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This question was created from Read the ABC Childcare Case Study.docxBarsade, PONPO, CNG 24, 3/01
kindergarten teachers'). Much of this turnover is being driven by the increasing number of for-profit
chains (with an annual teacher turnover of 42%) as compared to independent not-for profit centers
(27%), and as compared to the fewest, and highest quality National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC) -accredited centers (15%). Turnover is not only problematic due to standard
hiring and retraining costs that can occur in all industries, but is a particularly serious concern in child
care because of the detrimental effects it has shown to have on children."
ABC Caregivers
Locally, the ABC Childcare center is regarded as one of the region's top childcare centers.
Parents wait months, and sometimes years on the waiting list to register a child; the enrollment is always
at its maximum capacity of about eighty children. Many of the parents are involved in the ABC Parents'
Council, but many more were not. Parents pay between $750 to $940 per child per month tuition, plus
an additional $40 per month YMCB family membership. Several of the parents are part of the
community leadership to the YMCB, and a few are members of the Board of Directors, although ABC
has no designated representative to the board.
Caregivers have an average of over eight years of specialized childcare education and most
hold four-year college degrees. The salary range at ABC averages $20,000 to $22,000 (need to check
this) annually, and all teachers receive health care benefits, childcare subsidies and full family
memberships in the on-site YMCB health club. Teachers receive 20 vacation days and 11 holiday days
off a year. At the time of the move, the average tenure of an ABC teacher was 3.42 years, with a wide
range of less than one year up to over nine years of employment.
The ABC teacher's job includes a large amount of curriculum planning; communication with
parents (including daily child reports); developmental assessments of the children and parent teacher
conferences; design of the physical environment for optimal learning experiences; planning meals and
snacks; keeping up with their own professional development; and of course, interaction and supervision
of the children and other staff. The program is structured as a learning environment even in the youngest
childrens' room. The daycare providers are proud of this, and resent the perception that they are just
"babysitters" rather than professionals.
Although salaries are comparatively high and turnover somewhat lower than national averages,
ABC teachers face a local labor market for public school teachers where the average salary is unusually
"U.S. Department of Education, 1997.
'Helburn, S.W. ed., Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers. Technical Report.
Denver: University of Colorado at Denver, Department of Economics, Center for Research in Economic
and Social Policy, 1995.