Center- and Program-Level Factors Associated with Turnover in the Early Childhood Education Workforce

Title:	Center- and Program-Level Factors Associated with Turnover in the Early Childhood Education Workforce
Description:	Staff turnover is a pressing problem in early childhood education. High turnover can create organizational instability and distract from the care and education mandate of early childhood education centers. The Early Childhood Workforce Development Research Alliance of the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands wants to better understand the factors associated with turnover in the early childhood educator workforce. Using data from the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education, this study found that a low average turnover rate across early childhood education centers obscured systematic variation in turnover patterns across types of centers and programs, with high turnover rates in some types. Higher wages were associated with lower turnover rates across centers. Turnover rates were highest among private-pay centers serving children ages 0–5. Nonwage benefits such as health insurance and retirement benefits and paid time off for professional development were generally unrelated to turnover rates. Educators were also clustered into certain center types based on background characteristics; Black educators and educators with lower educational attainment more likely to work in centers with low wages and high turnover.
Online Availability:	Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (1.1MB) Download, view and print the report brief as a pdf file. (277KB) Download, view and print the report snapshot as a pdf file. (235KB) Download, view and print the report appendices as a pdf file. (711KB)
Cover Date:	March 2021
Web Release:	March 29, 2021
Publication #:	REL 2021069
Center/Program:	REL
Associated Centers:	NCEE
Authors:	Meg Caven, Noman Khanani, Xinxin Zhang, and Caroline E. Parker
Type of Product:	Descriptive Study
Keywords:	Early Childhood Education Labor Turnover Teachers • Attrition/Mobility
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Descriptive Study, please contact: Amy Johnson.