New Survey Offers Encouraging Results in the Effort to Professionalize and Support the Early Childhood Workforce

At Teaching Strategies, I get to create the kinds of resources I wished I’d had when I was an early childhood educator.

Before I was a director and teacher at a private preschool, I taught 2nd and 5th grades at a public elementary school. There are many things I learned from those experiences that inform my work today, but one big takeaway was the difference in how I was treated and perceived in each role.

While I appreciated the autonomy I had as a preschool teacher and director, I didn’t feel I was as respected as I was when I was in the elementary school classroom. When it came to curriculum resources, in particular, there was a stark difference between the cartoon drawings, cutesy animals, and lack of substance I was seeing in preschool resources compared to the more professional resources I was asked to use as an elementary school teacher. I was the same level of professional, and, from my perspective, I was doing an even harder job, yet I felt patronized. I thought, “Haven’t these publishers read the research that shows children’s brains develop most in the first five years of life?” I was doing serious and important work, but it certainly didn’t feel like the tools out there were acknowledging that.

These experiences ultimately fueled my passion for and interest in creating high-quality resources to support early childhood educators that respect them as the professionals they are. After all, there are clear benefits—for everyone—when we support our teachers.

Today, we released findings from our third annual workforce survey that back this up.

The survey, which drew responses from 2,700 educators across the country, yielded some encouraging results. Unsurprisingly, 97% of early childhood educators reported they have a genuine passion for working with young children, and 78% of educators report they are satisfied in their roles, up from 73% just last year. The number of educators considering leaving the profession within the next five years has also dropped to 20%, down from 26% in 2024.

But for those considering leaving their positions, 46% cited that “more respect and appreciation for how hard I work” could make them reconsider. Just like in any industry, to keep our best professionals, we must remain committed to investing and respecting teachers the ways they most certainly deserve.

View all the 2025 survey findings.

So, what’s behind this shift?

From our conversations in the field and survey feedback, we know educators feel more supported when they have access to flexible, meaningful professional development opportunities and the type of high-quality curricular materials I once craved. Research further shows that access to those resources leads to increased job satisfaction, and in turn, retention.

In 2024, the National Association for the Education of Young Children found there is a statistically significant relationship between professional support and intentions to stay in the early childhood education field. In fact, after controlling for factors known to impact educators’ intentions to leave the field, more access to and use of professional support is associated with a decrease in the odds of reporting an intention to leave the early childhood field.

What’s more, they found that the benefits are compounding: for each additional professional support used, the odds of reporting an intention to leave the field decreased by 9%.

New research from the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University also links high-quality curricula and professional development to increased teacher retention. In a randomized controlled trial that examined 117 pre-K classrooms in public school districts and private child care centers across two New Jersey school districts over three years, teachers using the Teaching Strategies ecosystem of early childhood solutions—including The Creative Curriculum and Professional Development Teacher Membership—were significantly more likely to remain in their positions compared to those in the control group. Across schools and childcare centers in both districts, the use of the ecosystem increased the teacher retention rate by 54%.

Of course, high-quality resources alone won’t solve all of the challenges facing early childhood educators. Significant work remains in the effort to truly professionalize and support the workforce. But as we look ahead, it’s clear that when we invest in educators, the results are powerful—for teachers, for families, and for our youngest learners. This was the case when I was in the classroom, and it’s even more urgent today.