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The growth in the number of reports on the economics of early childhood continues with a publication from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).  Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education: Declining Workforce Qualifications in an Expanding Industry, 1979-2004 was written by Stephen Herzenberg, Mark Price, and David Bradley, two research economists and a policy analyst.  Their call to arms dramatically emphasizes the need for state and federal policies that not only slow the downturn in early childhood teacher quality, but also support the growth and development of professional training and practices.

"The study focuses on teachers and administrators (i.e., directors) in center-based ECE programs, over 95% of whom are women.  The report finds that the education levels of ECE teachers reached a cyclical peak in the early 1980s recession.  Since 1983, there has been a fall in educational attainment that only stopped in 2001, when slow job growth made more educated workers available to ECE."

One notable result from the study is that a higher share have a high school education or less:  from less than 25% in 1983-84 to near 30% more recently.

For more about this study, go to http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/study_ece_summary.

Submitted by Edna Ranck

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