National: Current Situation



As the number of children enrolled in early childhood education increases, specifically in the Head Start program, the national funding is depleting. The program cannot provide for all of the nation’s children that are in need of care and it cannot provide the head start that was promised to them. The program is also compromised because the teachers don’t have to be very qualified in order to teach these children; mostly because their pay is minimal.

Although the number of children enrolled in Head Start increases annually, it cannot compensate all the children in need of the program. During the 2004 school year and summer session 905,851 (1) children were enrolled in the program, but this does not accommodate all the children in need of pre-K education. The poorest children seem to be deprived from the program, which defeats the purpose of why it was started in the first place. The funding for the program in 2004 was $6,774,848,000,(1) which seems like a great deal, but it is obviously not enough because children are still being stripped of this education.

Since so many children are deprived of this program, one would expect the quality to be a little better than it is at the moment. Some of the teachers are qualified, with about 31% having a bachelor’s degree, another 31% with an associate’s degree, and 5% having a graduate degree, but these percentages leave room for many unqualified teachers. Head Start is currently working on having 50% of all teachers receive a bachelor’s degree over the next few years.

This may prove to be a difficult task, as the pay for Head Start teachers is so meager. Teachers with higher degrees would want to take higher paying jobs at other schools. The average salary for the qualified (bachelor’s degree) teacher is $26,000. At the same time, the average pay for a regular elementary school teacher is about $42,000.(2) With this large difference, almost any teacher with a degree would be more eager to take the elementary school job. This leaves many unqualified teachers for the Head Start program.

The program’s hours are sometimes difficult on the parents or families of the children. In the summer the program only lasts from 8 am-12 pm, which means many parents who need the income of a full day’s work are forced to leave early to pick-up their children. During the regular school year the hours are normal, but after school care, which lasts until 5 pm, comes with a fee that many parents can’t pay.(3)

The current situation of early childhood education across America is not very bright for families that can’t afford to pay for a regular preschool. In order for these children to get ahead and have a real education, they need more qualified teachers, which means more funding from the government.

1. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/research/2005.htm
2. http://www.nhsa.org/download/advocacy/fact/HSTeacher.pdf
3. http://nieer.org/yearbook/compare/pcompare.php?CompareID=107