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An MU program is working
to change the high turnover rates among child care providers.
Photo by Jim Curley
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Program
Slashes
Turnover Rates for
Early Educators
By Jeremy Diener
Stability in early childhood education is
key in preparing young children to succeed. However, high turnover
rates among child care providers are undermining the stability
of children’s early education. A program developed at the
University of Missouri-Columbia is addressing this issue head
on, slashing the turnover rates by more than 50 percent.
The Workforce Incentive Project (WIN), devised
by researchers at the Center
for Family Policy and Research at MU, aims to improve the
overall quality of early childhood education programs by focusing
on teacher and director recruitment and retention.
“Teachers’ retention and level
of education are two of the strongest indicators of program quality,”
said Kathy Thornburg, professor of human
development and family studies at MU. “There’s
been a real push on school readiness for the past several years,
which increases the expectations of early childhood education.
There are work force development issues we have to address to
meet that need.
“We expect early childhood educators
to have a high level of education to prepare children to succeed,”
Thornburg said. “However, salaries are so abysmal that this
program was initiated to keep those teachers with higher levels
of education in the field and in the program for greater consistency.”
MU Professor Kathy Thornburg
says the recent push for school readiness has increased
the expectations of early childhood education. Photo by
Jim Curley
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To combat the problem, WIN provides incentive
payments ranging from $500 to $2,500 annually to low-paid early
childhood educators who meet certain criteria. The center selected
several Missouri counties to participate in the pilot study. In
those counties, just 9.8 percent of educators participating in
the WIN program left their facility, compared to a nearly 25 percent
turnover rate for those not participating in the program. Additionally,
just 1.2 percent of participating educators left the early childhood
education field altogether, compared to 6.5 percent of non-participating
educators.
“Currently, only 700 educators in six
counties across the state are benefiting from this program,”
Thornburg said. “Given the importance of the issue, and
the results of our research, it is our hope that this will become
a statewide program.”
The program is funded primarily by the Kauffman
Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo.-based philanthropic organization.
With funding from the foundation scheduled to end in 2005, Thornburg
hopes to keep the program alive through an allocation of state
funds.
Participating counties in Missouri include
Boone, Douglas, Laclede, St. Louis City and County, Webster and
Wright. Participants who do not receive the incentive payments
work in the comparison counties including Greene, Crawford, Dent,
Oregon, Polk, Christian, Jefferson and St. Charles.
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Last Update:
July 2, 2009
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