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Listening to New York City’s ECE Workforce: Towards a More Equitable Post-Pandemic Early Care and Education System

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Start Date April 2021 End Date May 2022

Description

This is a multiphase, mixed methods follow up study on a survey of New York’s early care and education (ECE) workforce conducted in May 2020. Its broad purposes are to 1) understand how New York City’s ECE professionals are faring more than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and 2) draw lessons from their experiences - statistically and phenomenologically - to inform decisions about what a more equitable ECE system can and should look like.

Design

Participants:

Phase 1, Survey: ECE professionals from across NYC
Phase 2, Interviews: Teachers of color from across NYC

Sampling Strategy:

Phase 1: Representative sample drawn from a self-selected sample of survey respondents using a stratified, proportional random sampling strategy
Phase 2: Purposeful, stratified, proportional sample of teachers of color, a focus that was chosen because of the pandemic’s disproportionate effects on Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color, which were layered on top of historical inequities

Data Collection:

Phase 1: Survey of ECE professionals in NYC focused on experiences throughout the pandemic: stressors, supports, lessons learned, and recommendations about resource allocation
Phase 2: In-depth, phenomenological interviews reflecting on experiences earlier in the pandemic, descriptions of their lives now, and considering future, more equitable professional realities

Researchers

Mark Nagasawa, Ph.D., Director, Straus Center for Young Children & Families

Alexandra Figueras-Daniel, Ph.D., Associate Director, Straus Center for Young Children & Families

Contributing Institutions