NIEER Fact Sheet on Head Start Teachers

NIEER Fact Sheet on Head Start Teachers – July 2003

Teacher qualifications and compensation are major issues for preschool generally, but occupy an important position in the debates about Head Start reauthorization. Serious efforts to improve the educational effectiveness of Head Start would need to begin with teachers. Standards for teachers remain minimal and compensation is extremely low compared to K-12 teachers.

Basic Facts

Head Start has about 50,000 teachers.

The average Head Start teacher salary is about $21,000.

Public school teachers earn about twice that much, $43,000.

Ultimately, it would cost about $1 billion per year to pay Head Start teachers the same as kindergarten teachers ($20,000 x 50,000). Fringe benefits would add 20-30%.

Practical approaches to achieving the goal of a qualified teacher in every Head Start classroom would require gradual increases over time. One implication of this is that costs increase gradually, as well.

Details

Teacher qualifications

Research shows that preschool produces the strongest effects when teachers are well qualified. Preschool teachers with B.A. degrees in early childhood education are the most effective. However, most preschool teachers are less qualified in Head Start.

Head Start has made efforts to improve teacher qualifications by requiring 50% of teachers to have A.A. degrees by 2003. Estimates based on the 2001-02 Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) indicate about 30% of Head Start teachers currently possess (at least) a bachelor's degree. However, Head Start teacher qualifications are quite variable across states: in New York, 64% have a B.A. or higher; in Alaska and Alabama, only 12% have a B.A. Teacher qualifications could be increased largely through turnover and higher standards for new hires.
Table 1. Head Start Teacher Qualifications in 2001-02 (National Avg.)
BA or Higher Degree 29%
AA Degree 23%
CDA or State Credential 35%
No Degree or CDA 13%
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Source: Head Start Program Information Report, 2001-02 Program Year.

Teacher compensation

Teacher compensation affects program quality directly and by allowing preschool programs to hire better qualified teachers. Head Start teachers earn an average annual salary of $21,287. Kindergarten teachers earn an average of $43,152 (median from salary.com for 2002-03). Head Start assistant teachers earn an average of $14,162. PIR data from 2001-02 list the following teacher salaries by educational level:

$19,004 for Head Start teachers with CDA credentials or the state equivalent,

$21,049 for those with an A.A.,

$25,090 for those with a B.A., and

$31,061 for teachers with a graduate-level degree.

The highest average salaries ($30,420 across all degree types) are paid in Hawaii, while the lowest ($16,106) are paid in Montana.

Issues in Raising Head Start Teacher Qualifications

If highly qualified teachers are to be recruited and retained by Head Start, both teacher qualifications and compensation will have to be increased. Teacher salaries and fringe benefits will need to increase along with standards for Head Start teachers. Although Head Start salaries by education level can be determined from the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR), there is less information about fringe benefits. A survey of community action agencies conducted in 2000 shows that 100% of the agencies surveyed provided single coverage health insurance (with an average of 89% of the coverage paid as a benefit) while 93% offered some coverage to employees' dependents and families (with an average of 49% of the coverage paid). About 92% of agencies offered retirement benefits. We estimate that increased fringe benefits would add 20-30% to the salary cost of raising Head Start teacher quality.

There are a number of practical issues that must be taken into account by any policy that seeks to increase Head Start teacher qualifications and compensation. These include:

The process will take time. Head Start can use higher salaries to recruit and retain better teachers and to persuade current teachers to increase their qualifications. In so doing, Head Start needs to ensure that it is obtaining the best teachers it can for the money by improving the qualifications of existing teachers or and recruiting new teachers.

Teacher turnover is sufficiently high that a substantial part of the upgrade in teacher quality can be accomplished by hiring new teachers with higher qualifications at better salaries to replace those who leave. Teacher turnover exceeds 15% annually.

As many teachers will be either new hires or experienced teachers with newly acquired BA degrees, their initial compensation will be lower than that of the average K-12 teacher even if they are on a comparable pay scale. Thus, the initial average salary of many teachers would more comparable to entry level K-12 salaries (about $30,000) than average k-12 salaries (about $44,000).

The cost of raising teacher qualifications and compensation can be calculated in constant dollars (without inflation) or nominal dollars (adding in expected inflation for future years).

Cost will also depend on whether the number of children served increases, decreases, or stays about the same.

While some might argue that it is preferable to raise teacher compensation and hire the "best" teachers regardless of formal qualifications, there is substantial evidence to support a requirement of a four-year college degree with specialized training in early education. Assuring qualified teachers without such a minimum requirement would be administratively difficult and unlikely to lower cost.

Raising teacher salaries immediately by a large amount for teachers with BA degrees seems likely to create personnel issues for local programs regarding disparities in teacher salaries and between teachers and other staff. It also may not result in getting the best teachers for the money (because many teachers did not apply when salaries were lower). Thus, there are reasons to raise salaries gradually over several years.

Cost of Placing a Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Head Start Classroom

There are a great many practical judgments to be made in deciding how to move toward every Head Start teacher being highly qualified, with a minimum of a four-year college degree and specialized training in early education. It is unlikely that one best approach can be identified. To illustrate how it might be done and what it would cost we provide one simple example that estimates the cost of implementing a requirement that all Head Start teachers have a BA degree within 8 years. The estimates use data from the 2001-02 PIR, together with the following assumptions:

The total number of classroom teachers required is 50,000 (from the PIR we estimate 47,238 classroom teachers in 2001-02).

The percentage of teachers with each degree currently is given by Table 1 above.

Head Start adds 5% new teachers with a BA each year through turnover in less qualified teachers.

After 4 years, 25% of Head Start teachers with AA's acquire BA's in each of the next 4 years.

After 6 years, 1500 Head Start teachers with less than an AA degree acquire a BA in the next two years.

The average salary for a teacher with a BA rises to $30,000 in year 1 and rises by $2000 each year for the next 7 years.

The average salary for a teacher with a graduate degree rises to $36,000 in year 1 and rises by $2,000 each year for the next 7 years.

Fringe benefits add 25% to the cost of total compensation.

Inflation rises by 2% per year.

The estimated costs of fully implementing the BA requirement over 8 years are shown in Table 2, below. Annual estimated costs of this plan rise from $176 million in the first year to $500 million in Year 5 and $1.1 billion in Year 8 when fully implemented. The cumulative costs over 5 years would be less than $2 billion. An additional cost not included in these calculations is scholarship and other funds that would assist current Head Start teachers to return to school in order to obtain degrees. However, this would add minimally to overall cost and is a temporary cost while Head Start's teaching staff is in transition.

Table 2. Estimated Cost of BA Requirement for All Head Start over 8 Years

	Annual Cost of Teacher Salary	Annual Cost of Teacher Salary and Fringe Benefits	Cumulative Cost of Teacher Salary and Fringe Benefits
Year 1	$140,958,683	$176,198,354	$176,198,354
Year 2	$184,968,633	$231,210,791	$407,409,144
Year 3	$240,993,907	$301,242,383	$708,651,528
Year 4	$356,730,305	$445,912,882	$1,154,564,410
Year 5	$500,255,069	$625,318,836	$1,779,883,245
Year 6	$672,879,076	$841,098,846	$2,620,982,091
Year 7	$907,127,752	$1,133,909,690	$3,754,891,781
Year 8	$1,121,082,141	$1,401,352,676	$5,156,244,457

Other Resources:

The President's Head Start Proposal - Bold step on the road to success or will we lose our footing?"

Head Start Works, But Needs More Funding and Better Teachers

The Battle Over Head Start: What the Research Shows