While research shows early childhood education can benefit students well into their academic careers, there isn鈥檛 a lot of information on how these 糖心动漫vlog in pre-kindergarten classrooms can best be supported.
鈥淧ublic school pre-K teachers are an understudied population,鈥� said Elizabeth D. Steiner, a PK-12 education policy researcher at the RAND Corp., a nonprofit research organization, and an author of a recent report about this slice of the teacher workforce.
搁础狈顿鈥檚 provides a comprehensive look at the 糖心动漫vlog teaching the nation鈥檚 youngest students and covers topics from instructional materials and educational technology to professional learning and pay, benefits, and intentions to leave. The survey was distributed to 1,586 pre-K teachers in public schools, and researchers then conducted 13 hourlong virtual focus groups with 36 pre-K teachers.
Given the growing body of research on the academic and social-emotional benefits of pre-K, as well as the demand from parents, more states and cities are investing in universal pre-K programs. There are about 1.7 million children鈥攎ostly 3- and 4-year-olds鈥攅nrolled in state-funded pre-K programs, according to 2024 data released in the 22nd State of Preschool report by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), a nonpartisan organization focused on early childhood education access and quality.
Still, as these programs expand, their quality remains uneven鈥攁nd there鈥檚 not a clear consensus on the best ways for early childhood 糖心动漫vlog to meet young learners鈥� needs.
鈥淭here is a lot more that we can learn about [pre-K teachers鈥橾 classroom conditions, how they use materials, how they try to meet the needs of their students, and where they fit in the overall constellation of public schools,鈥� said Steiner.
A mixed picture of the pre-K teacher workforce conditions
The average salary of pre-K teachers increased from $63,600 in 2024 to about $66,800 in 2025, or roughly 5%, according to RAND survey data. When adjusting for inflation, the increase was $1,500, or 2.3%.
In comparison, the average K-12 teacher salary in the 2024-25 school year is $74,177, according to the National Education Association.
Not all pre-K teachers experienced a pay bump after adjusting for inflation, RAND researchers found. Fifty-five percent of teachers reported their salaries dropped year over year, while 45% said they increased. RAND researchers believe this is because salaries did not increase or salaries increased at a lower rate than inflation.
Even so, the share of pre-K teachers who intended to leave their jobs dropped by about a quarter鈥攆rom 18% in 2024 to 14% in 2025, according to the RAND report.
鈥淭here are so many factors that contribute to this statistic,鈥� said Jordy Berne, who worked on the report and is an associate economist at RAND. 鈥淥ne of the other important things that is contributing to this is overall labor market conditions鈥攑revious research shows that when alternative job prospects worsen, people become more likely to stay in their current jobs.鈥�
Professional learning is needed, survey shows
Early childhood 糖心动漫vlog often need a mix of skills and abilities to teach young students social-emotional competencies, cognitive skills, language and literacy, mathematical and scientific reasoning, and physical skills.
However, pre-K teachers said they have experienced challenges accessing professional learning, especially sessions relevant to the age group they teach, the RAND survey found. More often than not, teachers (64%) reported that their professional development facilitators were not pre-K experts. Sixty-two percent also said their school administrator does not provide guidance about which professional development classes to attend.
Pre-K teachers expressed a need for more professional learning in teaching math, understanding child cognition and development, and supporting motor and physical development. Additionally, teachers who received professional learning on instructional materials expressed needing more help to adapt the material for children with disabilities (64%) and English learners (60%).
鈥淲hat teachers would often say [during focus groups] is that the material that is often provided to them by their school or district is often a good baseline, they hit the middle of the class, but they don鈥檛 always do a good job of extending [to other students],鈥� said Ashley Woo, an associate policy researcher and contributor to the RAND report.
Pre-K teachers 鈥渕ight not be getting materials, in addition to the fact they don鈥檛 get professional learning on how to adapt those materials to support differentiation, and that鈥檚 why they鈥檙e having to make their own,鈥� she said.
The survey found that many teachers reported creating their own instructional materials or using sites like Teachers Pay Teachers, especially to support diverse learners and teach numeracy.
鈥淎 lot of the material鈥攕upplementing and mixing and matching鈥攊s a professional good faith effort on the part of teachers to meet the needs of the students,鈥� said Steiner.
鈥淲e may not want to strive for no mixing and matching or no supplementing鈥攚e just don鈥檛 know what the normative assumptions are, there aren鈥檛 any,鈥� she said.
Pre-K teachers are feeling optimistic about educational technology
When it came to education technology, a majority of pre-K teachers (70%) received training on using these tools. The study found that pre-K teachers who received training on how to use a specific ed-tech tool used it more than those who did not receive training. For example, 39% of teachers who received professional learning on student assessment technology reported using the tool 鈥渕ore than half the time鈥� or 鈥渆very time,鈥� compared to 29% of teachers who did not receive professional learning.
But only 37% of pre-K teachers received guidance on how to judge the quality of ed-tech tools, which could be an opportunity for schools and districts, researchers said.
The survey also asked pre-K teachers about the ed-tech tools they use to do their jobs. The respondents reported using technology that helps communication with parents (82%) and digital curriculum resources (83%) the most.
For instructional ed-tech tools, pre-K teachers reported using audio or video platforms (98%) and interactive whiteboards (77%) the most. Pre-K teachers in the focus groups said they commonly played music or videos during class movement breaks and used whiteboards for kids鈥� visual stimulation.
Two products that were used far less were electronic games (39%) and educational programs (23%). Pre-K teachers expressed concern about personal electronic devices鈥� potential harm to the development of social and communication skills of students, according to the report, although some teachers said these tools can provide individualized learning for some children, such as English learners or students with disabilities.
Additionally, the RAND report showed that pre-K teachers use generative artificial intelligence far less (29%) than their colleagues who teach elementary school (42%), middle school (64%), and high school (69%).
Pre-K 糖心动漫vlog may need more training in AI to see how its exposure could affect young students, researchers said.
