Early childhood educators have one of the most important roles in society, helping the youngest generation flourish, yet educators earn some of the lowest wages. Given their disparate financial value, educators have unsurprisingly reported high stress. Educators' high stress and low wages may affect their health, workplace turnover, and children's…

Research Findings: We examined whether Head Start teachers' depressive symptoms are associated with their engagement in high-quality conversations with children, and we considered the extent to which this association is consistent across classroom contexts and activities. Observations of Head Start teachers' conversations with children were…

Although the social-emotional competence of preservice early childhood professionals (ECPs) has been associated with the quality of their interactions with young children, there is limited understanding of these associations during preservice training. Utilizing a sample of students with career goals in early childhood (N=473), we examined the…

There is evidence that early care and education (ECE) teachers and caregivers share common challenges, it is not clear whether their challenges differ by geographic location. That is, are there any regional characteristics that may affect the ECE workforce differentially? To better understand the pressures facing the ECE workforce and whether…