancement. We need to ensure that there is better coordination among local child care training programs, community colleges and four-year academic institutions so that professional development opportunities support the development of a coherent skill set for early childhood professionals. We then need to guarantee that once the commonwealth and early educators invest in this professional development, there is a corresponding increase in salary.

Policy-makers, researchers, parents, educators and business leaders in Massachusetts and across the country are recognizing that in order to truly prepare children to enter school “ready” to succeed, we must invest in the skills of those who educate and care for them every day. Focusing on work-force development as we begin down the road toward universal access to high-quality early education is the smart thing to do for the children of Worcester and our economy.

A fully implemented universal preschool program will pay great dividends in the future as the children of today grow to be our high-skilled work force of tomorrow.

Mara Aspinall, president of Genzyme Genetics of Westboro, is co-chairman of the Early Education for All Campaign.

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