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A new survey of more than 1,400 pre-K teachers based in public schools nationwide found that pre-K teachers are paid about $24,000 less and experience almost twice as much job-related stress as similar working adults.
The survey, conducted by RAND, compares the experiences of public school-based pre-K teachers surveyed in March/April 2024 to those of public K–12 teachers, elementary grade teachers, and similar working adults surveyed in January/February 2024.
The authors of the report note that whether public school-based teachers are considered part of the early childhood education workforce or the K-12 workforce varies across states, and could contribute to whether pre-K teachers “are on the same salary scale as K-12 teachers, subject to the same educational requirements, or eligible to join K-12 collective bargaining units.”
In North Carolina for example, NC Pre-K falls under the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services, rather than the Department of Public Instruction, which oversees K-12 public education.
About 60% of pre-K and K-12 teachers reported frequent job-related stress, compared with 33% of similar working adults.
Two-thirds of pre-K teachers reported managing student behavior as their main source of stress. This finding was consistent regardless of factors such as whether the teachers were in partial-day or full-day classes, worked as special education or general education teachers, were located in a K-12 building or dedicated early childhood education building, and their level of education.
More on managing challenging behaviors
Additional top-ranked sources of job-related stress were low pay, supporting student mental health and well-being, and administrative work outside teaching.
Pre-K and K-12 teachers reported similarly low levels of satisfaction with their base pay — 38% and 36%, respectively — compared with 51% of similar working adults. The survey also found that pre-K teachers are paid nearly $7,000 less in base pay than K-12 teachers.
Fewer pre-K teachers (18%) reported an intention to leave their job by the end of the school year than their K-12 counterparts (22%) or similar working adults (24%).
“Although intentions to leave do not perfectly predict whether teachers resign, teachers who state an intention to leave are more likely to resign than those who do not state such an intention,” the authors said.
