Greetings—
We would like to introduce you to the redesigned Build Child Care newsletter from the Urban Institute. The redesigned newsletter will feature research findings on current child care issues from researcher-CCDF Lead Agency partnership projects. These projects are sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families Office for Planning Research and Evaluation (OPRE) grant programs.
In this newsletter, we focus on the question: What can pandemic-era insights on early educators’ well-being tell us about the current child care workforce crisis?
Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies and their research partners found that the COVID-19 pandemic was related to early educators’ well-being, financial health, and job commitment. Their findings offer important insights to researchers and policymakers grappling with the current child care workforce crisis. CCDF Lead Agencies and their research partners found:
- Early childhood educators reported increased feelings of worry, stress, and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Both center-based and home-based providers reported experiencing financial loss due to COVID-19.
- Teachers and providers often feared losing income due to program closures.
- Teachers reported less job commitment than before the pandemic.
A summary of these independent research findings points to COVID-19 pandemic related increases in teachers’ and providers' mental health problems and financial instability as well as decreased job commitment as potentially important factors to consider in resolving the current child care workforce crisis.
Related OPRE-Sponsored Research
In Provider Financial Challenges and Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF) the Minnesota Child Care Policy Research Partnership reported that in Minnesota, 27 percent of center-based and 15 percent of family child care providers reported symptoms of moderate or severe anxiety in 2020.
In Changes in Early Educator Wellbeing and Job Commitment in the Wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic: Lessons from Large-Scale Surveys in Jefferson and Rapides Parishes Anna J. Markowitz and Daphna Bassok reported an increase in depressive symptoms and decrease in job commitment for both child care and school-based teachers during the pandemic in Louisiana. See the accompanying journal article here.
In Early Childhood Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Arkansas Educators (PDF) Todd Grindal, Sheila Smith, Jennifer Nakamura, and Maribel Granja reported that 62 percent of private center-based teachers and 65 percent of home-based providers reported “moderate” to “extreme” levels of concern around losing income in 2020.
Other Resources On This Topic
- Understanding Child Care and Early Education Program Closures and Enrollment during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Other research on the effects of COVID-19 on early educator experiences from Research Connections.
We hope this research provides insights that help you make evidence-informed decisions. To learn more about the Center to Support Research and Evaluation Capacity of Child Care and Development Fund Lead Agencies (CSRE) and other resources that may be helpful to you, please visit our webpage.
This website is supported by Grant Number 90YE0293 from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE).
