DPP African, African American and Black Preschool Educator Experiences in ECE Brief

African, African American, and Black Educators’ Experiences in Preschool Settings As part of the Denver Preschool Program (DPP) workforce study, evaluators from the Butler Institute for Families at the University of Denver surveyed 410 early childhood educators. Respondents included 44 African, African American, or Black (AAAB) preschool professionals, representing 19% of all the diverse educators Butler surveyed. This brief highlights AAAB educators’ pay disparities and job satisfaction and the workplace racism they experienced.

Job Role and Pay Most surveyed educators were lead teachers (50%) and about a quarter were in a leadership role at their ECE program (23%). Survey data analyses found that race continues to significantly impact educators’ pay, particularly those who identify as AAAB.

African, African American, and Black educators earned

$3.58 less per hour than their peers, or

$7,500 less per year

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These educators earned $3.58 less per hour than their peers from other racial backgrounds, even after accounting for factors like years of experience, education, job role, and type of preschool. This pay gap means that AAAB educators make $7,500 less a year than their peers. One educator shared the impact of low pay:

I feel like I'm in this weird place where we're in the middle of income margins, and I feel like the middle-class people don't just get any support at all. So with my children... I feel like it's easier to stay under the margin and poverty, because then I know I'll have medical insurance and we'll have housing support and stuff like that. Because being right in the middle, it's just very hard. So I feel like I need to make over $100,000 a year, or I need to just stay under the poverty line, which is sad.”

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Job Satisfaction Regarding job satisfaction, including workplace climate, collaboration, and decisionmaking, AAAB educators were only somewhat satisfied. Educators’ relationships with staff, students, and the community played a role in their job satisfaction. One educator shared that their relationships with their school’s leadership were “not really that good” because “we just don’t view things the same,” and they don’t feel comfortable asking their leadership for help. They added, “We can speak, we can be cordial and everything, and [the early childhood education director] checks in on me while [they’re] there but ... I wouldn’t say that I have a good connection with [them].”

That same educator did, however, feel other staff and students supported them, and they celebrated the positivity from their community:

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to listen to recording Honestly, what I have to say I like the most is that most of the students and most of the staff look like myself. We all kind of come from similar backgrounds, similar cultures, and so it's just refreshing to work with people who ... I love to play music in my room. So sometimes I might be playing some rap or some R&B, and just to have people kind of walk by and be able to enjoy it as well, just kind of makes it feel like a big, like you said, collaborative and collective place.

I also just [know] how invested we are into the community and how invested the community is into us ... I just like how much it feels just like a community and a place where everybody can feel welcome and everybody's loved and welcome here.”

While 51% of AAAB educators surveyed had 10 or more years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), just over half (52%) had been in their current preschool for three years or less. Additionally, 54% of the 26 AAAB educators who shared about whether they intended to stay in the field said they planned to leave ECE within two years. This turnover threatens to deprive classrooms of empathetic, culturally representative educators adept at connecting with children and families through shared experiences and language, which complicates families’ access to quality programming.

Workplace Racism Racial battle fatigue (RBF) is stress Of AAAB educators surveyed, and exhaustion “associated with 49% reported experiencing racism, witnessing racial racial microaggressions [that discrimination, or both at their cause] various forms of mental, current program. As a result of emotional, and physical strain.” being exposed to racialized experiences in their workplace, these educators show symptoms of racial battle fatigue (RBF) – the stress and exhaustion “associated with racial

microaggressions [that cause] various forms of mental, emotional, and physical strain.” 1 Eighty-eight percent of AAAB educators reported experiencing RBF symptoms such as strategizing ways to address the racialized experience, taking actions to try to improve the situation, and increasing spiritual or religious practices. Further, RBF’s impact extended beyond the workplace to affect educators’ home lives. Educators shared their racialized workplace experiences with family members, further highlighting the personal toll of RBF. One educator said: “I tell my family everything, I always tell them. We’re a close family, so that’s how we are. And my mom, she wasn’t happy at all, this is her grandson we’re talking about, so she was not happy at all. She no longer wanted me to work at the place. She got upset with me for continuing working at the place, but I had to tell her, ‘I don’t have any other options right now. I just switched jobs. I don’t want it to look bad on my resume.’ I got her to understand that this is where we had to be at the moment.”

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to listen to recording I wish more people would speak up and let them know that it's not okay to behave that way. I feel like I'm not a very outspoken person, but I'm known at work for being the one to be like, ‘Hey, that's not okay. That's not appropriate. You need to calm down.’ But I feel like a lot of times people don't say anything. They see it and they just kind of keep quiet about it or they continue with them. I really wish especially when I was younger, that somebody would've been like, ‘Hey, that's not okay. That's not nice. You can't say stuff like that and think that that's acceptable behavior, especially at work.’"

Conclusions and Next Steps AAAB educators represent the second-largest diverse educator group in DPP’s early childhood educator workforce. Unfortunately, many of these educators reported moderate job satisfaction, negative views of their workplace climate, low pay, and racialized experiences that contribute to racial battle fatigue. Alarmingly, about half of these educators plan to leave the ECE field within the next two years.

Losing AAAB educators significantly affects youth, education centers, and the broader community. For children, losing these educators means less access to vital representation, role models, and culturally responsive teaching. AAAB educators are

Smith, W. A., Yosso, T. J., & Solorzano, D.G. (2006). Challenging racial battle fatigue on historically White campuses: A critical race examination of race-related stress. Faculty of Color Teaching in Predominantly White Colleges and Universities, 299-327.

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critical in affirming children’s cultural identity and fostering their sense of belonging, particularly those from marginalized communities. Their absence can disrupt students’ social-emotional development and negatively impact their academic outcomes. For ECE programs, losing AAAB educators diminishes staff diversity, weakens morale, and makes retaining and recruiting diverse educators more challenging. This turnover may signal that the ECE program has an unsupportive or inequitable environment, reducing staff and families’ trust.

Furthermore, without AAAB educators, centers lose essential advocates for equitable practices and vital connections to the community.

Recognizing these challenges, DPP approved resources designed to support diverse educators, including those identifying as AAAB, to implement in the 2024–2025 school year.

These resources include a webinar series and reflective consultation for educators of color.

These initiatives aim to provide diverse educators much-needed support, address the systemic issues driving racial battle fatigue, and build a sense of community among educators. By investing in AAAB educators’ well-being, DPP is taking a vital step toward fostering inclusive, equitable environments that benefit educators and the children and communities they serve. In addition to developing these resources, DPP should consider other relationship-based professional development opportunities for diverse educators like peer educator mentorship programs. DPP must also address the pay disparity that systemic racism caused. This could be in the form of pilot programs that increase teacher pay or direct financial support through stipends or similar initiatives.

Resources: WEBINAR SERIES The Webinar Series provides a supportive space for educators from historically underrepresented communities. Each session addresses common challenges, exploring ways to celebrate racial identity and use creativity for healing. Participants will engage in healing practices and gain practical strategies to navigate these experiences, fostering resilience and empowerment.

REFLECTIVE CONSULTATION Reflective Consultation supports educators in their first three years of teaching by fostering self-awareness, enhancing their work with students and caregivers, and creating individual and collective learning opportunities.

Participants will gain strategies to strengthen connections with fellow educators, navigate the challenges of teaching, and develop their ability to process, reflect, and grow in their roles.