Unearthing the ecological impacts of workforce compensation disparities

This study investigated the repercussions of unequal compensation policies within New York City’s early childhood care and education ecosystem. We focused on how compensation differentials shape the interconnected experiences of non-public school centers’ teachers, directors, and families and how these effects cascade system-wide.Through Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), we integrated the ecological systems theory and the social construction and policy design theory to understand how policies privilege some groups over others. This study utilized a qualitative case study approach, analyzing 40 semi-structured interviews with directors (n = 10), teachers (n = 20) and parents (n = 10). Findings show that compensation and work condition disparities affect every layer of the early childhood education and care ecological system, shaping teacher morale, retention, program stability, classroom quality, and families’ experiences of care. Setting and location differences revealed systemic bias in NYC’s Universal Pre-K expansion, raising concerns about whether universal access policies can achieve equity without addressing the labor conditions that sustain them. The study calls for compensation policies that recognize early childhood educators’ professional labor and support a more equitable mixed-delivery system.