@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1417,
title = "Not Too Young to Notice: The Early Emergence of Racial Disparities in Elementary Students’ School Climate Perceptions",
author = "Jerome Graham, Aanchal Girda",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "1417",
year = "2026",
month = "March",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1417",
abstract = {Early childhood care and education (ECCE) settings rely on teachers to support children’s development and families’ workforce participation. Yet ECCE teachers turn over at high rates, often twice as often as teachers in K-12 settings. Because large-scale ECCE workforce data are rare, little is known about how job and teacher characteristics relate to turnover. Using data on a large sample (N = 14,373) of teachers employed at publicly funded child care centers in Virginia in fall 2023, this study investigates associations between job and teacher characteristics and teacher turnover. Overall, 38% of teachers left their fall 2023 site by fall 2024. Wage, being a lead teacher, experience, education, and race/ethnicity were all related to turnover after accounting for region. Results from within-site models were similar. The findings from this study inform policies to increase ECCE teacher retention and point to key areas for future research.},
}