Contents
Executive Summary
Methods
Statewide Survey For All Providers
Administrative Data System Review
Results
Who is Our Child Care Workforce?
What Are Providers’ Primary Reasons For Working in Child Care, and Why Do They Leave?
How Compensation is Determined
Existing Salary Support Programs
Education Promotes Stability in the Field of Child Care
T.E.A.C.H. as an Education Resource
Conclusions and Recommendations
References
Executive Summary
Iowa’s child care providers are committed to work they find meaningful, and the majority would like to remain in the field as long as possible. Unfortunately, as with many other states in the US, we are struggling with severe child care challenges in staffing, including high turnover rates and low compensation that are sending many providers to other employment. We need to implement solutions that help recruit and retain high-quality child care providers so that Iowa’s youngest children have the care they need while their families are working. Critical solutions require quality data to inform decision-making.
The purpose of this 2023 Iowa Child Care Workforce Study was to generate a deeper understanding of who Iowa’s child care workforce is and the challenges they are facing. Using a comprehensive approach including statewide surveys, in-depth focus groups and interviews, and a thorough review of administrative databases containing information about our workforce, this report provides highlights and recommendations designed to inform critical solutions for Iowa.
Working in partnership with an advisory group comprised of representatives from Iowa’s Department of Health and Human Services, Child Care Resource and Referral, Iowa Workforce Development, and Early Childhood Iowa, the study team at I2D2 developed and collected information from home- and center-based providers including over 5,000 voices using diverse data collection methods. Findings revealed three main themes: First, provider compensation is too low to support a sustainable workforce and a raise in compensation cannot be affordably paid for by the families in care. Through every data collection approach, compensation (including benefits) was identified as the primary limiting factor to a sustainable child care business. Recommendations for sustainable approaches to raise compensation for providers are provided, and a call to action for statewide investments is included in this report.
"The purpose of this 2023 Iowa Child Care Workforce Study was to generate a deeper understanding of who Iowa’s child care workforce is and the challenges they are facing."
Second, providers need more readily accessible information about existing programs that are available to support child care businesses including effective models of recruitment and retention. There is currently no common place where this information exists, and many providers are unaware (or misinformed) about how they might advance their work.
Lastly, to better monitor and inform comprehensive solutions to our child care challenges we need more regular and reliable data about the workforce. The review of administrative data systems identified opportunities to use some data that is already collected, and also highlighted opportunities to improve these data over time. Reliance on survey and focus group feedback is useful, but costly and time intensive. Future work would benefit from advancing access to the administrative data systems that could be integrated in strategic ways to monitor our investments and program or policy changes.
Several key recommendations and concrete action steps were developed in collaboration with the project advisory group. These include finding sustainable ways to raise child care provider compensation and provide access to benefits (including potential redirection of more costly but less sustainable public supports), advancing professionalization of the field and improving work environments, improving communications about successful child care models and access to workforce supports, and building more routine ways to collect and analyze workforce data to track and monitor our efforts.
Background
Iowa’s child care providers are committed to work they find meaningful, and the majority would like to remain in the field as long as possible. Unfortunately, our families, child care providers, and employers as a whole are facing severe child care challenges, not unlike those in other states across the US. Iowa is among states with the highest rates of all parents (or the only parent) in the home who are also working (76%), and Iowa has a very low unemployment rate with many employers seeking additional workers (U.S. Census Bureau). Providing high quality child care for the over half a million children in Iowa under the age of 12 (with 236,000 under age 5) has been recognized as one of the biggest challenges to growing Iowa’s economy.
Governor Kim Reynolds launched a strategic Child Care Task Force comprised of public and private stakeholders across the system to identify potential solutions for Iowa’s child care challenges. Recommendations from that Task Force included strategies to (1) guide businesses’ assistance for employees accessing child care, (2) assist child care providers in efficiently managing their business and overcoming regulatory barriers, (3) facilitate families’ access to high quality child care, and (4) invest in the child care workforce (Office of the Governor of Iowa, 2021). The Child Care Task Force, created at a time of heightened attention to challenges facing many businesses to ensure an adequate workforce, reflects one of many ongoing efforts to identify and implement diverse strategies to strengthen Iowa’s child care system.
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child care programs were listed with Iowa’s Child Care Resource & Referral system.”
Multiple initiatives to strengthen Iowa’s child care system and enhance child care quality have been undertaken over the last quarter century. In the early 2000s, researchers and state child care administrators from Iowa partnered with peers from Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri to form the Midwest Child Care Research Consortium (MCCRC) designed to examine overall quality and availability of child care across the four states, as well as factors contributing to quality (Raikes, 2004). This work revealed severe shortages of child care availability and accessibility and overall poor levels of quality across Iowa. In response to this early work, Iowa first implemented a Quality Rating System (QRS) in 2002. Several efforts since that time have strengthened the use of QRS and related quality improvement efforts. Recently, state leadership launched a revised rating approach – Iowa Quality for Kids (IQ4K) in April 2022. This advanced quality rating and improvement system outlines five levels of quality that programs can achieve and includes a continuous quality improvement system, implemented by Iowa’s Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) partners, that guides child care programs to assess their current performance across all areas of programming and develop a plan to increase the overall level of program quality. As of July 2022, 4,661 child care programs were listed with Iowa’s CCR&R system. These programs include 2,237 Registered Child Development homes (572; 21% participating in IQ4K); 564 Child Care Homes; 362 Department of Education Preschool Centers (51; 14%), and 1,498 Licensed Child Care Centers (618; 41%). Participation in IQ4K provides child care programs consultation and guidance on program quality, as well as financial incentives for achieving higher levels of quality.
Investments in the child care workforce have been ongoing as well. Notably, both the T.E.A.C.H. (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps) Early Childhood Iowa® and Child Care WAGE$® Iowa programs are now available statewide. These are evidence-based programs licensed and housed by the Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children, a National Association for the Education of Young Children affiliate, developed by the Child Care Services Association (2023). T.E.A.C.H. is a comprehensive scholarship program that can assist child care providers to earn degrees, certifications, and credits that can then facilitate participation in the WAGE$® program. T.E.A.C.H. provides support for education, compensation and retention of the child care workforce. WAGE$® is an evidence-based salary supplement program designed to stabilize the child care workforce by boosting the earnings of individual providers with demonstrated commitment to the field. WAGE$® also supports stability in the field and continuity of care for children by slowing the rate of teacher turnover. Together, these programs provide a step toward enhancing the qualifications of our child care workforce and, in turn, their salary capacity.
To better inform these ongoing efforts, a statewide child care workforce study was conducted in 2016 to understand the current state of Iowa’s child care workforce (Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children; Iowa AEYC). The study included a survey of center directors designed to describe the child care workforce demographics, education level, and duration of service in the field; working conditions and wage averages for child care providers; and participation in the QRS system. Recommendations from the 2016 study included increasing funding for and participation in the T.E.A.C.H. and WAGE$® programs to address the low compensation and high rates of turnover for child care providers, requiring a minimum level of education (associate’s degree) for child care directors, increasing incentives for QRS participation, and increasing reimbursement rates for child care assistance.
Given recent investments in Iowa’s child care system, including emphasis on quality and workforce improvements through the Governor’s Child Care Task Force, there was a need to revisit the state of Iowa’s child care workforce. The current Iowa Workforce Study was conducted in 2022-2023 to provide a description of Iowa’s child care workforce as of 2023. Three goals guided the study, including: (1) extend and compare findings from 2016 study, (2), understand more about home-based providers (who were not included in the original 2016 study), and (3) focus on understanding more about incentives and retention strategies that have been successful and/or could be expanded to support our ongoing challenges. Specifically, both center-based and home-based child care providers were surveyed in 2022 and included in focus groups to better understand the strengths and needs of this workforce. Additionally, a set of focus groups and structured interviews with center directors in early 2023 emphasized understanding recruitment and retention strategies. This diverse approach afforded opportunities to compare the motivations, working conditions, and commitment to the field between a variety of child care providers across the state of Iowa.
Participate in Iowa Quality for Kids
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Registered Child
Development Homes
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%
Department of Education Preschool Centers
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%
Licensed Child Care Centers
Methods
Throughout this report we use the term “child care workforce” to include anyone who provides direct care or runs a business providing care in either home or center-based settings for young children while parents are working. To comprehensively study the child care workforce in Iowa, data collection was done in three stages, each with a different method and sample (see Figure 1). First, an online survey was developed to capture responses from past and current workers in all types of roles and settings. Second, a set of focus groups with home-and center-based child care providers was conducted during the 2022 Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children (Iowa AEYC, an affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children) fall institute. Third, an additional set of focus groups and structured interviews was conducted with child care directors. Taken together, these methods and samples provided information from different participants in the field, providing a complete view of the state and needs of the Iowa early child care workforce.
FIGURE 1. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS BY DATA COLLECTION TYPE
| Aug-Sept 2022 | Oct 2022 | Feb 2023 |
|---|---|---|
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Statewide Survey For All Providers
An online survey was distributed to the Iowa workforce, broadly defined to include current and past workers in a variety of positions and types of programs. The questions were developed based on findings from the 2016 survey and current stakeholder priorities, particularly capturing the experiences of home-based providers. A pilot of the survey was tested internally and with external stakeholders and revised accordingly to ensure accuracy and ease of completion. Between August 16th and September 9th of 2022, the survey opened statewide and was distributed online using information about the workforce from Iowa’s Early Childhood and School Age Professional Workforce Registry (I-PoWeR), the state’s workforce and training registration system. Participants were compensated after completing the survey with a gift card.
Respondents were asked about their personal characteristics, family characteristics, program and service use, engagement with the field, and their needs to remain in the field. The survey also included opportunities for open-ended responses, which provided rich qualitative data to shed further light on the unique experiences of providers across the state.
In total, 4,282 current or past child care providers answered the survey, showing high engagement of respondents and providing a representative sample of the workforce. Importantly, there were at least two respondents from each of Iowa’s 99 counties.
Provider Focus Groups
To supplement learning from the provider survey, the team conducted a total of 4 focus groups over the last weekend of September 2022 during the lunch break of the 2022 Iowa AEYC Fall Institute (convenience sampling). Recruitment information was posted on Iowa AEYC’s social media in advance of the institute and printed in the program. The team also displayed a poster of the recruitment information at the institute and invited people during the transition to lunch.
A total of 26 participants were recruited for the focus groups. There were two groups with center-based directors and educators comprising a total number of 9 participants. Among them, one participant mentioned it was hard to find her fit since she represents a center that serves school-age children. An additional 17 providers participated in two home-based focus groups. Among them, only 1 participant claimed that she no longer works as a home provider, but she had been a provider for years.
Focus group discussions were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Transcriptions were coded and grouped revealing four main themes: (1) pay (i.e., financial compensation), and the WAGE$® program; (2) other benefits including insurance, retirement, and paid leave; (3) education, professional development, and the T.E.A.C.H. program; and (4) commitment to the field/reasons for staying in the field. Each theme was analyzed using NVivo (a qualitative analysis software). Inductive subthemes emerged under each theme. The subcategory in which the quote was organized is included with the quote.
Director Focus Groups
Focus groups were also conducted with a sample of center-based program directors to capture perspectives from administrators. A list of active licensed center-based programs was retrieved from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services website in January of 2023. Directors were originally invited via email to participate using a stratified targeted approach to recruit a representative sample across three criteria areas: whether they accept child care assistance (CCA) or not, if their county of service is rural or urban, and based on their QRS participation. While program size was not a formal strata, programs of varying sizes (<50 to 100+) were invited. Unfortunately, initial recruitment yielded a low response rate, thus stratification of the sample was relaxed and any willing respondents were included (See Appendix C for a full report of the focus groups).
A total of 37 directors representing 37 different programs participated in 8 focus groups in February 2023. The focus groups were conducted via Zoom, recorded, and transcribed for analysis. In the final minutes of each focus group, participants were provided with a short online survey to answer questions specific to the number of staff they had, minimum education requirements for various staff positions, and pay and benefits for each staff position.
Director focus group data were coded using deductive themes informed by the prior survey and provider focus groups collected in the Fall 2022. Each theme was analyzed across the director focus groups and subthemes emerged under each theme. The coding team then met to compare codes and subthemes, and determined that related, but unique themes were required to best organize data from the administrator focus groups compared to the themes that were found from the provider groups. The coding scheme identified the following major themes in the director focus group data: (1) financial compensation and the WAGE$® program; (2) other benefits (e.g., health insurance, retirement investments); (3) recruitment, retention, and long-term commitment to the field; (4) Education, T.E.A.C.H., and succession planning; and (5) emerging additional topics.
Administrative Data System Review
In addition to the above data collection, a series of data discovery sessions were conducted to understand more about the potential of future efforts to use administrative data in support of statewide child care studies. Given the costly and time consuming nature of survey and focus group work, this effort aimed to determine feasibility and opportunity for capitalizing on sets of data that already exist. This work involved the identification of relevant data systems, structured interviews with data stewards, and the creation of recommendations and next steps that aligned with findings from the current data collection efforts.
Results
The following summary provides details about what was learned across all the data collection approaches for the 2023 Iowa Child Care Workforce Study. This summary captures highlights that are synthesized from across the child care provider survey (see Appendix A for full details of survey findings), the home- and center-based provider focus groups (see Appendix B for full details of focus group findings), and the center-based administrator focus groups (see Appendix C for full details of the administrator findings). Appendix D provides details about the data discovery process and recommendations for future administrative data integration to support workforce improvement efforts.
The survey and focus group findings are summarized across four main topic areas:
- Who is our child care workforce?
- What are their primary reasons for working in child care, and why do they leave?
- Wages and compensation are not enough.
- Education promotes stability in the field.
Who is Our Child Care Workforce?
The provider survey (See Appendix A) sampled over 4,200 workers across child care homes and centers to get a general idea of who is providing care for our youngest Iowans. Results suggest several patterns that help us understand who they are; where they work; their training and education background; and their financial status including compensation, access to benefits, and use of other public services.
Access to benefits through their job was also assessed through the provider survey (see Table 1). These data highlight important differences between home- and center-based providers, and between those that are married or unmarried. Providers working in centers received more benefits overall, compared to those in home settings, however home-based providers more often report paying for professional development compared to providers in centers.
TABLE 1. PERCENT OF PROVIDERS REPORTING ACCESS TO BENEFITS THROUGH THEIR JOB
Within the home-based provider group, most married respondents receive health insurance (69%) and dental insurance (64%) through a spouse or partner, while unmarried providers most often use governmental supports (61% and 59%, respectively).
Retirement benefits appear to be the biggest gap for providers across all provider types. Overall, most providers do not have retirement benefits, including 82% of unmarried home-based providers and 61% of all providers in center-based settings (regardless of marital status).
What Are Providers’ Primary Reasons For Working in Child Care, and Why Do They Leave?
Overwhelmingly, providers report seeing their work as meaningful and seeing themselves as contributing to children’s development and families’ well-being as primary reasons they are in the field. Across data sources and provider types, a strong commitment to children and families was evident.
“It’s not just providing quality childcare. It’s also providing the relationship with the families, the trust, and that extra support.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I’m a lifer.”
“So am I, because what you receive back from it far outweighs the pain that you get. We have a love for the children.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
Although one quarter of providers reported being in their current position for a year or less, more than half have been in their current position for over 5 years. 30% of respondents have been in their current position for 10 or more years. Administrators frequently commented on a core group of teachers who had worked for them long-term.
If you lose the good assistants then all of the work is on the leads and then they burn out and then they leave. I have two amazing assistants that I would literally die without... I was so excited that they’re finally getting paid more, please make them not quit.
Retention in the Field of Child Care
- 89% of providers say they would choose this career again
- 78% report they stay in child care because their work is meaningful
- 62% plan to stay in the field as long as they are able, with more married providers and more home-based providers compared to unmarried or center-based
- Over 20% of providers say they are unsure if they want to stay in child care, or that they will stay until another event occurs (e.g., better job, become parent, children reach school-age)
52%
52% of those who left said they would have stayed but compensation and benefits are not enough.
The juxtaposition of high turnover of individuals entering the field or new positions and high commitment for those that make it through the first few years highlights the importance of supporting the initiation phase for providers entering the workforce. Frequent turnover within individual programs and across the field, a churning of sorts in the workforce, has multiple costs. In addition to the financial impact of hiring and training new individuals regularly, it is impossible to establish a high-quality, well-trained workforce if a third of that workforce is doing introductory training at any given time. Further, turnover among child care providers has a negative impact on the children in care (Cassidy et al., 2011) and the other staff.
Of those who have left the child care workforce, better compensation and benefits were identified as key for them being able to return to the workforce. Administrators corroborate this and identify low pay and challenging work as reasons for their current recruitment challenges. In addition to pay and benefits, former providers report they would return to work in child care if they had locations closer to their homes, better transportation to work locations, and better work environments.
“I have a lot of staff that have been here for years and years and years, which makes it really nice. The parents enjoyed that, and some of my staff even had the parents back in the day.”
[Administrator 202]
“One thing about my staff they’ve all been here a long time, I don’t have a very big turnover. They’re a great bunch of gals. I appreciate them everyday.”
[Administrator 503]
“We have staff that come in but leave after a few weeks, just can’t handle it.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“Yeah and if you lose the good assistants then all of the work is on the leads and then they burn out and then they leave. I have two amazing assistants that I would literally die without… I was so excited that they’re finally getting paid more, please make them not quit.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I think it helps if you have another income. I am the only income so that’s hard”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“Too many difficulties [taking CCA], you know, it’s a very difficult decision. Do they deserve quality care? Yes. But does my family deserve to eat? Yes.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I do feel like we have to increase our hourly starting pay to compete with places that we lose staff to. Around here it’s Casey’s. So a gas station will start off their employees at a higher rate than us. Also, fast food, but then we do have some that we lose to some blue-collar jobs in this area. So, like factory assembly line work that starts off a lot higher that I don’t think we could ever compete with in the, you know, $20 to $25 range.”
[Administrator 602]
“I would say our biggest issue is our starting pay for our area. We start out at $10, and then the teachers get $10.25 an hour to start, so that’s our biggest concern. I’m lucky right now that I just happen to have a great group of people I work with, who show up every day, but when one does call in sick, or they need time off, it’s hard. I get pulled from room to room wherever I need to fill in.”
[Administrator 704]
Wages Are Not Enough
Across all data collection efforts, compensation was identified as the primary concern for sustaining our child care workforce. This section will outline specific findings about provider compensation, differences in compensation and benefits among types of providers and between 2016 and 2022 surveys, administrators’ criteria for raising wages, and perceived financial stability of providers (see Table 2).
A key finding of the study was that low wages are inhibiting workforce supply and stability, which in turn is directly decreasing program capacity to enroll children. Home-based providers report an average hourly wage of $10.52. Center-based classroom staff—teachers and assistant teachers—report an average hourly wage of $14.97 and $12.68 respectively, whereas directors reported an average hourly wage of $19.79.
Nearly 16% of home-based providers indicate they are facing financial trouble, with only 21% indicating they feel like they are financially managing well. Center-based employees, including administrators, perceive slightly better financial well-being with 15% reporting facing difficulties and 23.5% managing well. Providers currently in the workforce state that it is hard to make ends meet without a second job or a second income to
support a household.
I’m lucky right now that I just happen to have a great group of people I work with, who show up every day, but when one does call in sick, or they need time off, it’s hard. I get pulled from room to room wherever I need to fill in.
I think it helps if you have another income. I am the only income so that’s hard”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“Too many difficulties [taking CCA], you know, it’s a very difficult decision. Do they deserve quality care? Yes. But does my family deserve to eat? Yes.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I do feel like we have to increase our hourly starting pay to compete with places that we lose staff to. Around here it’s Casey’s. So a gas station will start off their employees at a higher rate than us. Also, fast food, but then we do have some that we lose to some blue-collar jobs in this area. So, like factory assembly line work that starts off a lot higher that I don’t think we could ever compete with in the, you know, $20 to $25 range.”
[Administrator 602]
“I would say our biggest issue is our starting pay for our area. We start out at $10, and then the teachers get $10.25 an hour to start, so that’s our biggest concern. I’m lucky right now that I just happen to have a great group of people I work with, who show up every day, but when one does call in sick, or they need time off, it’s hard. I get pulled from room
to room wherever I need to fill in.”
[Administrator 704]
While results suggest wages have increased since the previous workforce study (see Table 3), providers and administrators continue reporting that these wages are insufficient to sustain a quality child care workforce.
Further, evidence suggests that providers making these wages rely heavily on other public services to meet their needs. In fact, 36.8% of providers report accessing one or more public benefits (e.g., Medicaid, child care assistance, supplemental nutrition assistance) to support their household (see Figure 2).
How Wages Are Determined
A set of hybrid focus groups/interviews and surveys of 37 administrators were used to glean further information regarding how initial salaries were set and how employees could earn higher wages. When asked in focus groups how administrators determined starting salaries of staff, education was the most mentioned characteristic of the employee, and approximately half of centers reported obtaining increased education as a way in which teachers move up the pay scale within role. However, this is likely underselling the value of education for career and salary advancement, as indicated by the minimum education levels directors reported hiring in for different positions. While no responding administrators required degrees for assistant teachers, 35% required an associate’s degree or more for lead teachers (10% requiring a bachelor’s or more). Thus, additional education holds both the potential to increase pay within a role, but also opens opportunities to advance into better paid roles (see Figure 3).
Of the 37 administrators interviewed, only 2 reported differential wages by age of children served, with teachers of preschool-age children paid the highest average salary.
You know there’s a Subway that’s opening up by us, and it’s going to start at $14 an hour. And people can say what they want. ‘Oh, no nights, no weekends.’ It does not matter if they can’t pay their bills. They’re going to go to the job that’s going to pay their bills and that’s just a fact, and I can’t fault them for that…They have to be able to pay their bills.
Figure 4 and Table 4 display median hourly wages as reported by child are providers by type/degree and by age group served, respectively. These data may best illustrate the confluence of how education and experience influence provider job roles and the ages they serve, and the most complete picture of variability across providers.
For example, among teachers the highest median hourly wage is for preschool lead teachers, which includes some teachers in child care classrooms partnered with the statewide voluntary preschool program (SWVPP). This would require that teacher to have a bachelor’s degree. State funding for the SWVPP is not reliant on parent fees, so it is logical to assume compensation is better. Child care providers in school age programs are the most likely to be younger, part time workers with limited education, including high school students.
Existing Salary Support Programs
Administrators and providers alike were quick to express appreciation for recent enhancements to salary support programs during focus groups. More than half of administrators who participated in focus groups reported individuals in their center receiving WAGE$®, and 21% of center-based teachers reported that they participated in the WAGE$® program. While many expressed the benefits of these programs, they also noted limitations of these approaches as long-term solutions.
“Well, I thought it was a great thing. It’s been a great thing for my long-term staff. What I ran into was staff leaving immediately after they got that bonus, within 2 to 6 weeks.”
[Administrator 401]
“The WAGE$® check—your amount is tied to what your centers’ IQ4K or QRS level is, and I am not a fan of that. I feel like if you are college educated and working in a low-paying field, that the amount of your checks should not be based upon what it is that your administration can pull off for a level because there are barriers to IQ4k and there are barriers to QRS including the trainings and things like that if you can’t afford for your staff to do them afterwards, because technically, if they’ve worked 40 hours, that legally should be overtime, that you’re paying them to do those trainings. So if you can’t do that, or afford to do that, then that can be a barrier for some centers that might not be able to get a higher IQ4k or QRS level rating so but there’s still college-educated staff working at a license center. So I would like to just see the you know, if you’re working at a license center and you’re college educated that you’re eligible for that.”
[Administrator 403]
There were other challenges shared about these programs, including a hesitation to relying on them as a short-term fix to a larger problem. When asked directly how they had used recruitment and retention bonuses to recruit new staff, most directors were clear that they had chosen not to. Some of the reasons for hesitation included the six month wait to receive a bonus and fear that they would make promises and then the money would dry up and not be available. A general hesitance with short term or add on programs was also clear. Similar resistance was expressed about recent changes to adult-child ratios in care settings. Most administrators who commented (unprompted) on ratios explained that their programs had not changed to the new ratios, primarily to maintain quality in their program and their staffs’ working conditions. These findings suggest that financial investments and policy efforts may be more effectively allocated to increasing wages and, in turn, increasing the number and stability of staff so that programs may fully enroll to their desired capacity.
Education Promotes Stability in the Field of Child Care
As mentioned in the previous section, education is a key determinant of hourly pay and in determining appropriate roles for hiring. Of the 37 administrators who participated in focus groups/interviews, 13 indicated requiring an associate’s degree or more for classroom lead teachers, and 30 indicated requiring an associate’s degree or more for a director position. Child care providers who responded to the survey reported on their education level and role (see Figure 5). Among directors, 56.3% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 33.2% of classroom teachers hold a bachelor’s or higher. Among assistant teachers, 35% hold an associate’s or higher. Education level for home-based providers varied, with about 40% reporting having an associate’s degree or higher. Of all child care providers, 11.46% report having completed a CDA.
Regarding further training, 47% of providers surveyed reported interest in taking further college courses related to early care and education; 12% report current enrollment in college coursework related to early care and education. Of those not interested in more courses (see Figure 6), 46.4% indicated not seeing any benefit for them. This percentage was particularly high among participants with high school or less (52%) and some college but no degree (54%), even though only 17% and 18.3%, respectively, reported achieving their education goals.
Respondents to the survey were encouraged to indicate barriers to participating in more coursework. Cost of courses (76.3%) and timing of when courses are offered (40.4%) were the most common barriers to accessing additional courses. It’s worth noting that 10-11% of respondents indicated child care cost and availability as barriers. Child care providers who indicated having taken any college coursework were asked to indicate all of the supports that were helpful to them in completing college course work (see Figure 7). Family support (72%) and financial aid from the school (52%) or T.E.A.C.H. (36%) are the most important supports for completing coursework.
Participants in the provider focus groups were quick to indicate an interest in further training and professional development apart from college coursework. This was particularly true for providers who saw themselves as in the later years of their careers (note – these focus groups were conducted at the Iowa AEYC annual institute, so the participants had all sought out professional development enough that they were attending. See Appendix B for full details of the focus group approach and findings).
“I don’t want to go back to school. I’m 45… My life is too crazy and chaotic right now, but I love to take CCR&R classes and stuff like that to still learn…I have learning disabilities. And so, I get test anxiety until I don’t do very well on tests, but it’s not that I don’t know the material, it’s just I bomb tests and so when I take these other classes, I learned things but I don’t have to be necessarily tested on it and so I feel like I can learn a little bit easier and relax a little bit more. So, I like to do more of that kind of training and in my life right now, that’s the kind of training I want. I don’t want to go back to school.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“Being in the field as long as I have, going back to school is probably not an option. At this point, I’m 3 years from retirement but I do like to go to this kind of training, also just because it helps keep you up-to-date on things that are going on.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“We’ve utilized both programs here. And I do like about T.E.A.C.H. that there’s also some requirements, as far as staff sticking around if you participate, and so we’re able to, you know, retain those staff, and there’s some raises. And there’s different options you can pick as far as the T.E.A.C.H. program. But we’ve definitely seen benefit from that. They’re able to come back and share some things they’re learning, and some of their classes and implement that into the classroom, which is a great thing.”
[Administrator 101]
“[T.E.A.C.H.] It is an excellent program, there were days I feel like I was sinking and I could call my counselor and they would be like “nope girl you’re doing good, just keep it up” you know because you have a lot of doubts about yourself, especially at my age, going back to school. And having that back up and that help.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I think the T.E.A.C.H. program was really good about providing support, they give you hours to be off the clock but you don’t take a cut in pay. And then the bonuses, like for student teaching I had to take off 5 months, like I couldn’t work at all for 5 months, not that it covered my salary but they gave me a big bonus when I finished. They did give me a big bonus to try to make up the lack of hours that I had, and I think without that taking time off to go to school, financially doesn’t make sense for a lot of people. And I am married, and if we didn’t get that bonus [it would have been hard].”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
[T.E.A.C.H.] It is an excellent program, there were days I feel like I was sinking and I could call my counselor and they would be like “nope girl you’re doing good, just keep it up” you know because you have a lot of doubts about yourself, especially at my age, going back to school. And having that back up and that help.
T.E.A.C.H. as an Education Resource
Providers and administrators alike emphasized the value of the T.E.A.C.H. program. Administrators reported it was helpful in practical ways including teachers bringing back to the center what they learn in classes, and in meeting education requirements for quality rating levels. Providers further highlighted that the program not only helped them afford courses, but also gave them resources and support in navigating college registration procedures or periodic discouragement.
A large proportion of survey respondents were unfamiliar with the T.E.A.C.H. program (see Figure 8). Most notably, more than half of assistant teachers who were interested in courses and identified cost of courses as a barrier to further education also indicated they were unaware of the T.E.A.C.H. program. Given that assistant teachers, on average, have less education than teachers, they are prime potential beneficiaries of the program.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Findings from this study were discussed with the Iowa Workforce Advisory Team across three separate meetings in March – May 2023. The group reviewed the findings in light of their experiences with child care providers and in the context of current statewide initiatives and efforts to address Iowa’s workforce. The group unanimously agreed that in the context of a statewide workforce challenge across sectors and service areas, we need to find and implement solutions for our child care providers to recruit and retain staff; Iowa businesses cannot be productive if their workers do not have access to child care, and our child care providers cannot provide care if they cannot find staff.
The following five recommendations were generated based on findings from this 2023 Iowa Child Care Workforce Study that also reflect national recommendations (Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, 2020):
1.
We need to find sustainable ways to raise the wages of our child care workers.
2.
The child care workforce needs access to benefits such as health insurance, paid leave, and retirement supports.
3.
Ensure members of the child care workforce have a good work environment.
4.
Ensure Iowa has a robust system for collecting ongoing data about the needs of the workforce.
5.
Clarify misunderstandings about current programs that exist in Iowa to support child care businesses.
1.
We need to find sustainable ways to raise the wages of our child care workers. The workforce is the foundation upon which the child care system is built. We must take care of those caring for our state’s children in recognition of the critical work they do building brains and supporting our state’s economy so the broader workforce can participate in the labor market. Child care is a broken market – parents cannot pay more but providers need to make more money to stay in the field. The cost of care must be recognized and addressed.
As learned through this study, wages are a driving force for individuals to stay in the field. Increased wages will decrease reliance on public assistance programs and increase retention in the field. Increased retention will alleviate staffing issues and allow programs to fill empty classroom slots which will ultimately increase program revenue.
Action:
- Strive towards pay parity with the K-12 system for teachers with equivalent qualifications.
- Continue to move towards professionalizing the early care and education workforce. Higher qualifications are a means to increased knowledge, skills, and tools to support effectiveness and a means to access higher income.
- Implement cost of care analysis. Move towards tying Child Care Assistance (CCA) rates to the cost of care and away from the market price of child care with the understanding that families of young children can’t afford to pay more for care.
- In the short term, continue to align CCA rates with most current market rate study. CCA is an important part of the funding structure for child care.
- In the long term, consider moving away from a parent pay only model and towards one that identifies a cost per child modeled after the K-12’s system of funding students.
2.
In addition to competitive wages, the child care workforce needs access to benefits such as health insurance, paid leave, and retirement supports.
Action:
- Consider statewide support for education about, access to, and implementation of benefits that include but are limited to health insurance, dental insurance, short term disability insurance and retirement benefits.
3.
Work to ensure members of the child care workforce have a good work environment. This should include opportunities for ongoing professional development, policies and practices that support adequate onboarding, sufficient staffing, paid planning time, and the opportunity to shape the climate of the work place.
Action:
- Support business/workplace culture and best practice. Consideration should be given to entities already conducting this work who could offer increased quantity and robustness of these services.
- Collect and disseminate widely more information about successful ways providers are recruiting and retaining staff. It was clear there are success stories that have been implemented, but they are currently shared through word of mouth and not celebrated or replicated in any scalable way. If we work to highlight, document, and systematize efforts that ARE working, we may be able to support more child care businesses in the longrun. Pilot projects are also in place that could be taken to scale (e.g., child care subsidy pilot, shared services investments, and T.E.A.C.H. and WAGE$® programs), but we need more efforts dedicated to showcasing, sharing, and generating replicable plans that can be sustained beyond the pilot efforts.
I have a lot of staff that have been here for years and years and years, which makes it really nice. The parents enjoyed that, and some of my staff, even had the parents back in the day.
4.
Ensure Iowa has a robust system for collecting ongoing data about the needs of the workforce. In the absence of accurate data, policy makers only have anecdotal information and hypothesis to inform policy decisions. Without quality comprehensive data, it’s impossible to answer key policy questions, much less develop estimates of the level of public funding needed to recruit and retain a qualified ECE workforce. The data discovery process in this project identified opportunities to capitalize on data that is already collected across disparate systems, and bring it together so that we have a more comprehensive understanding of the workforce.
Action:
- Identify a work group to garner executive leader support and dedicated data system team member time to gather these workforce data, integrate them, and use them for longitudinal child care workforce studies. Such work can evaluate the impact of efforts to support the workforce in a more cost effective and efficient way than surveys
and focus groups.
5.
We need to clarify (mis)understandings about current programs that exist in Iowa to support child care businesses. Findings from the survey and focus groups aligned to suggest that many providers are unsure or unaware of programs like T.E.A.C.H. or WAGE$® to support their workers. Furthermore, some are leery of using programs that have a short duration or may have perceptions of time limits or
funding limits. Providers want long-term solutions not add-ons that may not persist beyond an immediate use.
Action:
- Identify an entity that can warehouse all supports available to the workforce in one place to ensure greater access and understanding.
I do like about T.E.A.C.H. that there’s also some requirements, as far as staff sticking around if you participate, and so we’re able to, you know, retain those staff, and there’s some raises. And there’s different options you can pick as far as the T.E.A.C.H. program. But we’ve definitely seen benefit from that.
References
Cassidy, D. J., Lower, J. K., Kintner-Duffy, V. L., Hegde, A. V., & Shim, J. (2011). The day-to-day reality of teacher turnover in preschool classrooms: An analysis of classroom context and teacher, director, and parent perspectives. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2011.533118
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (2020). Early Childhood Workforce Index: Introduction and Policy Recommendations. .https://cscce.berkeley.edu/workforce-index-2020/introduction-policy-recommendations/policy-recommendations/
Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children (2016). Working in Early Care and Education in Iowa. https://iowaaeyc.org/app/uploads/2022/11/2016-Iowa-ECE-Workforce-Study-Final.pdf
Iowa Data Center (2022). Median Earnings in the Past 12 Months by Sex and Education for the population 25 Years and Over. https://www.iowadatacenter.org/index.php/data-by-source/american-community-survey/median-earnings-sex-and-educational-attainment
National Education Association (2022). Teacher pay and per student spending: Rankings and Estimates. https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educatorpay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-staterank/teacher
Office of the Governor of Iowa (November, 2021). Governor’s Child Care Taskforce Report. https://governor.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/IGOV_ChildcareTF_Report_112021.pdf
Raikes, H. (2004). Midwest Child Care Research Consortium. Administration for Children and Families, OPRE Grants. https://www.researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/12418
U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2018 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B23008; American FactFinder; http://factfinder.census.gov