Clear Impact logo

HIGH QUALITY PROGRAMS AND PROFESSIONALS

Mission

Imperative #3: Increase the overall quality of Detroit's early childhood programs

Summary:  These include the program's services and environments, where young children spend their time, such as child care centers, pre-k programs and, are key to advancing children's development and ensuring they are ready to begin kindergarten. Yet many of Detroit's children are not getting the high-quality experiences they need and deserve to prepare them for the next stage of their education. Across five scales of Early Development- including physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge only 5.3 percent of Detroit children scored "Very Ready" when entering kindergarten. Ensuring children's early childhood experiences effectively aid their development depends on both the overall quality of the programs and the early childhood professionals who teach and care for them during these formative years.

Detroit's Context

 

Watch more videos in the Hope Starts Here series at: https://hopestartsheredetroit.org/videos/ 

Like many communities nationally Detroit's early childhood workforce is drastically underpaid and faces a fractured credentialing process. Analysis from census and survey data can be used to describe population-level financial and educational characteristics of the ECE workforce in Michigan, Wayne County, and Detroit. Research from the Policy Equity group notes that "Early childhood education professionals in the City of Detroit are under remarkable financial stress:" (27). Over 80 percent of ECE professionals in Detroit do not earn a living wage, which is defined as $10.87 per hour for a full-time working adult with no dependents. This percentage is significantly higher than that of Wayne County (60%) and the state as a whole
(51%). (27). Head Start teachers are only a portion of the early childhood workforce in Detroit, this finding is consistent with the organization's additional finings that "88 percent of Detroit Head Start teaching staff" reported at least some difficulty paying bills. Additionally, data shows disparities in the educational attainment of ECE professionals in the City of Detroit compared to the rest of Michigan. Only 38 percent of ECE professionals in Detroit had a bachelor’s degree or higher from 2014–16, compared to a statewide average of 53%.(27). The lack of resources and adequate training for these essential educators hurts the outcomes of children who participate in their programming, decreasing the chances that students enter kindergarten ready to succeed. Furthermore, fractured training protocols and different licensing standards, create a system that lacks continuity and can at times leave teachers inadequately trained to perform their work. (22).

Policy Alignment

Advocates should build off the work of the state's Department of Education and Office of Great State. Advocating for initiatives like Wage increases, and Scholarships for Early Childhood Professionals aligns with priorities 3.2 and 3.4 of the HSH policy priorities. This effort to provide financial support to the ECE workforce will help to improve the quality of ECE professionals. Additionally, redefining licensing and Higher Education certification programs will align well with HSH priority 3.1. Improving the training ECE professionals receive will also help to promote a higher quality of care.

Research and Resources:

  • Lieny Jeon, Cynthia K. Buettner & Ashley A. Grant (2018) Early Childhood Teachers’ Psychological Well-Being: Exploring Potential Predictors of Depression, Stress, and Emotional Exhaustion, Early Education and Development, link to article
  • K.Alison Clarke-Stewart, Deborah Lowe Vandell, Margaret Burchinal, Marion O’Brien, Kathleen McCartney, Do regulable features of child-care homes affect children’s development?, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2002, link to article
  • Nicole Forry, Iheoma Iruka, Kathryn Tout, Julia Torquati, Amy Susman-Stillman, Donna Bryant, M. Paula Daneri, Predictors of quality and child outcomes in family child care settings, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Volume 28, Issue 4, 2013, link to article
  • Kere Hughes-Belding PhD, Susan Hegland, Amanda Stein, John Sideris & Donna Bryant (2012) Predictors of Global Quality in Family Child Care Homes: Structural and Belief Characteristics, Early Education and Development, link to article
  • Andrea G. Eckhardt, Franziska Egert, Predictors for the quality of family child care: A meta-analysis, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 116, 2020, link to article

Measures

Time
Period
Current Actual Value
Current Target Value
Current
Trend
Baseline
% Change
i
HY2 2021
9,239 seats
46,428 seats
1
-8%
i
2020
5,684
2
-23%

Clear Impact Suite is an easy-to-use, web-based software platform that helps your staff collaborate with external stakeholders and community partners by utilizing the combination of data collection, performance reporting, and program planning.

Scorecard Container Measure Action Actual Value Target Value Tag S A m/d/yy m/d/yyyy