Illinois Salary & Staffing Survey Of Licensed Child Care Facilities: FY2021

2021 Salary and Staffing Survey of Licensed Child Care Facilities (pdf)

Bureau of Quality Initiatives 217/785-2559

1. Executive Summary
   1. Child Care Centers-Highlights and Key Findings
   2. Family Child Care Homes - Highlights and Key Findings
2. Introduction
   1. Methods
   2. Profile of Child Care Centers: Key Findings
   3. Profile of Family Child Care Home Providers: Key Findings
   4. Conclusion
3. Appendix A: Survey Instruments
   1. Child Care Center Survey
   2. Family Child Care Home Providers
4. Appendix B: Child Care Resource and Referral System Map
5. Appendix C: Licensing Standards for Center Staffing
6. Appendix D: Supplemental Material
7. Appendix E: Acknowledgements

• Executive Summary

• High quality child care improves children's experiences and developmental outcomes and also contributes to a prepared, productive, and stable current and future workforce. Practitioners who work in child care settings are responsible for the quality of care and early education provided to children and their families.
• 
  The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) is mandated by legislative rule 20 ILCS 505/5.15¹ , to conduct a survey of the workforce in licensed child care facilities every two years. The survey summarized in this report meets that mandate by documenting the following: (1) the number of qualified caregivers attracted to vacant positions and any problems encountered by facilities in attracting and retaining capable caregivers; (2) the qualifications of new caregivers hired at licensed child care facilities during the previous two-year period; and (3) the average wages and salaries and fringe benefits paid to caregivers throughout the State computed on a regional basis.
• 
  Collection of survey data began with the list of 9,027 licensed child care programs in Illinois (2,779 licensed child care centers and 6,248 licensed day care homes) obtained through the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA). On April 5, 2021, providers with email addresses were sent an invitation to participate in the survey. This was followed by a letter mailed to all providers (including those that already received an email) on April 12, 2021. On June 1, 2021, a reminder postcard was sent out to providers who had not yet completed the survey and thanked those that had already completed it. The survey was available in two formats: on-line and a paper document. Out of the 9,027 licensed programs, 559 child care centers (response rate = 20.1 percent) and 1,279 family child care home providers (response rate = 20.5 percent) completed the survey.
  In addition, the 2021 report includes administrative data from the Gateways to Opportunity Registry. Because of the substantial population of licensed child care center staff and licensed family child care providers in the Registry, these administrative data are the best source for analysis of staff qualifications and salaries.
• 
  The findings of this 2021 survey and analysis of administrative data profile the qualifications, salary and benefits, and turnover rates from the sample of licensed child care programs operating in Illinois as of December 31, 2020.
• ¹The entire bill is located on the Illinois General Assembly website: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=242&ChapterID=5

• Child Care Centers-Highlights and Key Findings

Capacity and Staffing

• The average licensed capacity of centers was reported as 92 children.
• The 559 responding directors reported a total of 8,520 employees in their programs, including:
  • 1,197 administrative directors and director/teachers,
  •  6,386 classroom teaching staff,
  •  369 food service staff, 
  • 181 administrative support staff, 
  • 220 building support staff, 
  • 167 other types of staff.

Accreditation

• Out of responding centers, 16.3 percent (n = 91) were accredited by a national accrediting organization:
  • 74 (13.2 percent) were accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC);
  • 15 (2.7 percent) were accredited by the National Accreditation Commission (NAC) under the auspices of the Association Early Learning Leaders²;
  • 1 (0.2 percent) was accredited through the Council on Accreditation (COA);
  • 1 (0.2 percent) was accredited by American Montessori Society (AMS); and
  • None were accredited through NECPA (National Early Childhood Program Accreditation) or AdvancED³.
  • 109 (19.5 percent) of programs had earned a Gold Circle of Quality

²Formerly the National Association of Child Care Professionals
³To further identify the prevalence of accredited centers in Illinois, data were accessed from the Data Tracking Program (DTP) in July 2021 and showed that: 226 (8.1 percent of all Illinois centers) are NAEYC accredited, 66 (2.4 percent of all Illinois centers) are NAC accredited, 11 (0.4 percent of all Illinois centers) are COA accredited, 8 (0.3 percent of all Illinois centers) are AMS accredited, 2 (0.1 percent of all Illinois centers) are AdvancED accredited, and 1 (0.04 percent of all Illinois centers) is NECPA accredited. Overall, 11.3 percent of all center programs in Illinois have been accredited by national organizations and meet nationally recognized standards for high quality.

ExceleRate Illinois QRIS

• All of the responding centers were ExceleRate rated:
  • 338 (60.5 percent) of programs had received the Licensed Circle of Quality.
  • 35 (6.3 percent) of programs had earned a Bronze Circle of Quality.
  • 77 (13.8 percent) of programs had earned a Silver Circle of Quality.
  • 109 (19.5 percent) of programs had earned a Gold Circle of Quality.

Education Level of Staff

• Out of 20,520 early childhood teachers in the Gateways Registry,
  • 76.8 percent reported having some level of college education,
  • 63.8 percent had completed a college degree (Associate's or higher),
  • 26.0 percent had completed their degrees in early childhood education or child development, and
  • 3.1 percent had completed a Child Development Associate (CDA) or Child Care Professional (CCP) credential.
• 6.6 percent of early childhood teachers with a bachelor's degree or higher reported they also held a Professional Educator License (PEL) with an early childhood endorsement.

Salary

• The median hourly wage for a full-time administrative director was $19.00 per hour, which is approximately equal to $39,520 per year. ⁴
• The median hourly wage for a full-time early childhood teacher was $14.29 per hour, which is approximately equal to $29,723 per year.
• The median hourly wage for a full-time early childhood assistant teacher was $12.00 per hour, which is approximately equal to $24,960 per year.

⁴Assumes 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year.

Benefits

• Most centers did not offer insurance to most of their staff:
  • 52.4 percent of centers offered health insurance for their staff.
  • 50.5 percent of centers offered retirement/pension coverage for their employees.
  • 43.4 percent of centers offered life insurance.
  • 44.9 percent of centers offered dental insurance.
  • 39.3 percent of centers offered disability insurance.
• Most centers did provide time off benefits:
  • 91.5 percent of centers provided paid vacation leave to personnel.
  • 91.4 percent of centers provided paid holiday leave for staff.
  • 84.3 percent of centers provided paid sick leave for employees.

Turnover

• The turnover rate for early childhood teachers over the last two years increased from 32.1 percent in 2019 to 39.5 percent in 2021.
• The turnover rate for early childhood assistant teachers over the last two years increased from 46.1 percent in 2019 to 55.9 percent in 2021.
• Administrative directors had been employed at their current program an average of 9.8 years and early childhood teachers had been employed an average of 5.1 years.
• The top reason for early childhood teachers to leave their jobs willingly was dissatisfaction with wages or benefits, followed by personal/family issues, and burnout.
• The least important reasons for an early childhood teacher to leave their job willingly were retirement and not enough opportunities for professional development or growth.
• Directors reported that it often took more than 4 weeks to fill IDCFS positions; there was very little difference by type of position being filled.

Family Child Care Homes - Highlights and Key Findings

Capacity and Enrollment

• The average licensed capacity reported for family child care homes was 9.8 children, with providers reporting that they care for an average of 9.0 children in a typical week pre-COVID and an average of 7.2 children in a typical week at the time of response.

Accreditation

• 2.2 percent (n = 28 out of 1,279) of family child care providers were accredited through the National Association of Family Child Care (NAFCC).

Excellerate Illinois QRIS

• All responding family child care providers participated in ExceleRate.
  • 88.7 percent (n = 1,134) had received the Licensed Circle of Quality.
  • 5.7 percent (n = 73) had earned the Bronze Circle of Quality.
  • 4.9 percent (n = 63) had earned the Silver Circle of Quality.
  • 0.7 percent (n = 9) had earned the Gold Circle of Quality.

Education Level

• Data from the Gateways to Opportunity Registry show that of all licensed family child care providers in the registry:
  • 44.7 percent had some form of college education.
  • 33.1 percent had an Associate's degree or higher.
  • 12.3 percent had an Associate's degree or higher in either early childhood education or child development.
  • 2.1 percent reported that they had a public school early childhood professional educator license (PEL).

Salary and Benefits

• Licensed family child care providers reported an average annual net income of $15,431.04 per year:
  • 25 percent of family child care providers make less than $2,350.
  • 50 percent of family child care providers make less than $14,000.
• 73.0 percent of family child care providers required payment when closed for holidays, 49.4 percent required payment when closed for vacation, 39.3 percent when closed for sickness, and 18.3 percent when closed for training.
• 90.4 percent of family child care providers were covered by some form of health insurance.
• 58.1 percent of family child care providers contributed to Social Security and 30.3 percent set aside money for retirement.
• 47.7 percent of family child care providers had received some form of public assistance in the preceding two years.

Years of Experience/Turnover

• Family child care home providers reported an average of 17.4 years of experience taking care of children in their homes.
• 26.6 percent of licensed family child care providers reported that they had been previously employed in a child care center or public school.
• 35.4 percent of family child care providers considered quitting providing care in the preceding two years. Economic stresses from COVID-19 pandemic was the primary reason endorsed.
• 34.1 percent of family child care providers report they plan to leave child care within an average of 9.6 years.

Working Hours

• On average, family child care providers were paid to care for children 50.1 hours per week pre-COVID and 47.3 hours per week at the time of response.
• On average, family child providers spent an additional 20.4 hours per week pre-COVID and 21.2 hours per week at the time of response on aspects related to their child care business (preparing food, shopping, cleaning, record keeping and lesson planning).

Motivation for Providing Child Care

• Family child care practitioners endorsed "enjoy teaching children" and "I consider myself a small business owner" as their two primary motivating factors for providing child care.

Introduction

Legislative rule 20 ILCS 505/5.15 mandates a statewide survey of the workforce of licensed child care facilities be conducted every two years by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). This survey evaluates:

• the number of qualified caregivers attracted to vacant positions and any problems encountered by facilities in attracting and retaining capable caregivers;
• the qualifications of new caregivers hired at licensed day care facilities during the previous two-year period; and
• the average wages and salaries and fringe benefits paid to caregivers throughout the State computed on a regional basis.

Other areas assessed by the survey include information pertaining to fiscal management, enrollment patterns, staffing patterns, staff turnover rates, and professional development.
IDHS contracted with the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA) to conduct the Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021) survey.

Methods

Survey Development

One version of the Salary and Staffing Survey was constructed for licensed child care centers, and a separate version was used for licensed family child care providers. To allow for the comparison of 2021 survey results with those from past survey years, questions from past surveys were retained with some minor changes in formatting and wording.

Respondents could opt to take the survey either on-line, via the internet, or as a mailed paper document. Formatting and instructions differed slightly between the two forms of administration; survey content remained the same.

To create the on-line version of each survey, the paper versions were directly transcribed on-line, using the web-based SurveyMonkey product (surveymonkey.com). Respondents could access the surveys through a link on the INCCRRA website. The Salary and Staffing Survey web page contained links for both the licensed child care center and licensed family child care home surveys. It also included information on how to access both the online and paper versions of the survey, "Frequently Asked Questions" about the survey, and a link to "Previous Survey Highlights." To maintain confidentiality, respondents were assigned a user code (a randomly generated ten-character code). This code was required to enter in order to access the survey. With their unique code information, respondents could enter and exit the survey at their convenience, take the survey at their own pace, and make changes to responses prior to submission.

Respondents could request a paper copy of either the licensed child care center survey or the licensed family child care home survey by emailing or calling INCCRRA. Along with the requested survey, respondents would receive a self-addressed stamped envelope in which to return the survey. Appendix A contains the paper versions of both the licensed child care center and licensed family child care home surveys.

Respondents

There are sixteen Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies in Illinois (see Appendix B) which together serve all 102 counties in Illinois. Each CCR&R is assigned one or more counties to cover (referred to as their Service Delivery Area or SDA). All CCR&R agencies are partners with INCCRRA, which provides coordination and supports for the Illinois CCR&R System. CCR&Rs support licensed and license-exempt child care centers and family child care homes in their assigned areas. Child care facilities in Illinois are licensed by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS).

Local CCR&Rs list these IDCFS licensed child care facilities on the Data Tracking Program (DTP). INCCRRA maintains this provider database for Illinois. All 9,027 facilities in Illinois (2,779 licensed child care centers and 6,248 licensed family child care homes listed in the database as providing care as of December 31, 2020) were invited to participate in the survey.

Administration of Surveys

On April 5, 2021, an email blast was sent to 7,403 providers with emails listed in the database (5,443 family child care providers, 1,960 centers) inviting them to participate in the Salary and Staffing Survey. On April 12, 2021, a letter was mailed to all centers (n = 2,779) in care of the center director and all family home providers (n = 6,248), including those who had already been sent an email. Both notifications delineated the purpose of the study and invited the providers to participate in it, either by completing the survey online or via a mailed paper questionnaire.⁵

On June 1, 2021, reminder postcards were sent to 9,027 providers (6,248 family child care home providers, 2,779 centers). These postcards thanked providers who had completed the survey, reminded providers of the survey's availability both online and as a paper document, and provided the contact information necessary for providers to obtain the paper copy of the survey if so desired. Analyses were based on all completed surveys returned by August 30, 2021.

A total of 6,248 IDCFS licensed family child care home and group home providers and 2,779 centers were invited to complete the Salary and Staffing Survey. Out of these, 1,279 family child care/group home providers (1,246 online; 33 paper) and 559 center directors (555 online and 4 paper) completed and returned the survey. The response rates for each type of program were 20.5 percent and 20.1 percent respectively.

⁵Copies of both surveys are included in Appendix A

Survey Data

A discrepancy in the number of responses to each question exists because not all respondents completed each question. The number of raw responses to a question is denoted by the symbol (n or n =).

Profile of Child Care Centers: Key Findings

The term "child care center" encompasses an assortment of programs that have their own legal and regulatory status as well as funding sources. Types of programs include full-day/full-year center-based child care programs, preschool programs, nursery schools, state-funded Preschool for All pre-kindergarten programs, Head Start/Early Head Start programs, and school-age care programs. Staff qualifications and training requirements vary with the type of program.

"Legal status" indicates for-profit or not-for-profit; "regulatory status" refers to licensed or license-exempt. Source of capital includes public and/or private funding sources. Public funding sources include, but are not limited to: Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) vouchers, certificates or site contracts, the Chicago Department of Family Support Services site contracts, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) vouchers or certificates, Head Start, State Board of Education (ISBE)/Preschool for All (PFA), Child and Adult Child Care Food Program, and municipal, state or federal grants. Examples of private funding sources include tuition-based (parent fees), private donations, grants from foundations or agencies such as the United Way, corporate or employer subsidies and fundraisers.

Some centers are independent and stand-alone enterprises - either for-profit or non-profit; some are part of a corporation or chain (or are corporate-sponsored), and some are affiliated with a social service agency, hospital, or college or university. Others are sponsored through funds from the federal, state, or local government or are affiliated with the public school system. Some are single-site programs and others are multi-site programs.

All of these types of centers represent variation in child care delivery that is considered in the survey analyses.

From the 2,779 invitations sent to child care centers, 555 online surveys were completed and an additional 4 paper surveys were completed. Thus, 559 center surveys were completed out of 2,779 delivered invitations, for a response rate of 20.1 percent. Table 1 presents the response rates by CCR&R service delivery area (SDA) (see Appendix B).

Table 1. Survey return rates by service delivery area: Licensed Child Care Centers

Service Delivery Area	CCR&R Office Location	Centers	Surveys Completed	Percentage of Surveys Completed
SDA 1	Rockford	49	12	24.5%
SDA 2	DeKalb	110	30	27.3%
SDA 3	Gurnee	137	34	24.8%
SDA 4	Addison	282	55	19.5%
SDA 5	Joliet	162	35	21.6%
SDA 6	Chicago	1,376	202	14.7%
SDA 7	Moline	68	18	26.5%
SDA 8	Peoria	98	27	27.6%
SDA 9	Bloomington	37	10	27.0%
SDA 10	Urbana	74	20	27.0%
SDA 11	Charleston	29	8	27.6%
SDA 12	Quincy	22	6	27.3%
SDA 13	Springfield	73	27	37.0%
SDA 14	Granite City	142	42	29.6%
SDA 15	Mt Vernon	54	14	25.9%
SDA 16	Carterville	66	19	28.8%
Totals		2,779	559	20.1%

Respondent Role

Respondents were asked to provide basic information about their programs. Out of 559 centers responding to the survey, 77 (13.8 percent) were completed by owners, 143 (25.7 percent) by owner/directors, 281 (50.5 percent) by administrative directors (including CEO and executive director), 38 (6.8 percent) by director/teachers, and 17 (3.1 percent) by other personnel including teachers, administrative assistants, and fiscal officers. Since the majority of respondents to the licensed child care center survey were directors in some form (83 percent), all respondents will henceforth be referred to as "directors".

Types of Centers

Directors were queried about their programs, specifically: (1) hours of operation/program type; (2) whether it is sponsored by a faith-based organization; and (3) whether it exists as a single or multi-site program. Data from the DTP database provided information as to whether the center was an accredited program and whether it has been awarded a Circle of Quality in the ExceleRate Illinois Quality Recognition and Improvement System (QRIS).

Directors were asked to identify their center's schedule of operation based on hours open and center type. The 559 surveys yielded the following results:

• 64.8 percent (n = 362) of centers were defined as full-day/full-year only (open at least eight hours per day for a minimum of 47 weeks per year);
• 21.6 percent (n = 121) were full-day/full-year programs with a separate part-day option;
• 9.5 percent (n = 53) were part-day only (nursery school, preschool, Head Start);
• 0.4 percent (n = 2) were defined as part-day only before- and/or after-school programs; and
• 3.8 percent (n = 21) identified their center as operating on an "other" schedule. (

Please note: unless otherwise specified, all further analyses will combine the data from both full-day and part-day programs.)

When asked whether their centers were sponsored by a faith-based organization, 459 directors (82.1 percent) responded "No", 96 (17.2 percent) answered "Yes", and 4 (0.7 percent) did not answer the item.

Directors were also asked whether their program was a single-site program or part of a multi-site program. Over three-quarters (79.8 percent, n = 446) indicated that their program was a single-site program; 19.7 percent (n = 110) were part of a multi-site program, and 0.5 percent (n = 3) did not report whether or not their center was single or multi-site.

Accreditation & ExceleRate Illinois Status

Accreditation demonstrates a center's commitment to high quality in early care and education by meeting voluntary guidelines and standards established by national accrediting organizations. The ExceleRate Illinois Quality Recognition and Improvement System (QRIS) is designed to make continuous quality improvement an everyday priority among early learning providers.⁶ Providers who care for children eligible for the IDHS Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) also receive a quality bonus above the standard payment rate if they achieve an ExceleRate Illinois Circle of Quality above the Licensed Circle of Quality. Using information from INCCRRA's databases, variables were created to indicate the accreditation and ExceleRate Illinois rating status of licensed centers participating in the salary and staffing survey.

⁶From the ExceleRate^TM Illinois website, https://www.excelerateillinois.com/about/what-is-excelerate-illinois

Of all 559 programs responding to the FY 2021 survey, 16.3 percent (n = 91) were accredited:

• 74 (13.2 percent) were accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC);
• 15 (2.7 percent) were accredited by the National Accreditation Commission (NAC) under the auspices of the Association Early Learning Leaders⁷;
• 1 (0.2 percent) was accredited through the Council on Accreditation (COA);
• 1 (0.2 percent) was accredited by American Montessori Society (AMS); and
• No programs were accredited through NECPA (National Early Childhood Program Accreditation) or through AdvancED. ⁸

In FY 2021, all 559 centers responding to the survey participated in ExceleRate Illinois, with 60.5 percent (n = 338) being at the Licensed Circle of Quality and 39.5 percent (n = 221) having a higher Circle of Quality. Of those 221 programs, 15.8 percent (n = 35) of programs earned a Bronze Circle of Quality, 34.8 percent (n = 77) of programs earned a Silver Circle of Quality, and 49.3 percent (n = 109) of programs earned the Gold Circle of Quality.⁹

Please note that centers can simultaneously hold a Circle of Quality and be nationally accredited. Of the 221 centers that had achieved a rating above the Licensed Circle of Quality, 37.1 percent (n = 82) were also nationally accredited.

⁷Formerly the National Association of Child Care Professionals
⁸To further identify the prevalence of accredited centers in Illinois, data were accessed from the Data Tracking Program (DTP) in July 2021 and showed that: 226 (8.1 percent of all Illinois centers) are NAEYC accredited, 66 (2.4 percent of all Illinois centers) are NAC accredited, 11 (0.4 percent of all Illinois centers) are COA accredited, 8 (0.3 percent of all Illinois centers) are AMS accredited, 2 (0.1 percent of all Illinois centers) are AdvancED accredited, and 1 (0.04 percent of all Illinois centers) is NECPA accredited. Overall, 11.3 percent of all center programs in Illinois have been accredited by national organizations and meet nationally recognized standards for high quality.
⁹According to data retrieved for all programs from INCCRRA's Data Tracking Program (DTP), on July 1, 2021: 70.2 percent of centers were at the Licensed Circle of Quality, 3.9 percent were at Bronze, 11.6 percent were at Silver, and 14.3 percent were at the Gold Circle of Quality.

Center Program Revenue

To assess center program revenues, directors were asked to describe the legal status of their center, list center funding sources, estimate the contribution of each funding source to the center's overall budget, and provide totals on center revenue, operating budget, and net profit.

First, directors were asked to delineate the legal status of their program (profit or non-profit). The legal status of a program influences the types of revenue available to the program as well as a host of other factors that define or affect the program. Of the 559 centers who participated in the survey:

• 312 (55.8 percent) reported their centers as for-profit enterprises:
  • 29.2 percent (n = 163) reported their center as a for-profit private proprietary or partnership;
  • 24.0 percent (n = 134) reported their center as a for-profit corporation or chain;
  • 2.7 percent (n = 15) reported their center as a for profit corporate sponsored;
• 192 (34.3 percent) described their centers as a private non-profit:
  • 28.1 percent (n = 157) described their center as an independent private non-profit;
  • 6.3 percent (n = 35) described their center as a private non-profit affiliated with a social service agency or hospital;
• 36 (6.5 percent) identified their centers as a public non-profit- sponsored by federal, state, or local government
• 16 (2.9 percent) identified their centers as college or university affiliated;
• 2(0.4 percent) identified their centers as a public school; and
• 1 (0.001 percent) of center director did not respond to this item.

Next, center directors were provided a list of funding sources and asked to indicate which ones their center currently received. Table 2 identifies each revenue source and the percentage and number of centers who reported receiving it. As Table 2 reveals, 91.6 percent of all centers stated a portion of their funding base was comprised of tuition-based/parent fees. Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) vouchers or certificates were the second most common source of funding (73.2 percent).

Table 2. Type of center program revenues (n = 559)

Type of Program Revenue	Percentage1	n
Tuition-Based (Parent Fees)	91.6%	512
Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) vouchers or certificates	73.2%	409
COVID-19 Relief Funds (e.g., PPP, EIDL, CCRG)	66.7%	373
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) vouchers or certificates	44%	246
Child and Adult Care Food Program	41.7%	233
Private Donations, grants (e.g., foundations, United Way), or fundraising	22.5%	126
State Board of Education (ISBE)/Preschool for All (PFA)	9.5%	53
Head Start	8.4%	47
Early Head Start	6.3%	35
Chicago Department of Family Support Services (DFSS)	4.1%	23
Other (fundraisers, church sponsorship, grants…)	3.9%	22
Corporate/employer subsidies	1.8%	10
Chicago Public Schools (CPS)/Preschool for All (PFA)	0.9%	5

Table should be read: "91.6 percent of licensed child care centers received tuition-based revenues."
¹Percentages add up to greater than 100 percent as respondents were asked to endorse all items applicable to their programs.

Not only were directors asked to identify the various sources of funding which comprised their center's revenue base, but they were also asked to estimate the percentage that each funding source contributed to their general revenue. Tuition and parent fees were reported to be the most common source of funding for centers (91.6 percent), with tuition and fees comprising an average of 46.3 percent (n = 473, median = 50.0 percent) or right around half of center revenue.

The average and median percentages for each additional funding source for the 559 centers who answered the question are provided below.

• Head Start funds comprised 16.1 percent of the total revenue base (median = 0.0 percent).
• Preschool for All funds made up 7.3 percent of the revenue base (median = 0.0 percent).
• Public funding (state, federal, or local) comprised 6.4 percent of the overall revenue base (median = 0.0 percent).
• Private donations and gifts were 6.8 percent of the funding base (median = 3.0 percent).
• Corporate//employer subsidies were 3.2 percent of total revenue (median = 0.0 percent).

Directors were asked to approximate both the annual operating costs and annual income for their centers. A wide range of budgets emerged. Annual operating expenses averaged $561,982.08 (n= 384), with a median of $428,610.50. Annual revenues averaged $548,326.40 (n = 384) with a median of $400,000. To calculate net profit, annual expenses were subtracted from annual revenues. Again, a notable range in net-profit existed between the centers; however, this calculation revealed an average net loss per center of $13,655.68 (n = 384) with a median of $0 indicating no net-profit or loss.

As stated previously, the term "child care center" encompasses an array of programs and facilities such as public and private or for-profit and not-for-profit. To report a single figure for revenues or expenses that represents the fiscal experience of child care centers in Illinois obscures the varied nature of child care. Table 2 presents the operating costs and revenues, of licensed Illinois child care centers by profit/nonprofit status and affiliation, and Figure 6 shows the annual profits by status. The table documents that fiscal outcomes of child care centers are as varied as the centers themselves. Not surprisingly, as with the findings from 2019, corporate for-profit centers generally yield a profit, but public and private nonprofit centers make considerably less.

Table 3. Annual revenues and operating costs by profit/non-profit status: Licensed Child Care Centers

Legal Status of Center	Revenues Mean	Revenues Median	Operating Costs Mean	Operating Costs Median	n
For Profit: private proprietary or partnership	$617,072	$448,472	$589,719	$460,000	116
For Profit- corporation or chain	$555,281	$430,000	$565,285	$500,000	89
For Profit- corporate sponsored	$365,918	$240,000	$305,890	$288,850	10
Private nonprofit- independent	$440,772	$350,000	$486,362	$366,090	119
Private nonprofit- affiliated with a social service agency or hospital	$883,263	$720,000	$926,952	$704,000	23
Public nonprofit- sponsored by federal, state, or local government	$399,755	$315,000	$421,338	$300,000	13
College or university affiliated	$550,507	$484,000	$674,815	$500,000	11

Note: Statistics for which there were fewer than 3 observations were deleted.

As with the last six surveys, questions were asked to ascertain whether the general economy was perceived to have affected either the operating costs and/or revenues of centers. Directors were asked to rate these changes pre-COVID and at the time of response on a scale from 1 ("Decreased greatly") to 5 ("Increased greatly"). Directors rated the average change in operating costs pre-COVID as 3.07 (n = 525; median = 3.0) and at the time of response as 3.28 (n = 519; median = 4.0). Directors rated the average change to revenue pre-COVID as 2.7 (n = 520; median = 3.0) and at the time of response as 1.8 (n = 521; median = 1.0). Only 19.7 percent of the directors that indicated revenues "stayed about the same" noted that operating costs had increased pre-COVID, whereas 40.7 percent indicated operating costs had increased at the time of response.

If centers charge private-paying parents more for child care than the child care subsidy program reimburses, the center can ask the parent to pay the difference between the rates (if not a contracted site provider). More than one-third of the reporting centers (36.1 percent; n = 142 out of 393) enrolling subsidized children charge parents more than the amount reimbursed by the subsidy program.

Directors were also asked to rate the ease of collecting the parent's share of subsidized child care pre-COVID and at the time of response (parent co-pay plus any difference between state reimbursement and center rate). On a scale of 1 ("Very easy") to 5 ("Very difficult"), responding centers (n = 388) reported an average rating of 2.8 (median = 3.0) pre-COVID, and an average rating of 3.0 (median = 3.0; n = 384) at the time of response indicating that the task was "Neither easy nor difficult." Directors were further asked whether collecting the parent share had gotten easier or more difficult pre-COVID and at the time of response (again on a scale from 1 ("Much easier") to 5 ("Much more difficult"). The average rate reported pre-COVID was 3.0 with a median of 3.0, and at the time of response was 3.3 with a median of 3.0 indicating that it had mostly "stayed the same."

Capacity and Enrollment Patterns

Licensed capacity is defined as the maximum number of children permitted in the child care facility at any one time. The ages of children that can be enrolled in a licensed center varies between six weeks - 12 years of age and are stipulated on the center's IDCFS license. Of the 559 responding centers, the mean total licensed capacity was 92.4 children, with a median licensed capacity of 85.0. The average total capacity of reporting centers was somewhat higher than the average licensed capacity of all 2,779 active licensed centers (83.9 children).

When asked to recount their current total enrollment (how many children attended their program), directors (n = 516) reported an average current total enrollment of 67.7 children, with a median current total enrollment of 60. Please note that enrollments can exceed total licensed capacity as counts may be made across multiple shifts and/or include children who attend programs on a part-time basis.

Directors were asked whether they had children enrolled whose families receive Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), Chicago Department of Family Support Services (DFSS), and/or Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) financial assistance (subsidized child care). A preponderance (76.2 percent; n = 407) of responding centers have children enrolled whose families receive IDHS, DFSS, and/or IDCFS assistance. These centers enrolled an average of 29.1 children (median enrollment of 20.0) whose child care was subsidized by the aforementioned types of assistance.

To calculate the percentage of subsidized children enrolled in a center, the number of subsidized children enrolled was divided by the center's current total enrollment (n = 363). On average, 42.4 percent (median = 36.4 percent, with a range of from 0 to 100 percent) or, about four out of every ten children enrolled in licensed child care centers, had child care paid through IDHS, DFSS, and/or IDCFS public financial assistance. This was 4.7 percent higher than the FY 2019 Salary and Staffing Survey report of 37.7 percent, and 5.4 percent higher than the FY 2017 report of 37.0 percent.

To further explore the enrollment patterns of centers, directors were asked how frequently their programs had vacancies pre-COVID and at the time of response. On a scale of 1 ("There are always vacancies") to 5 ("There are never vacancies"), directors (n = 528) reported an average of 3.3 (with a median of 3.0) pre-COVID and an average of 2.2 (with a median of 2.0; n = 526) at the time of response. A rating of 3 means directors observed "there are sometimes vacancies" in their centers and a 2 means "there were often vacancies". Table 4 displays enrollment patterns.

Table 4. Enrollment patterns (n = 528 pre-COVID; n = 526 at response time)

Enrollment Pattern	Percentage Pre-COVID	n Pre- COVID	Percentage at response time	n at response time
1 (There are always vacancies	9.3%	49	43.3%	228
2 (There are often vacancies)	8.5%	45	19.0%	100
3 (There are sometimes vacancies)	34.8%	184	20.2%	106
4 (There are rarely vacancies)	37.7%	199	14.1%	74
5 (There are never vacancies)	9.7%	51	3.4%	18

As table 4 demonstrates, 52.6 percent of all directors rated their vacancy pattern as "There are always vacancies" to "There are sometimes vacancies" pre-COVID. This is 18.6 percent less than what was reported in FY 2019, indicating that center directors have experienced reduced vacancies. However, the percent of all directors that rated their vacancy pattern as "There are always vacancies" to "There are sometimes vacancies" spiked to 82.5 percent at the time of response. It is interesting to note that per the DTP database, 5.1 percent of all contacted Illinois child care centers that closed their doors between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, closed due to "insufficient enrollment." This is an increase from 4.5 percent in 2019 and a decrease from 8.4 percent reported in the FY 2017 report.

Directors were also asked to reflect on how enrollment had changed pre-COVID and at the time of response. On a scale from 1 ("Decreased greatly") to 5 ("Increased greatly"), directors indicated that, on average, the change of enrollment was 2.9 (n = 525; median = 3.0) pre-COVID, and the average change of enrollment was 1.9 (n = 524; median = 1.0) at time of response. The number 3 on the scale designates that the current enrollment "stayed about the same", and the number 1 on the scale means that the current enrollment "decreased greatly". A comparison of the data in 2017 and 2019 indicates a slight decrease in perceived enrollment patterns pre-COVID and a large decrease at the time of response.

Ethnicity of Children in Programs

The 559 center directors responding to the item estimated that, on average, 65.5 percent of the children in their programs were Caucasian/White, 27.2 percent were African American/Black, 15.7 percent were Hispanic/Latino, 8.1 percent were multi-racial, 7.4 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.9 percent were of other racial/ethnic groups, and 0.7 percent were Native American. Medians and ranges are shown in Table 5

Table 5. Medians and Ranges of Children in Programs: Child Care Centers

Ethnicity	Median	Range
Caucasian/White	75.0%	0% - 100%
African American/Black	10.0%	0% - 100%
Hispanic/Latino	5.0%	0% - 100%
Multi-Racial	5.0%	0% - 50%
Asian/Pacific Islander	2.5%	0% - 96%
Other	1.0%	0% - 95%
Native American	0.0%	0% - 20%

Nearly half (49.8 percent; n = 263) of directors indicated that there were children in their programs whose primary language was not English. Directors who reported children in their programs who spoke a language other than English also reported on the other languages spoken by the children in their center. In descending order, the following languages were reported to be spoken by the children. The percent shown in Figure 9 represents the frequency of children who speak the indicated language in the 559 centers represented in the 2021 Salary and Staffing Survey. Spanish (38.6 percent) was the predominant non-English primary language spoken by children in the responding centers.

Staffing Patterns

Directors were asked to provide information on the number of full-time and part-time staff employed in their center. In order to ensure the uniformity of job titles between the centers, the five staff positions highlighted in IDCFS licensing standards (see Appendix C) were used throughout the survey. The position of center director was separated into two categories to account for directors who double as teachers in their center. Other job categories were also listed in the survey that corresponded to those examined in previous surveys. Table 4 depicts the breakdown of center staff by position as well as the mean number of employees in the positions.

Table 6. Breakdown of center staff by position

Position IDCFS-Defined Positions	Employees	Centers1	Mean Employees per Center	Median Employees per Center
Administrative Director	547	421	1.3	1.0
Director/Teacher2	650	401	1.6	1.0
Early Childhood Teacher	3,324	469	7.1	6.0
Early Childhood Assistant	2,468	455	5.4	4.0
School-Age Worker	325	253	1.3	1.0
School-Age Assistant	119	194	0.6	0.0
Curriculum Coordinator	56	166	0.3	0.0
Family Support/Parent Educator	94	164	0.6	0.0
Cook	369	345	1.1	1.0
Administrative Support/Secretary	181	223	0.8	1.0
Building Support Staff	220	231	1.0	1.0
Other	167	130	1.3	0.0

¹Number of centers with one or more staff members of the designated title.
²A director/teacher must meet the qualifications of both the director position and the teaching position.

The average child care center employs 17.5 staff members, the majority (87.2 percent) in IDCFS-defined positions. Early childhood teachers represented the single largest category of child care staff (39.0 percent of all staff and 44.7 percent of all IDCFS-defined instructional positions).

Directors were also asked to report on how many of their staff were lead teachers.¹⁰ Lead teachers were defined as follows:

The lead teacher is the individual with the highest educational qualifications assigned to teach a group/classroom of children and who is responsible for daily lesson planning, parent conferences, child assessment, and curriculum planning.

• Depending on the program, this individual may be called a head teacher, master teacher, or teacher.
• Each group/classroom will have one, and only one, lead teacher.

¹⁰The position "Lead Teacher" is not an IDCFS-defined position. However, a recommendation to revise IDCFS Licensing Standards for Day Care Centers to add "lead teacher" as a separate role category for teaching staff, appeared in the publication: "Who's Caring for the Kids? The Status of the Early Childhood Workforce - 2008," a joint project by the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National-Louis University and the Early Childhood Parenting Collaborative at the University of Illinois. This report combined statistical data from IDHS, ISBE and INCCRRA to summarize the status of early child care education in Illinois and to make recommendations. The report proposed a definition of a "lead teacher" and the ECE credential levels which would be required for personnel hired as lead teachers in a child care center and/or Preschool for All program.

A total of 471 centers provided information about lead teachers. Child care centers averaged 5.8 lead teachers, with a median of 5.0. This figure is slightly lower, remaining consistent to findings from 2019 (mean = 6.0; median = 5.0) and 2017 (mean = 6.1; median = 5.0).

Table 6 indicates that on average most centers employ one cook and one or two building support persons in their program; however, not all centers have these employees on their regular staff. Of the 559 directors who responded to the survey, 28.3 percent indicated that they contracted for food service, 35.4 percent contracted for building cleaning, 37.0 percent contracted for grounds maintenance, and 5.7 percent indicated that they contracted for other services such as pest control, nursing, and information technology.

To further explore staffing patterns, directors were asked to identify the number of instructional staff with a second-paying job outside of their center. Out of 481 responses to this question, 230 directors answered "I don't know" and 251 (52.2 percent) indicated that at least one member of their instructional staff had a second paying outside job. These directors reported that on average, three (mean = 3.0; median = 2.0; range = from 1 to 40) of their instructional staff had a second-paying job outside their center. The average number of staff reported to have an outside paying job is with the findings from the last several surveys, though the range is larger, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among directors reporting a number of staff with a second job, 49 (27.4 percent) reported that staff members with a second job had started that second job since the beginning of the pandemic, 101 (56.4 percent) reported that those staff did not start the second job during the pandemic, and 29 (16.2 precent) reported "I don't know".

Male Staff

Men continue to be underrepresented when it comes to employment in the field of early care and education. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2021 national percentage of men employed as child care workers was 5.2 percent, employed as teacher assistants was 19.9 percent and employed as preschool or kindergarten teachers was 1.2 percent. ¹¹To assess how many males were employed in child care centers in Illinois, respondents were asked to indicate the number of males employed in IDCFS center staff positions. Table 5 presents the number of male staff members employed in each position. While 25.9 percent of centers employed one or more male staff members in an instructional capacity (all positions except administrative director in Table 5), only 2.7 percent (n = 202) out of 7,433 of instructional staff were male. This percentage remained the same as the 2019 report.

¹¹Figures were calculated by comparing the number of women in the position to the total number of workers in the position. This produced the number of males in the position. The BLS combines the positions of kindergarten and preschool teachers in their data. Data from, "Household Data Annual Averages", U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm

Table 7. Male center staff by position

Position	All Employees	Male Employees	Percent of Male Employees	All Centers1	Centers with Male Staff2	Percent of all Centers with Male Staff3
Administrative Director	547	35	6.4%	421	34	8.1%
Director/Teacher	650	33	5.1%	401	21	5.2%
Early Childhood Teacher	3,324	48	1.4%	469	41	8.7%
Early Childhood Assistant	2,468	53	2.1%	455	46	10.1%
School-Age Worker	325	45	13.8%	253	31	12.3%
School-Age Assistant	119	23	19.3%	194	17	8.8%
All Positions	7,433	237	3.2%	487	149	30.6%

Table should be read: "Of the 421 centers who had administrative directors, 34 or 8.1 percent had a male administrative director."
¹Number of centers with one or more staff members of the designated title.
²Number of centers with one or more male staff members of the designated title.
³Percentage of centers with one or more male staff members of the designated title.
Note: See Note on Table 4

Non-English Fluency of Staff

As previously reported, over half of responding centers reported caring for at least one child whose primary language was other than English. In order to gauge staff capacity to speak a language other than English effectively, we asked directors to indicate how many of their staff were fluent in a non-English language. Table 6 presents the results of this inquiry. Exactly 19 percent of the 7,433 instructional staff were reported to be fluent in a language other than English (this is an increase from what was reported in 2019 and 2017, a continuation of the increase from the 15.9 percent reported in 2015 and 14.1 percent reported in 2013). Almost half of all centers (45.9 percent) had at least one instructional staff member who was fluent in a non-English language. This is a slight decrease from the 46.1 percent in 2019 and 51.1 percent in 2017.

Table 8. Number of staff who are fluent in a non-English language by position

Position	All Employees	Employees with non- English Fluency	Employees with Non-English Fluency	All Centers1	Centers with Non- English Fluent Staff 2	Percent of Centers who Employ Non- English Fluent Staff3
Administrative Director	547	82	15.0%	421	68	16.2%
Director/Teacher	650	97	14.9%	401	74	18.5%
Early Childhood Teacher	3,324	627	18.9%	469	192	40.9%
Early Childhood Assistant	2,468	520	21.1%	455	164	36.0%
School-Age Worker	325	66	20.3%	253	34	13.4%
School-Age Assistant	119	20	16.8%	194	13	6.7%
All Positions	7,433	1,412	19.0%	488	268	54.9%

¹Number of centers with one or more staff members of the designated title.
²Number of centers with one or more staff members of the designated title fluent in a non-English language.
³Percentage of centers with one or more staff members of the designated title who are fluent in a non-English language.
Table should be read: "Of the 421 centers who had administrative directors, 68 or 16.2 percent had an administrative director who is fluent in a language other than English."
Note: See Note on Table 6

Professional Development

Illinois State Professional Development Programs

Directors were asked about their awareness of and staff awareness of professional development opportunities and programs available in Illinois. Several programs exist including:

• The Gateways to Opportunity Illinois Professional Development System is recognized for promoting quality and professionalism for early care and education, school-age, and youth practitioners.
  • The Gateways to Opportunity Registry is available for practitioners to track their training and professional development.
  • Great START (Strategy to Attract and Retain Teachers) is a wage supplement program that aims to increase child care practitioner retention while encouraging increased levels of education.
  • The Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program provides partial funding for college scholarships for both center and family child care providers in an effort to increase the educational levels of practitioners, promote increased practitioner compensation, and improve the consistency of care for children.
  • Gateways to Opportunity awards credentials to practitioners in the field of early care and education, school-age and youth development. The various credentials that can be earned are the ECE Credential, Infant Toddler Credential (ITC), Illinois Director Credential (IDC), Family Child Care Credential (FCCC), School-Age and Youth Development Credential (SAYD), Family Specialist Credential (FSC), and the Technical Assistance Credential. Achievement of these credentials is based on educational level, professional development background and work experience in the field of early care and education.
  • The Professional Development Advisor (PDA) Program pairs experienced mentors with less experienced practitioners to assist the latter in meeting their professional development goals.
  • The Gateways i-learning System is a web-based platform that provides online training opportunities to early care and education professionals. Online trainings offered include those required for IDCFS licensing, ExceleRate Illinois, and Gateways to Opportunity Credentials.
• ExceleRate Illinois is a statewide quality recognition and improvement system (QRIS) designed to make continuous quality improvement an everyday priority among early learning providers. The program establishes standards for helping children develop intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally.
• Local Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&R) offer various services for child care providers, parents and communities. Services for child care providers include technical assistance, training and consultation from specialists including Quality and Infant Toddler Specialists, and Mental Health Consultants.

Directors' awareness of the various professional development opportunities are reported below.

99.6 percent (n = 491) of the 493 responding centers knew of the Gateways to Opportunity Registry;

93.3 percent (n = 444) of the 476 responding center directors reported knowing of the Great START Program;

• 99.6 percent (n = 491) of the 493 responding centers knew of the Gateways to Opportunity Registry;
• 93.3 percent (n = 444) of the 476 responding center directors reported knowing of the Great START Program;
  • 59.7 percent (n = 334) of all 559 responding centers had at least one Great START recipient in the past two years. Those 334 programs had a total of 1,228 recipients.
• 96.2 percent (n = 459) of the 477 responding centers reported they had heard of the Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program;
  • 32.2 percent (n = 180) of all 559 responding centers had at least one Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship participant for a total of 368 participants
• 98.6 percent (n = 480) of the 487 responding centers had heard of Gateways to Opportunity Credentials;
• 65.4 percent (n = 293) of the 448 responding center directors reported they had heard of the Professional Development Advisor Program;
• 95.8 percent (n = 461) of the 481 responding centers knew of the ExceleRate Illinois Quality Recognition and Improvement System (QRIS);
• 83.4 percent (n = 388) of the 465 responding center directors knew of the consultants/specialists available through their local Child Care Resource & Referral agency.
• 95.8 percent (n=458) of the 478 responding center directors knew of the online training opportunities available through the Gateways i-learning System.

Some directors provided written feedback about these professional development opportunities. Below is a representative comment:

"It would be helpful for directors/teachers/assistants to participate in Conferences and training outside of the center if we could register for those Conferences/training through the gateway registry to opportunity and not through The company that offers them. That would increase the number of participants as Having one to pay from our pocket and then ask the gateways to refund. With the Low wages, it is hard to attend those conferences because of the cost Involved."

Professional Development Plan

According to IDCFS Center Licensing Standards, center directors are responsible for ensuring that each child care staff member receives 15 hours of training each year. Programs that are accredited may have additional requirements beyond the 15 hours of training. A series of questions were devoted to finding out whether a center had a professional development (PD) plan for staff to meet this requirement, and the modes in which staff received training. The surveys gathered for this report have indicated that professional development plans have continued to be part of the directors' continuous quality improvement. The 2019 report showed that 78.6 percent of the responding centers had professional development plans, and 70.2 percent had professional development plans for their staff. This compared to the 78.7 percent and 68.1 percent respectively, in this report. This continues a trend that began with marked increases in the percent for the 2017 report (the 2015 report showed 80.3 percent of centers had PD plans for their center and 67.1 had plans for individual staff compared to 79.0 and 67.1 percent respectively in 2017).

Professional Development Plan for Staff

• 78.7 percent (n = 384) of the 488 directors who responded to the question reported they have a staff professional development plan for their center.
• 68.1 percent (n = 331) of the 486 directors who responded reported they have an individual staff professional development plan for their teaching/instruction staff.
• 93.0 percent (n = 454) of the 488 directors who responded to the question reported they have in-service training opportunities for their instructional staff.
• 84.0 percent (n = 409) of the 487 directors who responded to the question reported they pay for conference training or registration.

Training Received

Of the 559 directors who responded to the question concerning training in early childhood education, child development, or health education:

• 50.3 percent (n = 281) reported their staff had received training from a Child Care Resource and Referral agency;
• 24.7 percent (n = 138) reported their staff had received training from a local community training;
• 24.5 percent (n = 137) reported their staff had received training at a professional association meeting or conference; and
• 80.7 percent (n= 451) reported their staff had received training through an online training source.

Directors were also asked whether they believe there are adequate training opportunities available to them and their staff. Of the 488 directors who responded, 82.0 percent believe there are adequate training opportunities available to them and their staff. This is consistent with the responses from 2019 (78.0 percent), 2017 (79.0 percent), and 2015 (79.2 percent). A possible explanation may be an increase in the amount of online training that has been made available and/or the use of it. For example, several new trainings were made available in the past several years through the Gateways to Opportunity i-learning System.

Peer Support

It is the director's responsibility to ensure center compliance with IDCFS licensing and other regulations, manage the day-to-day operations of the center, be its overall manager, and deal with various challenges on a daily basis. To measure the director's resilience to the nature and scope of issues inherent in his or her position, directors were queried about their support system (contact with other child care professionals).

When asked, "Approximately how many other child care professionals in addition to your immediate staff did you speak to last week?", 58.2 percent (n = 273) of the 469 responding directors reported that in the past week they spoke to no more than two additional child care professionals in addition to their immediate center staff, 17.7 percent (n = 83) reported that they spoke to between three and five additional child care professionals, and 24.1 percent (n = 113) reported that they spoke to six or more additional child care professionals.

Directors were also asked to indicate how many other center professionals they know personally, in addition to their immediate center staff. Of the 467 directors who responded:

• 61.6 percent (n = 288) reported knowing at least six other child care professionals;
• 21.0 percent (n = 98) reported knowing three to five child care professionals; and
• 17.3 percent (n = 81) directors reported knowing two or fewer child care professionals.

Staff Turnover

Turnover Rates

When searching for a quality child care arrangement in a center, parents are advised to ask, "What is your staff turnover rate?" A consistent, nurturing caregiver is essential to creating a positive, trusting learning environment for children. That is why a stable workforce is paramount to providing quality child care. In order to understand the factors that comprise a stable workforce, questions concerning turnover rate, applicants, and new hires were posed.

Directors were asked to report the number of full-time and part-time staff members who left their program within the past two years. Temporary, substitute, and seasonal staff were excluded. To determine the percentage of turnover rate at the center level, the number of centers with staff exits within the past two years was compared to the number of centers employing staff with the given position. Staff turnover rates at the center level are presented in Table 9.

Table 9. Two-year center level turnover rate by position

Position	Centers Employing Staff1	Centers who had Staff Leave in Past 2 Years	Center Turnover Rate
Administrative Director	421	46	10.9%
Director/Teacher	401	88	21.9%
Early Childhood Teacher	469	327	69.7%
Early Childhood Assistant	455	307	67.5%
School-Age Worker	253	64	25.3%
School-Age Assistant	194	26	13.4%

¹Number of centers reporting at least one staff member of the indicated position. See Table 6.
Table should be read: "10.9 percent of centers employing administrative directors had one or more administrative director(s) leave their position in the past two
years."

The percentage of centers experiencing staff turnover in the past two years decreased with regard to turnover in the administrative director and director/teacher positions (10.9 percent and 21.9 percent in 2021 compared to 10.6 percent and 22.3 percent in 2019) and increased for early childhood teacher and assistant positions (69.7 and 67.5 percent in 2021 compared to 67.3 and 64.9 percent in 2019). Centers experiencing turnover in school-age worker and assistant positions saw a decrease (25.3 and 13.4 percent in 2021 compared to 36.4 and 38.8 percent in 2019).

In order to calculate the turnover rate on an individual position level, the number of staff who left in the past two years was compared to the number of employees currently employed. Table 10 display the percentages of employees who left each position within the past two years.

Table 10. Two-year individual position level turnover rate by position

Position	Employees1	Staff Who Left in Past 2 Years	Employee Turnover Rate
Administrative Director	547	57	10.4%
Director/Teacher	650	121	18.6%
Early Childhood Teacher	3,324	1,312	39.5%
Early Childhood Assistant	2,468	1,380	55.9%
School-Age Worker	325	143	44.0%
School-Age Assistant	119	54	45.4%

¹From Table 6
Table should be read: "10.4 percent of administrative directors left their position within the two years preceding the survey."

Individual turnover rates for administrative directors and director/teacher positions showed slight decreases (10.4 and 18.6 percent in 2021 compared to 10.8 and 21.2 percent in 2019). Turnover rates for early childhood teachers and assistants saw a pretty significant increase (39.5 and 55.9 percent in 2021 compared to 32.4 and 46.1 percent in 2019).

Data regarding the two-year turnover rate by position has been collected since the FY 1997 Staffing Salary Survey (although the turnover rates were referred to as "replacement rates" in all surveys prior to FY 2003). Table 11 offers a comparison of these rates from FY 2011-FY 2021.

Table 11. Two-year turnover rate (individual position level) by position: FY 2011-FY 2021

Position	FY 2011	FY 2013	FY 2015	FY 2017	FY 2019	FY 2021
Administrative Director	12%	10%	16%	15%	11%	10%
Director/Teacher	20%	16%	23%	24%	21%	19%
Early Childhood Teacher	25%	26%	27%	34%	32%	40%
Early Childhood Assistant	36%	33%	34%	39%	46%	56%
School-Age Worker	30%	28%	25%	40%	34%	44%
School-Age Assistant	38%	34%	33%	32%	32%	45%

Table should be read: "For every 100 administrative directors working in FY 2021, 10 administrative directors left in the two years preceding the survey."

Turnover rates are the highest they have been in the past 10 years for all positions except for administrative director and director/teacher positions, which remained largely the same or decreased. It should be noted that this data was collected during what would later be known as the Great Resignation as resignation among employees in every sector, though particularly in low paid service industries¹² , have grown to historic levels¹³.  Were this data collected months later, turnover rates would likely be even higher, as these resignation rates had not reached their peak during the collection period for this survey.

¹²Mercer Investment Solutions. 2021. The Truth About What Employees Want: A guide to navigating the hyper-competitive U.S. labor market. (https://www.mercer.us/content/dam/mercer/attachments/private/us-2021-inside-employees-minds-report.pdf)
¹³Society for Human Resources Management. 2021. Interactive Chart: How Historic Has the Great Resignation Been? (https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/interactive-quits-level-by-year.aspx)

Turnover Reasons

In this survey, we first asked how many staff turned over of their own choice and how many were terminated. Directors reported that 17.1 percent of staff that left their program in the past two years did so voluntarily. Directors were then asked, for the staff who left of their own choice, their reason for leaving, to the best of the director's knowledge. Table 8a shows the percent of staff in that position that left for each given reason, based on the director's knowledge. (Percentages will not add to 100 as not all directors specified reasons, and some specified more than one.)

Table 12a. Percentage of staff departures by reason for leaving

Reason for  Leaving	Admin. Director	Director/ Teacher	Early Childhood Teacher	Early Childhood Assistant	School- Age Worker	School- Age Assistant
Dissatisfied with wages or benefits	15.8%	14.0%	25.9%	18.8%	16.8%	7.4%
Dissatisfied with work schedule or availability of hours	5.3%	5.8%	5.4%	4.3%	6.3%	7.4%
Not enough opp. for professional development or growth	0.0%	4.1%	4.0%	2.0%	2.1%	0.0%
Unhappy with job duties	0.0%	5.0%	6.5%	6.4%	4.2%	3.7%
Burnout	7.0%	4.1%	11.4%	4.3%	2.1%	3.7%
Retirement	22.8%	8.3%	3.5%	1.6%	0.7%	1.9%
Personal/family issues	8.8%	15.7%	14.7%	11.2%	10.5%	3.7%
Staying at home with their own children	5.3%	5.0%	9.5%	5.8%	0.0%	1.9%
Unknown/did not share	5.3%	18.2%	7.6%	11.7%	16.1%	5.6%

Table should be read: "Directors reported that 25.9 percent of Early Childhood Teachers that left in the past two years did so because they were dissatisfied with wages or benefits."

It is apparent from Table 12a that the most significant reasons for staff exit were dissatisfaction with wages or benefits; personal or family issues; and burnout. In addition to asking the reason why staff left, directors were asked a follow-up question to determine where the staff that left went - whether they stayed in the field or went into a different field, as shown in Table 12b.

Table 12b. Percentage of staff departures by type of new position

Reason for  Leaving	Admin. Director	Director/ Teacher	Early Childhood Teacher	Early Childhood Assistant	School- Age Worker	School- Age Assistant
Opened their own child care center or family child care home	5.3%	9.9%	0.8%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%
Went to a different child care center	15.8%	10.7%	11.8%	5.7%	1.4%	5.6%
Went to work within the public school system	3.5%	9.9%	6.7%	2.5%	10.5%	0.0%
Found another job within the field of ECE	1.8%	6.6%	5.3%	3.0%	3.5%	0.0%
Found job outside of the ECE field	5.3%	6.6%	15.4%	14.3%	7.7%	11.1%
Moved out of the area	1.8%	4.1%	3.9%	4.5%	4.2%	7.4%
Went back to school	0.0%	1.7%	1.6%	2.5%	7.7%	1.9%
Unknown/did not share	8.8%	20.7%	13.9%	12.9%	11.9%	3.7%

Table should be read: "Directors reported that 11.8 percent of Early Childhood Teachers that left in the past two years went to a different child care center."

While directors did not know what type of position many of the departing staff ended up going to, it seems that administrative directors, director/teachers, and early childhood teachers frequently went to work at different child care centers or in the public school system. Many staff ended up going to work in positions outside of the field of early care and education, especially staff from the early childhood teacher and assistant categories.

In response to the question of staff turnover, directors reported:

"I believe that if we could pay our staff more, we could retain more qualified/quality staff. I feel the majority of people who leave do so because they can make more by working at other locations."

"The turnover has been the worst in the last 6 months. Most are not understanding how much work early childhood is or what we do then quickly realize it is not for them once they are into it a few weeks and leave. Others are looking for the highest paying job then moving on to the next one."

Applicants for Vacant Positions

Directors were asked to respond to a number of items in order to determine how vacant positions are filled, what type of applicants apply, and what attracts applicants to the field.

For each job position, directors were asked to report the number of IDCFS qualified applicants, program qualified applicants (e.g., met qualifications to work in Head Start), and non-qualified applicants who had applied for advertised vacancies within the past two years. Table 13 shows the number of applicants who applied for each position and the percentage of applicants qualified (either IDCFS or program qualified) for the position as reported by the 559 center directors participating in the survey. Comparing these results from those of the 2019 survey, the percentage of non-qualified applicants for director, director/teacher, and early childhood teacher positions increased significantly, while the percentage of qualified applicants for all positions decreased significantly. In FY 2021, 35.8 percent of early childhood teacher applicants were IDCFS-qualified, down from 38.2 percent in 2019. The number of qualified assistant teacher increased from 56.0 percent in 2019 to 58.9 percent in this report.

Table 13. Percentage of applicants by position and qualifications

Qualification Status	Admin. Director	Director/ Teacher	Early Childhood Teacher	Early Childhood Assistant	School-Age Worker	School-Age Assistant
IDCFS-qualified applicants	36.2%	33.5%	35.8%	58.9%	51.8%	75.8%
Program-qualified applicants	5.9%	4.3%	3.8%	7.1%	4.1%	4.2%
Non-qualified applicants	57.9%	62.2%	60.4%	34.0%	44.2%	20.0%
Total applicants	271	797	4,175	3,798	197	120

Table should be read: "36.2 percent of applicants for administrative director openings were IDCFS-qualified."

To document the length of time needed to fill vacant positions, directors were asked to respond to a four-point rating scale of 1 ("Less than one week") to 4 ("More than four weeks"). Directors most often reported that all positions took more than 4 weeks to fill: administrative director (mean = 3.3; n = 55), director/teacher (mean = 3.4; n = 94), early childhood teacher (mean = 3.6; n = 303); early childhood assistant (mean = 3.3; n = 276), school-age worker (mean = 3.4; n = 62), and school-age assistant (mean = 3.4; n = 47).

Directors were also asked, "Has the length of time to fill a vacancy changed over the last two years?" For each staff category, directors were asked to rate any change using a five-point scale¹⁴. The mean rating directors reported are as follows: 4.2 (n = 73) for administrative directors; 4.4 (n = 110) for director/teachers; 4.4 (n = 297) for early childhood teachers; 4.3 (n = 275) for early childhood assistants; 4.3 (n = 99) for school-age workers; and, 4.3 (n = 89) for school-age assistants. While many directors reported that the time to fill a vacancy has stayed the same over the last two years, the majority of directors reported that the time to fill a vacancy for all positions has actually increased by more than 2 weeks compared to just a couple of years ago.

¹⁴Scale: 1 = "Decreased by more than 2 weeks"; 2 = "Decreased by 1-2 weeks"; 3 = "Stayed the same"; 4 = "Increased by 1-2 weeks"; 5 = "Increased by more than 2 weeks"

Directors reported on the ease or difficulty of filling vacancies within the past two years on a five-point rating scale. Their responses are reflected in Table 14.

Table 14. Mean rating1 of difficulty in filling program staff by position

Position	Admin. Director	Director/ Teacher	Early Childhood Teacher	Early Childhood Assistant	School-Age Worker	School-Age Assistant
Mean Rating	4.4 (n=99)	4.6 (n=160)	4.6 (n=337)	4.3 (n=314)	4.4 (n=119)	4.3 (n=102)

¹Scale: 1 = "Very easy"; 2 = "Somewhat easy"; 3 = "Neither easy nor difficult"; 4 = "Somewhat difficult"; 5 = "Very difficult"

Many center directors expressed their concerns with the difficulties they have had finding qualified staff to work in their centers.

"There should be fewer [formal] education requirements for [teachers and teacher assistants]. There are great staff and teachers that do not qualify because they don't have a degree in ECE. Conversely, there are a few not-so-good teachers with an ECE diploma. DCFS should re-evaluate the teachers' and teachers' assistance qualifications."

"The pay does not meet the demands of the job. Teaching in a childcare setting can be stressful and because of the number of staff needed to meet child teacher ratios it is difficult to pay teachers what they are really worth. It is also really hard to find good quality staff. Quality doesn't always mean highly educated."

Hires for Vacant Positions

Directors were asked to identify the number of hires within the last year that met, exceeded, or did not meet IDCFS qualifications for their position as defined in the licensing standards. Table 10 indicates that nearly all hires at least met IDCFS standards. Those least likely to do so were school-age workers or school-age assistants. Administrative directors, director/teachers and early childhood teachers appear to be the most likely to exceed standards as opposed to merely meet them.

Table 15. Percentage of hires in the past year meeting or exceeding IDCFS qualifications

Positions	Met IDCFS Qualifications Responding Centers	Number of Hires	Percent	Exceeded IDCFS Qualifications Responding Centers	Number of Hires	Percent	Did not Meet IDCFS Qualifications Centers	Number of Hires	. Percent
Administrative Director	40	64	58.2%	33	39	35.4%	5	7	6.4%
Director/Teacher	70	243	59.9%	38	149	36.7%	10	14	3.4%
Early Childhood Teacher	213	737	69.1%	96	238	22.3%	33	92	8.6%
Early Childhood Assistant	213	937	78.6%	54	142	11.9%	34	113	9.5%
School-Age Worker	50	85	77.3%	12	16	14.5%	5	9	8.2%
School-Age Assistant	32	67	80.7%	6	9	10.8%	4	7	8.4%

Center directors were asked to compare the qualifications of staff hired within the past two years with the qualifications of staff hired more than two years ago and record their impressions using a five-point scale (see note in Table 16). Table 16 indicates that on average, directors appraised new hires to have similar qualifications as previous hires, which is in keeping with results from the FY 2019 and FY 2017 reports. Prior Salary and Staffing Survey data have revealed most directors to indicate that their new hires were somewhat more qualified. One explanation for this trend over the last three surveys could be that the increase of applicants who meet and exceed

IDCFS qualifications over the past several years are now the norm; therefore, it only appears as if the frequency of qualified applicants is stagnant.

Table 16. Perceived changes in qualifications of new hires in the past two years by position

Position	Responding Centers	Mean1	Median
Administrative Director	85	3.0	3.0
Director/Teacher	126	2.8	3.0
Early Childhood Teacher	295	2.6	3.0
Early Childhood Assistant	281	2.6	3.0
School-Age Worker	108	2.6	3.0
School-Age Assistant	93	2.6	3.0

¹Scale: 1 = "Much less qualified"; 2 = "Somewhat less qualified"; 3 = "Same qualifications"; 4 = "Somewhat more qualified"; 5 = "Much more qualified"

Male Applicants

From providing a male role model for children to helping fathers become more involved in their child's care, males serve a myriad of important functions in early care and education. Directors indicated the number of males who applied for advertised positions within the past two years. Table 12 shows the results.

Table 17. Number of male applicants for vacant positions in the previous two years

Position	Responding Centers	Male Applicants in Past Two Years	Portion of Male Applicants per Open Position
Administrative Director	51	20	7.4%
Director/Teacher	79	34	4.3%
Early Childhood Teacher	268	289	6.9%
Early Childhood Assistant	237	247	6.5%
School-Age Worker	47	29	14.7%
School-Age Assistant	26	14	11.7%
Total	--	633	6.8%

As Table 127shows, the positions of school-age worker and school-age assistant garnered the highest percentage of male applicants. This is consistent with past research which found that a higher percentage of men tend to be employed in afterschool child care than in other child care arenas¹⁵. Overall, the number of male applicants for all positions increased from 6.2 percent in FY 2019 to 6.8 percent as of this report.

Directors were further requested to specify the number of males they had hired within the past two years. Results displayed in Table 18 indicate that at least 10 percent of males who applied for each position were hired, with the exception of administrative director. For positions related to working with school-age children, the percent of male hires out of total male applicants was much higher and over 50 percent. Compared to all applicants for open positions, 0 percent of applicants hired for the position of administrative director were male and less than one percent of director/teacher and early childhood teacher were male. Overall, roughly one percent (1.1 percent) of all new hires were male. The proportion of male hires per open position was generally consistent with the low percentages seen in past reports.

¹⁵Heather Rolfe, "Occupational Segregation Working Paper Series No. 35: Men in Childcare", National Institute of Economic and Social Research, Equal Opportunities Commission, 2005, p. 6

Table 18. Number of male applicants hired for vacant positions in the previous two years

Position	Responding Centers	Male Applicants Hired in Past Two Years	Percent of Male Hires out of Total Male Applicants	Proportion of Male Hires per Open Position
Administrative Director	65	0	0.0%	0.0%
Director/Teacher	91	6	17.6%	0.8%
Early Childhood Teacher	247	31	10.7%	0.7%
Early Childhood Assistant	240	41	16.6%	1.1%
School-Age Worker	56	15	51.7%	7.6%
School-Age Assistant	36	12	85.7%	10.0%
Total	--	105	16.6%	1.1%

Non-English Fluency of Applicants

As expressed previously in this report, the diversity of languages spoken by children in child care centers suggests that centers have staff with which children can effectively communicate in their primary language. Directors were asked to identify primary language information for applicants and hired employees in the past two years, and the results are displayed in Table 19. More than 75 percent of the non-English flue t applicants applied for the position of early childhood teacher or assistant. The proportion of applicants fluent in other languages was higher for administrative director, director/teacher, and school-age worker than in the FY 2019 report.

Table 19. Number of applicants fluent in a language other than English who applied for vacant positions in the previous two years

Position	Responding Centers	Applicants Fluent in Other Language in Past 2 Years	Proportion of Applicants Fluent in Other Language in Past 2 Years
Administrative Director	51	24	8.9%
Director/Teacher	79	71	8.9%
Early Childhood Teacher	268	241	5.8%
Early Childhood Assistant	237	225	5.9%
School-Age Worker	47	18	9.1%
School-Age Assistant	26	11	9.2%
Total	--	590	6.3%

Directors also identified the languages spoken by primarily non-English speaking applicants:

• 104 reported applicants who were fluent in Spanish
• 16 directors reported applicants who were fluent in Hindi/Urdu
• 13 directors reported applicants who were fluent in Polish
• Less than ten directors reported applicants who were fluent in the following languages: Russian, Chinese dialect, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, German, Farsi, French, Hebrew, Arabic, and Other.

Directors were then asked to indicate how many applicants fluent in a non-English language that had been hired as shown in Table 20. The percent of applicants fluent in other languages that were hired decreased from the 36.7 percent reported in FY 2019 to 28.6 percent in this report, which is still a decrease from what had been reported in FY 2017. The overall proportion of applicants fluent in another language hired out of all applicants decreased from 2.9 percent in FY19 to 1.8 percent in this report.

Table 20. Number of applicants fluent in a language other than English who were hired for vacant positions in the previous two years

Position	Responding Centers	Applicants Fluent in Other Language Hired in Past Two Years	Percent of Applicants Fluent in Other Language Hired Out of All Applicants Fluent in Other Language	Proportion Applicants Fluent in Other Language Hired out of All  Applicants
Administrative Director	65	3	12.5%	1.1%
Director/Teacher	91	8	11.3%	1.0%
Early Childhood Teacher	247	74	30.7%	1.8%
Early Childhood Assistant	240	70	31.1%	1.8%
School-Age Worker	56	9	50.0%	4.6%
School-Age Assistant	36	5	45.5%	4.2%
Total	--	169	28.6%	1.8%

Of those directors who reported hiring applicants who were fluent in a non-English language:

• 80 directors reported hiring applicants who were fluent in Spanish
• 11 directors reported hiring applicants who were fluent in Hindi/Urdu
• Less than ten directors reported hiring individuals who were fluent the following languages: Chinese dialect, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Polish, Russian, German, Farsi, Hebrew, French, Arabic, and Other.

Attraction to Child Care Careers and Employment

In order to explore why many are disinclined to child care as a career option, directors were asked to rate a list of potential deterrents on a scale of importance from 1 ("Not Important") to 5 ("Very Important"). "Low Salaries" and "Inadequate Benefits" (both with a median of 5.0 and a mean greater than or close to 4.5) were listed as the top two reasons that deterred people from the field of early care and education. Other reasons which yielded a mean or median of 4.0 or higher were: "Better Career Opportunities in Other Child Care Professions," "Child Care Not Seen as Professional Career", and "Child Care Not Respected as Profession." These results are consistent with previous Salary and Staffing Survey reports and are shown below in Table 21.

Table 21. Reasons applicants not attracted to employment in child care

Reason	Responding Centers	Mean	Median
Career Opportunities Not Known	368	3.2	3.0
Better Career Opportunities in Other Child Care Professions	373	4.2	5.0
Child Care Not Seen as Professional Career	375	4.2	5.0
Low Salaries	377	4.6	5.0
Inadequate Benefits	372	4.5	5.0
Openings Not Advertised	368	2.9	3.0
Child Care Not Respected as a Profession	373	4.2	5.0

Several directors expressed concern about being able to keep qualified staff in the current environment. One shared:

"Low salaries combined with lack of flexible hours and meeting many different regulations have an impact on staff retention. Often qualified candidates change to public school settings for higher salaries. We do not hire teachers or assistants who do not meet the DCFS qualifications, as our license depends on it, but it is hard or next to impossible to hire teachers who meet NAEYC, Head Start or ExceleRate standards."

Center Turnover

Center turnover was measured by drawing data from the statewide provider database on two separate occasions. The number of practitioners actively providing care on June 30, 2019 (June 30 represents the end of a fiscal year) was compared to the number in that same category on June 30, 2021. Table 17 displays the number of providers who are currently providing care, the number of new providers who were added to the database during 2021 and the number of providers who were active in the provider database as of June 30, 2021. As Table 22 shows, there was a decrease in both the number of center providers and total licensed capacity for the two-year period.

Table 22. Provider turnover 2019-2021: Licensed Child Care Centers¹⁶

Provider Turnover	Centers 2019	Lost due to Centers losing	Gained due to Centers Opening	Centers in 2021	Net Change 2019 to 2021
Active Providers	2,973	425	230	2,778	-6.6%
Total Licensed Capacity	244,533	28,612	16,824	232,745	-4.8%

¹⁶INCCRRA transitioned from NACCRRAware to DTP going into FY 2020 and there was a lot of cleanup done between the two systems. Some of the loss of providers was due to that cleanup (e.g., some CCR&Rs had a program listed twice under different names).
INCCRRA transitioned from NACCRRAware to DTP going into FY 2020 and there was a lot of cleanup done between the two systems. Some of the loss of providers was due to that cleanup (e.g., some CCR&Rs had a program listed twice under different names).

 Staff Demographics

In surveys prior to FY 2015, in order to assess staff demographics and understand the effects of the economy on the child care industry, directors were supplied with a supplemental worksheet and asked to complete it for all staff members who were employed either full- or part-time in an IDCFS defined position (director and classroom personnel). These data were the best available information at the time. The launch of the Gateways to Opportunity Registry in July 2009 provided Illinois with a workforce data system that could answer many of these same questions. In September 2012, IDCFS mandated that all licensed child care center and family child care home staff/providers join and maintain current membership in the Gateways Registry. This policy helped to ensure that nearly the entire licensed child care workforce is in the data system. For that reason, the FY 2015 report was the first where the supplemental worksheet was discontinued and administrative data from the Gateways Registry were used to provide results about staff demographics, education, and wages. This FY 2021 report continues with that same methodology.

According to the Gateways Registry, there are 55,534 individuals working in licensed child care centers in Illinois and 48,024 in IDCFS defined positions. Table 23 show the number of child care center employees per IDCFS position as a percent.

Table 23. Number of employees per IDCFS defined position (n = 48,024)

Position	Employees	Percentages
Administrative Director	4,342	9.0%
Director/Teacher	1,679	3.5%
Early Childhood Teacher	22,872	47.6%
Early Childhood Assistant	18,114	37.8%
School-Age Worker	624	1.3%
School-Age Assistant	393	0.8%
Total	48,024	100.0%

For the purposes of this survey full-time employment was defined as 40 hours per week²⁰. (Neither the Illinois Department of Labor nor the federal Fair Labor Standards Act ²¹ distinguishes between part-time and full-time employees.) When completing the Gateways Registry membership form, individuals were asked to indicate the number of hours worked per week. Results indicate that overall, 61.5 percent of listed employees were defined as full-time and 38.5 percent as part-time. Table 24 shows the breakdown of full- and part-time employees by position.

Table 24. Percentage of full-time and part-time employees by position

Position	Full-Time	Part-Time	n
Administrative Director	83.7%	16.3%	3,715
Director/Teacher	68.9%	31.1%	1,436
Early Childhood Teacher	64.1%	35.9%	18,339
Early Childhood Assistant	54.0%	46.0%	15,273
School-Age Worker	41.7%	58.3%	508
School-Age Assistant	17.8%	82.2%	366
Total	61.5%	38.5%	39,637

Table should be read: "83.7 percent of administrative directors were full-time whereas 16.3 percent were part time."

²⁰The work week was defined as 40 hours because the survey delineates a full-day as 8 hours/day.
²¹"The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not define full-time employment or part-time employment. This is a matter generally to be determined by the employer." U.S. Department of Labor, https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/full-time

Education and Credentials

Individuals report their educational achievements in the Gateways Registry and can update their record as they gain more education. In addition, they can also report credentials and certifications they have earned, such as the Professional Educator License (PEL) with an early childhood endorsement ²². The educational requirements necessary to be director or teacher-qualified (see Appendix C) are stipulated in the IDCFS licensing standards for day care centers. In summary, directors can qualify through 64 semester hours of coursework from an accredited college or university [21 semester hours must be directly related to child care (ECE) or child development (CD)], and either a Gateways to Opportunity Level 1 Illinois Director Credential or 3 semester hours of college credit or 3 points of credential approved training in administration, leadership, or management. Similarly, early childhood teachers can either complete 60 semester or 90 quarter hours of coursework from an accredited college or university (six semester or nine quarter hours must be directly related to ECE or CD) or qualify through a combination of education and work experience. Directors of school-age programs and school-age workers are required to have coursework directly related to school-age child care, child development, elementary education, physical education, recreation, camping, or other related fields.

²²Known previously as a Type 04 (early childhood) teaching certificate, the PEL with an early childhood endorsement is granted by the Illinois State Board of Education to educators who have earned a BA degree in early childhood and passed all state exams and requirements to teach in a publicly funded program serving children birth through age eight.

Table 25 shows that over 85 percent of all directors attained some level of college education. A large percent (67.5 percent) had earned their bachelor or master's degree, which are educational milestones that exceed IDCFS licensing standards. Nearly 80 percent of early childhood teachers attained some level of college education; moreover, 19.7 percent had achieved an associate degree and 44.1 percent a bachelor's degree or higher (which also exceeds licensing standards for that position). Of early childhood teachers with a bachelor's degree or higher, 6.6 percent reported having a Professional Educator License (PEL) with an early childhood endorsement.

More than one quarter of early childhood teachers (26.0 percent) had earned a degree in early childhood education or child development (ECE/CD)²³ . 32.7 percent of early childhood assistants and 25.4 percent of school-age assistants had received education beyond a high school or GED degree.

²³This figure is likely under-reported as records that did not have a major listed were coded as "other" for purposes of this analysis

There are also a number of Gateways to Opportunity Credentials that may be earned by individuals working in the field of ECE. These credentials recognize the education, experience, and professional contributions of early childhood practitioners. Gateways Credentials are also a key component of ExceleRate Illinois, the state's Quality Recognition and Improvement System (QRIS). The ExceleRate Circles of Quality, above the Licensed Circle, require that a percentage of personnel have achieved a Gateways Credential.

Table 25. Center staff educational attainment by position (column percentages)

Education Level	Admin. Director	Director/ Teacher	Early Childhood Teacher	Early Childhood Assistant	School- Age Worker	School- Age Assistant	All Positions
High School Diploma/GED	7.4%	7.1%	20.1%	67.3%	49.0%	74.6%	37.1%
CDA, CCP1, or Montessori credential2	0.4%	0.3%	3.1%	1.3%	1.1%	0.6%	2.0%
Some College in ECE/CD3, no degree	4.7%	4.7%	6.2%	2.4%	2.4%	1.2%	4.5%
Some College in other field, no degree	1.1%	0.9%	2.9%	3.7%	3.4%	1.9%	3.0%
Approved Community College ECE Certificate	2.0%	2.4%	3.8%	1.6%	0.4%	0.6%	2.7%
Associate's in ECE/CD	13.9%	24.0%	14.3%	4.2%	4.0%	1.5%	10.6%
Associate's in other field	3.1%	4.7%	5.4%	4.2%	6.3%	5.0%	4.7%
Bachelor's in ECE/CD	13.4%	13.5%	9.6%	0.7%	0.9%	0.6%	6.5%
Bachelor's in other field	29.3%	26.4%	25.6%	12.3%	27.3%	11.8%	20.9%
Master's in ECE/CD	9.0%	5.3%	2.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	2.1%
Master's in other field	15.8%	10.7%	6.8%	2.1%	5.1%	2.2%	5.9%
N	3,945	1,521	20,520	16,342	553	323	43,204

Table should be read, "Out of 3,945 administrative directors for whom education and credential information is available, 15.8 percent had a Master's degree in a field other than early childhood education or child development."
¹CDA is the acronym for Child Development Associate; CCP is the acronym for Child Care Professional
²American Montessori Society or Association Montessori International
³ECE is the acronym for early childhood education; CD is the acronym for child development.
Note: Gateways Credentials may be earned by individuals in other settings (e.g., family child care) or by those no longer working in direct care. The "N" for this table represents only Gateways Credentials attained by individuals in these specified positions within licensed centers.

Table 26. Gateways Credential attainment by position (column percentages)

Position	ECE Credential	Infant/Toddler Credential	Illinois Director Credential
Administrative Director	11.0%	18.3%	65.2%
Director/Teacher	4.7%	7.6%	15.7%
Early Childhood Teacher	54.8%	65.1%	18.4%
Early Childhood Assistant	28.3%	8.7%	0.6%
School-Age Worker	0.9%	0.2%	0.0%
School-Age Assistant	0.3%	0.0%	0.1%
N	19,157	3,445	1,969

Note: Gateways Credentials may be earned by individuals in other settings (e.g., family child care) or by those no longer working in direct care. The "N" for this table represents only Gateways Credentials attained by individuals in these specified positions within licensed centers.

Duration of Employment with Current Employer

In salary and staffing surveys prior to FY 2015, directors were asked to record the number of years of paid experience each staff member had in the field of early care and education. With the change to using administrative data from the Gateways Registry for staff-related data in FY 2015 and present reports, a corresponding data field is not available. The Gateways Registry does collect information on how long individuals have been employed in their current place of employment, based on capturing their start date of employment. Table 27 shows that among all child care practitioners, the average years employed by their current employer was 4.8 years (median = 2.3 years). Administrative directors have been employed in the same program for longer than early childhood teachers and school-age workers, who in turn have been employed longer than early childhood and school-age assistants.

Table 27. Number of years employed by current employer

Position	Mean	Median	n	Range
Administrative Director	9.8	6.6	4,342	0.0-55.2
Director/Teacher	9.2	6.5	1,679	0.0-47.0
Early Childhood Teacher	5.1	2.8	22,868	0.0-45.8
Early Childhood Assistant	2.7	1.4	18,113	0.0-47.9
School-Age Worker	4.1	1.8	624	0.0-48.2
School-Age Assistant	2.2	1.4	393	0.0-18.8
Total	4.8	2.3	48,019	0.0-55.2

Salary and Wages

Salary Scale

As part of the main survey instrument (online and paper), directors were asked "Do you have a salary scale that you share with your staff?" Of the 469 directors who responded to this item, 45.4 percent (n = 213) indicated that they did. When asked how salary scales were differentiated.

• 62.0 percent (n = 291) of 469 respondents reported a salary scale differentiated by level of education,
• 55.7 percent (n = 261) of 469 respondents reported a salary scale differentiated by level of experience,
• 27.7 percent (n = 130) of 469 respondents reported a salary scale differentiated by attainment of an industry-recognized credential (other than a Gateways Credential), such as a CDA or professional educator license (PEL),
• 29.4 percent (n = 138) of 469 respondents reported a salary scale differentiated by attainment of a Gateways Credential,
• 10.9 percent (n = 51) of 469 respondents reported a salary scale differentiated by additional or supplemental training, and
• 6.4 percent (n = 30) of 469 respondents reported a salary scale differentiated on some other basis. Other Salary scales were based on length of employment/years of service, union contracts, pay grades set by campus/college human resources, job title/position description, minimum wage, responsibility, performance, and seniority.

Hourly Wage by Position

As part of the Gateways Registry, individuals have the option to report their hourly wages and/or annual salary with their employment data. The average hourly wage for all employees (n = 32,887 employees) was $14.61 (median = $13.50) (F = 1808.86, p < .001). Table 28 depicts hourly wages by position. Reports prior to FY 2015 also collected wage data, but it was provided by the director completing the survey on behalf of their staff. Caution should be exercised if comparing data from reports from FY 2015 forward.

Table 28. Hourly wage by position

Position	Mean	Median	n
Admin. Director	$22.58	$19.00	2,475
Director/Teacher	$17.69	$16.00	1,145
Early Childhood Teacher	$15.20	$14.29	15,416
Early Childhood Assistant	$12.27	$12.00	13,128
School-Age Worker	$12.91	$13.00	408
School-Age Assistant	$11.76	$11.50	315

Table 28 also indicates that early childhood assistants and school-age assistants received lower wages than staff in other positions. Typically, these are positions in early childhood that require less education and experience to enter and yield compensation to match. The median hourly wages earned by early childhood assistants and school-age assistants were $12.00 and $11.50 respectively (the minimum wage in Illinois is $11.00).²⁴

²⁴"Minimum Wage Law", Illinois Department of Labor, https://www2.illinois.gov/idol/Pages/default.aspx  

Comparison of Hourly Wages from FY 2013-FY 2021

The mean hourly wages for the positions of director/teacher, early childhood teacher, and early childhood assistant are compared over time. These figures have not been adjusted for inflation. The average hourly wage for administrative directors and early childhood teachers and assistants saw an increase compared to the wages in FY 2017 and FY 2019. The average hourly wages for administrative directors have steadily increased²⁵. Still, as far as the consumer price index goes, administrative directors would need to earn $23.44 per hour, early childhood teachers $14.67 per hour, and early childhood assistants $12.39 per hour in 2021 to have the same buying power as $20.06, $12.55, and $10.60 had back in 2013²⁶. Child care center staff wages have generally not kept up with inflation, with the exception of early childhood teachers whose wages have actually been seen to grow beyond inflation.

²⁵The decrease in hourly wage compared to 2013 may be attributed to the fact that from 2015 forward analysis has been based on administrative data from the ²⁶Gateways Registry, which is a considerably larger population than what was represented by previous surveys. In addition, the 2015 report had those in the role of "director/teacher" grouped in with administrative directors, which may have artificially lowered the wages.
CPI Inflation Calculator: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

The salary data from the Gateways Registry can be compared to the most current Occupational Employment Statistics (OES), compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)²⁷. Although the data may not be strictly comparable, the national figures provide some context for interpreting the hourly wage of child care personnel in Illinois.

²⁷From "May 2020 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates: Illinois", Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_il.htm

Three categories are primarily used by the BLS to include various child care positions. The categories are listed below, along with the descriptions provided on the BLS website. The mean and median hourly wages specified by the BSL are also included, followed in parenthesis by the mean and median hourly wages from Table 28.

Depending on the responsibilities of an assistant teacher, the position could fall under either the BLS category of Teacher Assistants or Child Care Workers.

• • Category 3 (25-9045): Teacher Assistants. Description of position: "Perform duties that are instructional in nature… and serve in a position for which a teacher has ultimate responsibility for the design and implementation of educational programs and services." As of May 2020, the mean hourly wage for an assistant teacher was $14.32. ²⁸

²⁸The annual mean wage listed in BLS was used to derive the hourly mean wage for Teacher Assistants. Comparison of median hourly wages are not available.

Hourly Wage by Full- Versus Part-Time Status

Summing across all staff positions with wage data available (n = 32,887 employees), hourly wages are higher for full-time compared to part-time employees. Full-time employees averaged $15.26 per hour compared to $13.59 per hour for part-time staff. The median hourly wage for full-time staff was $14.00 and part-time staff was $13.00 per hour (F = 311.24, p < .001). Table 29 shows the breakdown of hourly wages by position and employment status. The findings across all positions show that staff make more per hour when employed on a full-time versus part-time basis.

Table 29. Hourly wages by position by full- vs. part-time status

Position	Employment Status Full-Time Mean	Median	n	Employment Status Part-Time Mean	Median	n
Administrative Director	$23.37	$19.50	2,010	$19.06	$16.21	447
Director/Teacher	$18.30	$16.12	761	$16.44	$15.00	373
Teacher	$15.37	$14.50	9,641	$14.80	$14.00	5,471
Assistant Teacher	$12.50	$12.00	6,945	$11.99	$11.50	5,885
School-Age Worker	$13.27	$13.00	172	$12.62	$12.48	232
School-Age Assistant	$12.21	$11.38	60	$11.42	$11.42	250

Staff Experience and Education

Table 30 (n = 32,882; F = 6.13, p < .001) reveals that higher wages accompany increased years of employment with the same employer. Table 31 shows wages typically increase as level of education increases.

Table 30. Hourly wages by years employed with current employer by position (n = 32,882)

Years Employed	Admin. Director	Director/ Teacher	Early Childhood Teacher	Early Childhood Assistant	School- Age Worker	School- Age Assistant
0-2 years- Mean	$22.69	$17.06	$14.87	$12.10	$12.65	$11.59
Median	$18.00	$15.00	$14.00	$12.00	$13.00	$11.42
n	797	378	8,327	10,100	265	260
3-5 years- Mean	$21.89	$17.67	$15.09	$12.53	$12.64	$12.56
Median	$18.00	$15.80	$14.28	$12.00	$11.84	$11.00
n	493	214	3,297	1,793	75	31
6-9 years- Mean	$21.99	$17.38	$15.57	$13.07	$13.53	$12.53
Median	$19.00	$16.00	$14.50	$12.50	$12.60	$12.00
n	393	199	1,754	620	28	17
10-15 years -Mean	$22.24	$18.05	$15.81	$13.31	$14.07	$12.64
Median	$19.23	$16.00	$15.00	$13.00	$13.38	$12.06
n	361	167	1,063	354	22	4
16-20 years- Mean	$23.88	$19.07	$16.70	$13.59	$14.51	$12.45
Median	$20.00	$17.35	$15.50	$13.00	$13.25	$13.00
n	189	89	480	137	7	3
21+years- Mean	$24.07	$18.89	$17.53	$14.68	$16.27	-
Median	$21.00	$17.63	$16.15	$14.25	$16.45	-
n	242	98	491	123	11	-

Note: Statistics for which there were fewer than three observations were deleted.

Table 31. Hourly wages by education by position (n = 29,587)

Level of Education	Admin. Director	Director/ Teacher	Early Childhood Teacher	Early Childhood Assistant	School- Age Worker	School- Age Assistant	All Positions
High School/GED - Mean	$18.44	$16.02	$13.34	$11.65	$12.08	$11.57	$12.21
Median	$15.00	$14.45	$13.00	$11.00	$12.00	$11.00	$12.00
n	193	81	2,831	8,091	183	197	11,576
Child Development Associate - Mean	$14.56	$15.63	$13.73	$13.22	$18.50	-	$13.66
Median	$15.25	$15.63	$13.75	$13.43	$15.00	-	$13.60
n	8	2	437	147	5	-	601
Some College in ECE/CD, no degree - Mean	$21.70	$19.33	$13.92	$13.13	$14.29	$11.17	$14.69
Median	$18.12	$16.50	$13.75	$13.00	$13.82	$12.00	$14.00
n	121	50	832	271	10	3	1,287
Some College in other field, no degree - Mean	$17.28	$14.88	$13.54	$11.93	$12.32	$10.90	$12.82
Median	$15.50	$14.03	$13.50	$11.50	$12.68	$11.00	$12.50
n	27	10	382	449	11	5	884
Approved Community College ECE Certificate - Mean	$20.00	$15.06	$14.39	$13.49	-	-	$14.59
Median	$17.45	$14.50	$14.00	$13.00	-	-	$14.00
n	55	28	539	185	-	-	809
Associate's in ECE/CD - Mean	$20.08	$16.09	$14.82	$15.21	$13.37	$11.50	$15.57
Median	$17.36	$15.00	$14.50	$15.00	$12.50	$11.00	$15.00
n	355	277	2,061	411	18	5	3,127
Associate's in other field - Mean	$18.26	$17.19	$14.02	$12.46	$12.64	$11.85	$13.77
Median	$17.00	$15.00	$13.75	$12.00	$12.79	$12.00	$13.25
n	77	49	790	509	17	12	1,454
Bachelor's in ECE/CD-Mean	$23.88	$19.09	$18.18	$15.67	-	-	$19.09
Median	$20.00	$17.00	$16.47	$15.70	-	-	$16.88
n	287	137	1,188	80	-	-	1,695
Bachelor's in other field - Mean	$23.87	$18.17	$16.35	$14.18	$14.08	$14.02	$16.67
Median	$20.00	$16.00	$15.00	$14.00	$14.00	$14.12	$15.00
n	663	248	3,600	1,476	98	27	6,112
Master's in ECE/CD - Mean	$28.14	$24.18	$22.78	$16.53	-	-	$24.47
Median	$25.00	$18.37	$18.65	$16.75	-	-	$20.00
n	170	42	248	23	-	-	484
Master's in other field - Mean	$25.90	$19.66	$17.53	$13.94	$15.56	$12.78	$18.63
Median	$22.65	$17.00	$15.50	$13.19	$15.00	$13.00	$16.00
n	290	109	891	245	18	5	1,558

Note: Statistics for which there were fewer than three observations were deleted.

Just as Table 30 demonstrates a logical pattern between hourly wage and number of years employed at the same program (generally, the longer one is employed at a site, the more one will get paid), Table 23 displays the logical pattern between hourly wage and education. Specifically, increased education and experience typically lead to higher hourly wages. In Table 23 (n = 29,587; F = 694.12, p < .001), educational levels are defined by degree earned and the major field of study. For early childhood teachers and assistant teachers, those who hold a degree (associate, bachelor's, master's) in early childhood education (ECE) or child development (CD) earn significantly more than those who hold the same degree but in another field or major (p < .001).

Center Characteristics and Hourly Wage

Using administrative data on program quality from the DTP, variables were created to indicate the national accreditation and ExceleRate Illinois rating status of licensed child care center programs with staff in the Gateways Registry. These variables were examined in combination with wage data to determine whether there were any significant differences in wages between participating and non-participating programs.

Accredited centers could hold accreditation from one of several early care and education associations: the National Association for the Education of Young Children Accreditation, the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation, the Association for Early Learning Leaders, and the Council of Accreditation for School-Age Care. A center was considered accredited if they had one or more of the former accreditations. Table 32 demonstrates that, overall, without regard to position, there was a significant difference in the wages paid by accredited versus non-accredited centers. Accredited centers paid staff significantly more (mean = $15.32; median = $14.00) than non-accredited centers (mean = $14.40; median = $13.50) (F = 141.26, p < .001).

Table 32. Hourly wages by position by accreditation status

Position	Accreditation Status Not Accredited Mean	Median	n	Accreditation Status Accredited Mean	Median	n
Administrative Director	$21.74	$18.08	2,006	$26.18	$22.00	469
Director/Teacher	$17.45	$15.50	1,046	$20.13	$17.00	99
Early Childhood Teacher	$14.89	$14.00	11,548	$16.14	$15.00	3,868
Early Childhood Assistant	$12.18	$12.00	10,097	$12.57	$12.00	3,031
School-Age Worker	$12.62	$12.00	308	$13.82	$13.92	100
School-Age Assistant	$11.75	$12.00	243	$11.80	$11.00	72

The ExceleRate Illinois QRIS recognizes program quality achievements of child care providers. The system has Circles of Quality which providers can achieve by meeting required criteria for each circle. Licensed child care centers who have earned the Gold Circle of Quality have reached the highest level of ExceleRate²⁹. Hourly wage and position of employees in the Gateways Registry were compared to the level of ExceleRate participation the employee's center had reached.

²⁹See the ExceleRate^TM Illinois website for more information.

Table 33. Hourly wages by position by ExceleRate Illinois participation status

Category	Adm. Director Mean	Adm. Director Median	Adm. Director n	Director/ Teacher Mean	Director/ Teacher Median	Director/ Teacher n	Early Childhood Teacher Mean	Early Childhood Teacher Median	Early Childhood Teacher n	Early Childhood Assistant Mean	Early Childhood Assistant Median	Early Childhood Assistant n
Licensed	$22.25	$18.75	1,962	$17.51	$15.50	962	$15.18	$14.42	11,358	$12.29	$12.00	9,765
Bronze	$22.74	$18.04	64	$19.22	$16.00	39	$14.34	$13.85	420	$11.79	$11.50	321
Silver	$21.49	$18.00	199	$16.81	$15.99	76	$14.35	$14.00	1,383	$11.62	$11.00	1,079
Gold	$25.96	$21.63	250	$20.26	$17.42	68	$15.98	$14.69	2,255	$12.65	$12.00	1,963

There was an overall significant difference in the wages paid by ExceleRate participating versus non-ExceleRate participating licensed child care centers (F = 28.77, p < .001), with wages being highest in programs with a Gold Circle of Quality. It was noted that geographic region of the centers might drive some higher Circles of Quality to have lower average salaries than lower Circles of Quality. Central Illinois has more centers with Silver Circle of Quality than Gold, Bronze, and Licensed; and there are more Northern Illinois counties in the Licensed, Bronze, and Gold Circles of Quality.

Not-for-profit programs paid a significantly higher hourly wage than for-profit programs. Not-for-profit staff averaged $22.12 (median = $18.35) per hour as compared to for-profit staff who averaged $19.18 per hour (median = $17.00) (F = 156.07, p < .001). Table 34 depicts hourly wage by position and legal status (for profit vs. non-profit).

Table 34. Hourly wages by position by center profit status (n = 6,865)

Position	Profit Status For Profit Mean	Median	n	Profit Status Not For Profit Mean	Profit Status Not For Profit Median	n
Administrative Director	$20.75	$17.63	296	$23.47	$19.92	182
Director/Teacher	$16.01	$15.00	152	$18.88	$16.00	89
Early Childhood Teacher	$14.13	$13.67	2,082	$15.34	$14.00	1,207
Early Childhood Assistant	$11.81	$11.25	1,934	$12.19	$11.25	802
School-Age Worker	$12.01	$11.00	40	$12.69	$11.84	23
School-Age Assistant	$10.98	$11.00	38	$12.39	$11.06	20

One of the primary functions of the survey is to calculate the mean and median hourly wage by region. CCR&R Service Delivery Areas (SDAs) are used here to define the word "region". The mean and median hourly wages earned by all IDCFS defined positions by SDA are presented in Table 35.

Table 35. Hourly wages by position by Service Delivery Area (SDA) (n = 32,887)

SDA Number with CCR&R Office Location	Admin. Director Mean	Median	n	Director/ Teacher Mean	Median	n	Early Childhood Teacher Mean	Median	n	Early Childhood Assistant Mean	Median	n	School- Age Worker Mean	Median	n	School- Age Assistant Mean	Median	n
1.Rockford	$20.52	$17.82	44	$19.05	$17.28	22	$13.56	$13.14	319	$10.77	$10.75	205	$12.18	$11.90	6	$10.16	$10.00	4
2.DeKalb	$23.58	$19.04	84	$17.60	$16.81	40	$13.89	$14.00	707	$11.24	$11.00	426	$11.66	$12.00	8	$9.98	$10.00	11
3.Gurnee	$23.78	$20.00	146	$20.20	$17.32	63	$15.48	$15.00	1,004	$12.40	$12.00	693	$13.30	$13.00	14	$12.11	$12.00	13
4.Addison	$24.70	$20.00	288	$19.44	$16.99	94	$15.80	$15.00	2,105	$12.33	$12.00	1,410	$13.74	$14.00	33	$12.06	$12.25	31
5.Joliet	$21.08	$18.00	192	$17.43	$16.00	72	$14.15	$14.00	1,224	$11.27	$11.00	952	$11.12	$11.00	40	$10.27	$10.00	14
6.Chicago	$23.81	$20.00	1,149	$18.58	$16.50	518	$16.89	$15.20	6,255	$13.67	$13.50	5,799	$14.54	$14.00	183	$12.85	$13.00	155
7.Moline	$18.13	$16.28	50	$16.95	$15.13	22	$12.16	$11.76	334	$10.19	$10.00	291	$11.75	$11.00	9	$11.50	$11.00	5
8.Peoria	$22.20	$19.00	82	$16.94	$15.36	48	$12.99	$12.50	621	$10.62	$10.50	455	$10.83	$10.50	23	$10.57	$10.50	8
9.Bloomington	$21.36	$18.63	34	$14.57	$14.00	9	$13.38	$12.50	219	$10.18	$10.00	337	$10.56	$9.88	6	$10.16	$10.00	17
10.Urbana	$19.85	$17.00	75	$16.03	$15.00	25	$13.73	$13.25	508	$11.17	$11.00	492	$11.12	$11.00	17	$10.61	$10.50	7
11.Charleston	$19.34	$17.30	16	$15.56	$15.13	18	$12.04	$12.00	121	$10.71	$10.25	88	-	-	-	$9.98	$9.95	3
12.Quincy	$16.90	$17.56	26	$15.85	$13.15	10	$13.07	$12.65	177	$10.64	$10.30	91	$11.12	$10.63	7	$9.09	$9.00	4
13.Springfield	$18.30	$16.00	63	$15.55	$14.63	38	$12.55	$12.23	420	$10.32	$10.00	443	$10.21	$10.00	15	$9.54	$9.50	7
14.Granite City	$18.35	$15.68	136	$14.32	$13.25	99	$12.41	$11.75	839	$10.18	$10.00	948	$11.12	$1.00	29	$10.31	$10.00	23
15.Mt Vernon	$18.50	$15.75	42	$14.28	$13.88	40	$11.88	$11.47	257	$10.29	$10.00	258	$11.05	$11.50	7	$9.91	$9.44	7
16.Carterville	$18.66	$16.75	48	$15.43	$15.00	27	$12.39	$11.50	305	$10.43	$10.00	240	$10.96	$10.50	9	$9.99	$10.22	6

Note: Statistics for which there were fewer than three observations were deleted. Also, it should be noted that the Illinois minimum wage as of Jan 1, 2021 was $11, up from $9.25 in 2020. Any wages noted below this level may be the result of a lag in wage updates on the Gateways to Opportunity Registry.

Several directors commented about the inadequate salaries offered to child care personnel:

"Wage compression has become a major issue with minimum wage increasing $2.75/hour over the past two years. Adjusting all wages at the same rate was not financially manageable. Public funding is the only way child care and early childhood programs will be able to keep up with minimum wage and pay qualified teachers a livable and equitable wage."

"In daycare centers we have a hard time being competitive in pay against multi-million-dollar companies that can offer more pay, health insurance and so much more. A lot of people don't understand the importance of early childhood education and therefore don't believe that they should be paid that much. Honestly, I think it's one of the hardest positions to do and the teachers who work so hard raising other people's children should be paid for their hard work."

Benefits

Directors were asked about the types of benefits available to their employees. Beginning with FY 2017, the survey included an expanded list of benefits to get a more complete picture of what is offered in licensed center-based settings. In addition, the question was asked regarding benefits offered to full-time staff vs. part-time staff. As Table 36 shows, over 90 percent of responding centers offered paid holidays and vacation to its full-time employees. Additionally, over three-fourths offered paid sick days. In terms of wage increases, about three-fourths of centers offered periodic increases in wages based on performance and educational attainment, while nearly two-thirds offered yearly cost-of-living increases. About three-quarters offered free or reduced fee child care to their employees and close to 80 percent offered payment or reimbursement for educational or training expenses³⁰. While over half of the responding centers offer health insurance and retirement plans/pensions, less than half offer dental insurance or life insurance. Table 37 shows the benefits offered to part-time staff.

³⁰Professionalizing the early childhood field and workforce is supported by various state initiatives. Center-paid educational stipends help staff meet their IDCFS requirement of 15 training hours per calendar year as well as assist centers to meet qualifications for an ExceleRate Circle of Quality. Some educational opportunities can be reimbursed through Professional Development and Improvement Funds. Money is also available through the Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program to help child care practitioners meet their educational goals.

Table 36. Benefits offered to full-time staff

Benefit	Programs Responding	Programs Offering Benefits	% Programs Offering benefits
Paid Personal/ Vacation Days	422	386	91.5%
Paid Holidays	420	384	91.4%
Paid Sick Days	401	338	84.3%
Payment/Reimbursement for Educational or Training Expenses	394	307	77.9%
Wage Increase for Educational Advance	395	299	75.7%
Reduced Child Care Fees	398	300	75.4%
Performance-Based Wage Increases	396	295	74.5%
Paid Time Off For Training	397	291	73.3%
Cost-Of-Living Wage Increases	382	242	63.4%
Wage Increase for Credential Attainment	381	236	61.9%
Health Insurance	382	200	52.4%
Retirement or Pension Plan	378	191	50.5%
Formal Mentoring/Coaching	372	174	46.8%
Dental Insurance	376	169	44.9%
Life Insurance	369	160	43.4%
Disability Insurance	366	144	39.3%
Free Child Care	370	98	26.5%

Table 37. Benefits offered to part-time staff

Benefit	Programs Responding	Programs Offering Benefits	% Programs Offering benefits
Wage Increase for Educational Advance	373	254	68.1%
Performance-Based Wage Increases	373	241	64.6%
Payment/Reimbursement for Educational or Training Expenses	375	227	60.5%
Cost-Of-Living Wage Increases	369	215	58.3%
Reduced Child Care Fees	384	222	57.8%
Wage Increase for Credential Attainment	365	207	56.7%
Paid Time Off For Training	374	205	54.8%
Pay Holidays	382	187	49.0%
Formal Mentoring/Coaching	366	172	47.0%
Paid Sick Days	376	176	46.8%
Paid Personal/ Vacation Days	379	174	45.9%
Retirement or Pension Plan	359	90	25.1%
Life Insurance	353	63	17.8%
Disability Insurance	354	56	15.8%
Free Child Care	362	53	14.6%
Health Insurance	357	46	12.9%
Dental Insurance	356	42	11.8%

Many directors commented on the difficulty providing benefits to their employees:

"Small centers have no way to provide monetary benefits, such as insurance, because we cannot bring in that much above operating expenses. It would be fabulous if all small centers could have a group type insurance plan for early childhood educators, at reduced costs."

"It's really difficult to find staff that will stay without any affordable benefits to offer. I'm a single center with a wonderful reputation for child care and education, but none of us have medical benefits let alone vision or dental insurance. It's a problem."

Profile of Family Child Care Home Providers: Key Findings

A total of 6,248 IDCFS licensed family child care and group providers were invited to complete the FY 2021 Salary and Staffing Survey. A total of 1,279 surveys (for a response rate of 20.5 percent) were completed: 1,246 surveys were completed online; 33 were completed in the form of a paper document. Table 238 presents the response rates by CCR&R service delivery area (SDA) (see Appendix B).There may be a discrepancy in the number of responses for each question because not all respondents answered every question. An "n" will be used to signify the number of responses to an item.

Completed Surveys

Table 38. Survey return rates by Service Delivery Area: Licensed Family Child Care Homes

Service Delivery Area	CCR&R Main Office Location	Providers	Surveys Completed	Percentage of Surveys Completed
SDA 1	Rockford	338	61	18.0%
SDA 2	DeKalb	257	41	16.0%
SDA 3	Gurnee	422	143	33.9%
SDA 4	Addison	274	59	21.5%
SDA 5	Joliet	319	46	14.4%
SDA 6	Chicago	2,642	552	20.9%
SDA 7	Moline	254	43	16.9%
SDA 8	Peoria	146	28	19.2%
SDA 9	Bloomington	141	29	20.6%
SDA 10	Urban	417	60	14.4%
SDA 11	Charleston	81	22	27.2%
SDA 12	Quincy	204	33	16.2%
SDA 13	Springfield	252	58	23.0%
SDA 14	Granite City	275	60	21.8%
SDA 15	Mt. Vernon	146	27	18.5%
SDA 16	Carterville	98	17	17.3%
Totals	--	6,248	1,279	20.5%

Demographics

Gender

Nearly all of the family child care practitioners who completed this item on the survey were female (98.9 percent; 1,018 of 1,029 respondents).

Age

Family child care practitioners were asked to identify their age. The preponderance of respondents were 30 years or older. The most frequently reported range of age was 50-59 years. The least frequently reported range of age was "under 20 years" (IDCFS requires all "caregivers" in a day care home to be 18 or older) and was closely followed by the age range of 20-29 years of age. The category "60 years or over" accounted for 28.4 percent of all respondents.

Table 39. Respondents' age (n = 1,030)

Age Range*	n	Percentage
Under 20 years	2	0.2%
20-29 years	8	0.8%
30-39 years	84	8.2%
40-49 years	221	21.5%
50-59 years	422	41.0%
60 years or over	293	28.4%

*The question asked was "How old are you?"

Ethnicity

Practitioners were asked to self-identify their race/ethnicity. Table 40 displays 34.5 percent of family child care providers self-identified as "Caucasian/White", 34.4 percent as "African-American/Black", and 27.5 percent self-identified as "Hispanic/Latino." When compared to population data in Illinois, African Americans/Blacks are over-represented among licensed family child care home practitioners³¹.

Table 40. Respondents' race/ethnicity (n = 1,030)

Race/Ethnicity	n	Percentage
Caucasian/White	355	34.5%
African American	354	34.4%
Hispanic/Latino	283	27.5%
Other	16	1.6%
Multi-Racial	12	1.2%
Asian/Pacific Islander	7	0.7%
Native American	3	0.3%

³¹According to 2020 data from the Census Bureau https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/IL,US/POP010220  14.6 percent of the state population self-identified race/ethnicity as African American and 17.5 percent of the state population self-identified race/ethnicity as Hispanic or Latino.

Respondents were also asked to identify their primary language. The majority of respondents (73.6 percent; n = 758) indicated that their primary language was English. As to the extent of other primary languages reported for the 26.4 percent of providers who spoke a language other than English, the primary language spoken was Spanish. Out of the 1,030 reporting providers, 25.5 percent (n = 263) indicated their primary language was Spanish, and 1.9 percent (n = 20) indicated their primary language was another language. The additional languages providers listed included Hindu/Urdu, Polish, Hebrew, Korean, Russian, French, Arabic, Italian, Nepali and Yoruba.

Experience

As a way of capturing longevity in family child care, practitioners were asked the length of time they had been paid to provide child care in their homes. The average length of time reported by providers was 17.4 years (n = 1,025; median = 17.00 years; range = 0 to 52 years).

There is often movement within the field of child care; therefore, practitioners were asked whether they were previously employed in other child care and education settings (i.e., child carcenter or public school). Out of the 1,027 responding practitioners, 26.6 percent (n = 273) had worked in another child care and education setting for an average of 7.8 years (median = 5.0 years; range = 1 to 51 years).

Education

For the analysis on the highest level of education held by family child care providers, administrative data were pulled from the Gateways to Opportunity Registry at the time when the survey was administered. Table 41 display the frequency of educational attainment by the licensed family child care providers active in the Gateways Registry as of March 1, 2021.

Table 41. Education level of licensed family child care providers (n = 6,355)

Educational Level	n	Percentage
High School Diploma/GED	3,418	53.8%
Child Development Associate	94	1.5%
Some college in ECE/CD*, no degree	231	3.6%
Some college in other field, no degree	331	5.2%
Approved Community College ECE Certificate	178	2.8%
Associate's in ECE/CD	574	9.0%
Associate's in other field	358	5.6%
Bachelor's in ECE/CD	150	2.4%
Bachelor's in other field	722	11.4%
Master's or higher in ECE/CD	60	0.9%
Master's or higher in other field	239	3.8%

After January 1, 2011, all new licensed family child care providers were required to have proof of a high school diploma or an equivalent certificate. This mandate is waived for family child care providers already licensed prior to the first day of 2011. Less than half of respondents reported an education level beyond a high school diploma or GED; 14.6 percent reported they had an Associate's degree, 13.8 percent indicated they had a Bachelor's degree, and 4.7 percent indicated that they had a Master's degree or higher. Out of the 11,653 family child care providers in the dataset, 2.1 percent reported to the Gateways Registry that they had earned their Professional Educator License (PEL) with an early childhood endorsement³².

³²Known previously as a Type 04 (early childhood) teaching certificate, the PEL with an early childhood endorsement is granted by the Illinois State Board of .

Per the online search tool at http://www.nafcc.org, there are 1,029 NAFCC Accredited providers and 133 (12.9 percent) are from Illinois

Accreditation and ExceleRate Illinois Status

Utilizing information from DTP, variables were created to indicate the accreditation and ExceleRate Illinois status of family child care home providers who participated in the Salary and Staffing Survey. In FY 2021, 2.2 percent (n = 28) of family child care providers responding to the Salary and Staffing Survey were accredited through the National Association for Family Child Care Providers (NAFCC)³³, the primary national accrediting body for family child care homes.

³³Education to educators who have earned a BA degree in early childhood and passed all state exams and requirements to teach in a publicly funded program serving children birth through age eight.

In addition, all of the 1,279 responding family child care providers participated in ExceleRate Illinois. The Circles of Quality represented by survey respondents were:

• 88.7 percent (n = 1,134) were at the Licensed Circle of Quality
• 5.7 percent (n= 73) were at the Bronze Circle of Quality
• 4.9 percent (n = 63) were at the Silver Circle of Quality
• 0.7 percent (n = 9) were at the Gold Circle of Quality

According to the survey sample, participation in ExceleRate at a level higher than the Licensed Circle of Quality was significantly associated with achievement of NAFCC Accreditation (p < .001, Fisher's exact test) such that 9.6 percent of non-accredited providers were also participating in ExceleRate at a level higher than the Licensed Circle of Quality whereas 89.3 percent of NAFCC accredited providers were participating in ExceleRate at a level higher than the Licensed Circle of Quality.

Demographics of Children Served

Providers were asked to report upon the demographics of the children and families they serve. They were asked to estimate the number of children from each ethnic group and the number of second language learners in their care. Table 42 presents the mean proportions of children from each ethnic group reported by respondents

Table 42: Demographics of children served by race/ethnicity (n = 3,139)

Child Race/Ethnicity	n	Mean	Median	Range*
African American/Black	3,139	22.5%	9.1%	0-100%
Asian/Pacific Islander	3,139	4.3%	0.0%	0-50%
Caucasian/White	3,139	25.1%	12.5%	0-100%
Hispanic/Latino	3,139	82.4%	100.0%	0-100%
Native American	3,139	4.1%	0.0%	0-90.9%
Multi-Racial	3,139	9.5%	0.0%	0-66.7%
Other	3,139	9.1%	0.0%	0-100%

*The table should be read "On average, homes served 22.5% African American/Black children, with a median of 9.1%, and anywhere from 0 to 100 percent."

Practitioners were asked to report whether or not they had English language learners (ELL) enrolled in their programs. Of 1,272 respondents to this question, 26.3 percent (n = 335) indicated they had English language learners enrolled in their programs. Of those with ELLs, 87.4 percent (n= 292) reported having children whose primary language was Spanish as ELLs in their programs. Many other languages were represented in the sample, each with less than ten providers serving children who are ELLs of a particular language such as: Arabic, Chinese dialects, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi/Urdu, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian, and Vietnamese.

Professional Development

Program Awareness and Participation

Providers were asked about their awareness of professional development opportunities and programs available in Illinois.

• Nearly all (99.6 percent; n = 1,025 of 1,029) knew of the Gateways to Opportunity Registry.
• More than three quarters (84.2 percent; n = 839 of 996) knew of the Great START Program.
  • 16.3 percent of family child care homes (n = 208 of 1,279) had at least one Great START recipient in the past two years. Those 208 programs had a total of 219 recipients.
• Approximately the same (84.6 percent; n = 840 of 993) had heard of the Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program.
  • 3.9 percent (n = 50 of 1,279) of family child care programs had at least one Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship participant for a total of 58 participants.
• Over 80 percent (90.6 percent; n = 911 of 1,006) knew of Gateways to Opportunity Credentials.
• Over half (54.1 percent; n = 511 of 944) knew of the Professional Development Advisor Program.
• Over 80 percent (88.4 percent; n = 879 of 994) knew of ExceleRate Illinois.
• Almost two-thirds of participants (66.4 percent; n = 644 of 970) had heard of the consultant/specialist (e.g. Mental Health Consultant, Quality Specialist, Infant/Toddler Specialist) services offered by the CCR&Rs.
• Over 80 percent (89.9 percent; n = 885 of 984) knew of the online training opportunities available through the Gateways i-learning System.

Training and Training Opportunities

Licensing standards require family child care practitioners to have a minimum of fifteen training hours per year. Generally, respondents exceeded this minimum. Family child care providers reported devoting 20.9 hours to workshops or conference training in the last year (n = 1,084; median = 15.0 hours; range = 0-275 hours).

The content of training can vary in its relevance to early care and education (ECE). Family child care providers were asked where they received their training within the past year. Table 43 reports the results. In this survey, online training was the principal source of training for family child care practitioners, with nearly three quarters (70.2 percent) reporting using online training as a source to meet their training needs. This is a slight decrease from the 76.2 percent in FY2019 that reported taking online training. Previous reports showed that Child Care Resource and Referral workshops were the primary source of training; however, this has been on the decline from 62.3 percent in FY 2017 and 65.8 percent in FY 2019 to a major decrease to 45.6 percent in this report. The increased availability and usage of online training opportunities reported is a likely factor for this decline.

Table 43. Sources of training (n = 1,253)

Training Sources	n	Percentage
Online Training	880	70.2%
Child Care Resource & Referral Workshops	571	45.6%
Professional Meeting or Conference Workshop	222	17.7%
Local Community Workshops	147	11.7%

Percentages add up to greater than 100 percent as respondents were asked to endorse all applicable items. Also, the sum of individual responses to each option will add to greater than the overall "n" respondents to the question.

Nearly 80 percent (79.1 percent) of all respondents expressed that they thought there were adequate training opportunities offered; however, that does not mean that all providers are able to attend those training opportunities. In order to determine what might hinder an individual's ability to attend trainings, providers were presented with a list of potential barriers to attending trainings and were asked to select all that applied.

• 49.3 percent (n = 375) selected: "Most opportunities are during the day so it is difficult for me to attend";
• 42.7 percent (n = 325) selected: "I am unable to take time away from my work to take more training";
• 30.0 percent (n = 228) selected the item: "Cost of training is too high";
• 22.1 percent (n = 168) selected: "I am unable to take time away from my family to take more training";
• 21.3 percent (n = 162) chose: "My community doesn't have enough courses/workshops";
• 14.2 percent (n = 108) chose: "Technology issues";
• 9.5 percent (n = 72) chose: "There is no reason to pursue more training";
• 5.9 percent (n = 45) selected the item "Quality of training is not good"; and,
• 5.0 percent (n = 38) selected "Other".

Of the 38 providers that selected "Other", 89.5 percent indicated that the availability of trainings (training method [online or in person], timing of trainings, topic offerings, language barriers, and enrollment capacity) was problematic. The remaining providers indicated that the trainings were too far away (7.9 percent), they had financial barriers (2.6 percent), and had (2.6 percent) personal circumstances that were preventing them from attending training.

Professional development is also available by taking coursework in early care and education at higher education institutions. Practitioners were posed the question, "Have you completed any ECE or CD coursework within the past two years?" Of the 1,176 practitioners who responded to this survey question, 131 (11.1 percent) reported "yes" and reported an average of 37.8 semester hours (median = 16.0) completed in the last two years.

Capacity and Enrollment

One aim of the Salary and Staffing Survey is to characterize the care environment of family child care home practitioners. According to DTP, the average total licensed capacity of the sample was approximately 10.1 (median = 10.0) children. The average licensed capacity of all 6,241 family child care providers on the database was 9.8 children³⁴.

³⁴Licensed capacity in DTP adds regular capacity and extended capacity together. Extended capacity signifies the number of before- and after-school children a provider may care for on top of their regular capacity. For any capacity typically over 8, an assistant is required to be present.

During a typical week, providers cared for an average of 9.0 (n = 1,170; median = 8.0) children pre-COVID, and an average of 7.2 (n = 1,168; median = 7.0) children at the time of response (excluding their own). Just over 92 percent (92.1 percent) of providers indicated that they accept children whose families receive IDHS or IDCFS financial assistance. Providers also responded that they have an average of 6.5 (n = 912; median = 6.0) children in their program whose child care is being funded through the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) or IDCFS vouchers³⁵. Providers reported serving an average of 5.9 of all client families (n = 667; median = 5.0) who receive financial assistance (from government, employers, local agencies) to subsidize child care costs.

³⁵About 4.6 percent of providers indicated that they have had children/families on CCAP enrolled over the last 2 years, but did not have any children on CCAP currently. Those providers were excluded from this analysis.

A greater proportion of respondents participating in ExceleRate Illinois at a level higher than the Licensed Circle of Quality also served CCAP families in their programs. Participation in higher levels of ExceleRate was significantly associated with serving CCAP families (?2 = 9.69, p = .002) with 98.6 percent of providers higher than the Licensed Circle of Quality serving CCAP families versus 1.4 percent of those providers not serving CCAP families in their programs³⁶.

³⁶Data from DTP was used to obtain the ExceleRate^TM Illinois status of all providers who participated in the Staffing and Salary Survey.

Family child care providers were also asked to rate the vacancies in their program pre-COVID and at the time of response on a scale from 1 ("There are always vacancies") to 5 ("There are never vacancies"). Out of 1,237 providers answering the pre-COVID portion, 62.3 percent of family child care providers felt that there were rarely or never vacancies in their homes, and 18.7 percent felt that there were always or often vacancies in their programs. Of the 1,241 providers answering the portion referring to their situation at the time of response, 26.3 percent of family child care providers felt that there were rarely or never vacancies in their homes, and 53.0 percent felt that there were always or often vacancies in their programs. Results from the pre-COVID portion of this survey when compared to the 2019 survey results show a high degree of similarity, though the portion answering based on their situation at the time of response shows a larger amount of homes seeing vacancies more frequently.

A provider shared this perspective on having inconsistent enrollment:

"We must increase capacity numbers […] Families are turned away every day due to lack of space to enroll. IDHS should also implement a supplemental income program that is paid to teachers weekly as an additional paycheck. This would help eliminate high staff turnover due to low wages, and programs raising rates to families to meet the need of paying teachers a higher income."

Assistants

IDCFS licensing requirement for staff in group homes and child care homes differ. Staff employed in group homes must have a high school diploma or equivalent and be at least 18 years of age if an on-site supervisor is present. If not, staff must be 21^37,38. , Staff working in day care homes are required to be at least 14 years of age, work under the direct supervision of the family child care provider and be at least five years older than any child for which they provide care³⁹.

³⁷From Part 408 IDCFS Licensing Requirements for Group Day Care Homes, Section 408.45. All requirements can be found at http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/089/089004080000450R.html
³⁸For employees 18 and older, the Illinois Internal Revenue Service requires the employer to withhold federal income tax from the employee's paycheck plus the employers' portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes. From the Internal Revenue Website: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=172179,00.html
³⁹From Part 406 DCFS Licensing Requirements for Day Care Homes, part 406.10. All requirements can be found at http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/089/08900406sections.html

In the 2021 Salary and Staffing Survey group family child care practitioners and family child care practitioners reported on the assistants they employed. Of the 1,190 providers that responded to the question, 46.9 percent (n = 558) indicated hiring paid assistants. Additionally, out of 1,056 respondents, 23.8 percent (n = 251) reported using unpaid assistants.

Paid family child care assistants received an average of $12.31 per hour (n = 520; median = $12.00). Their typical work week averaged 29.0 hours (n = 506; median = 30.0).

There is a large discrepancy in the range of hourly wages reported for assistants. Since a minor can work in a family day care, family child care providers can hire their own children. Although minimum wage for youths under the age of 18 is $8.50⁴⁰, providers can hire their eligible teenage children for less; however, with the exception of an employer's parent, spouse, or child, or other members of his or her immediate family, Minimum Wage Law requires an employer to pay an employee 18 years of age or older at least $11.00 per hour (minimum wage).^41,42

⁴⁰From "State of Illinois - Department of Labor Hourly Minimum Wage Rates by Year", Illinois Department of Labor, https://www.illinois.gov/idol/Laws-Rules/FLS/Pages/minimum-wage-rates-by-year.aspx
⁴¹From "Illinois Compiled Statutes (820 ILCS 105/) Minimum Wage Law", Illinois General Assembly, http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2400&ChapterID=68
⁴²Based on this rationale, all reported wages under $8.50 were excluded from this analysis.

Family child care practitioners were then asked to provide additional thoughts about staffing in the comments section of the survey. The primary theme was about being able to afford to have an assistant and to pay them a competitive wage. While these themes have been seen in previous years, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted these concerns. Below are some representative comments.

"Staffing has been a problem for my business as well. It is difficult to find the right person with the right education and desire to assist me to provide the highest quality of care. Some of the educational requirements are restrictive because of observations that need to be performed under a licensed teacher. The cost for the educational classes at the college level is costly, health insurance is too expensive for me to offer proper insurance. […] Assistants can make you or break you is the best way to understand the stress of having an employee."

"It has been very difficult to keep staff during this time. It is more profitable for people to try and get unemployment as opposed to working a job. The average salary that an unqualified person is looking for is $12 an hour. This is really challenging for a small business. I can only afford to pay a certain number of people and yet once I train them, they are able to land another job paying more money. I think that once the unemployment stops it will level the playing field and more people will be willing to work."

Business Characteristics

Hours

Respondents (n = 976) indicated that they got paid to work an average of 50.1 hours per week (median = 50.0 hours) taking care of children pre-COVID, and an average of 47.3 hours per week (median = 50.0; n = 988) at the time of response. Their child care homes operate an average of 49.2 weeks per year (n = 992; median = 50.0 weeks).

In addition to hours spent directly with children, providers reported spending an average of 20.4 hours per week pre-COVID (n = 985; median = 12.0 hours) and an average of 21.2 hours per week at the time of response (n = 998; median = 15.0 hours) on various activities performed before or after business hours. These activities include preparing food, shopping, cleaning, record keeping, and preparing educational activities for the children.

Practitioners were also asked whether they ever closed for holidays, vacation, sick days, training, or any other occasion. Out of 1,004 providers who responded, 96.9 percent (n = 973) responded affirmatively; a slight increase from the previous survey. The average number of days closed per year was 15.8 days (median = 15.0 days, n = 973).

Earnings and Operating Expenses

Practitioners were queried about their annual expenses for food, utilities, insurance, and materials; all expenses except wages. Average annual expenses totaled $18,846.64 (median = $15,000.00) for the 757 providers who responded to this question. Expenses in 2021 were slightly higher compared to those reported in the past two surveys.

Licensed family child care providers were asked to report their gross and net annual earnings. The average annual gross earning was $39,558.28 (n = 819; median = $36,000). FY 2021 reported earnings were slightly higher than those reported in FY 2017 and FY2019. This survey's reported annual net earnings (n = 797) averaged $15,431.04 (median = $14,000). In FY 2019, respondents reported average net earnings of $14,868.33, with a median of $12,000. In FY 2021:

• 25 percent of family child care providers netted less than $2,350 (average hours worked per week = 43.8; median = 45)
• 50 percent of family child care providers netted less than $14,000 (average hours worked per week = 45.9; median = 50); and
• 75 percent of family child care providers netted less than $26,000 (average hours worked per week = 47.3; median = 50).

In FY 2021, the average hourly wage family child care providers earned was $6.26 pre-COVID and $6.63 at the time of response (compared to the state minimum wage of $11.00 per hour);⁴³ however, this hourly wage only reflects the average length of time that direct service is provided to children. When the average hours spent cleaning, preparing food, shopping, recordkeeping, and preparing educational activities for children (20.4 hours pre-COVID and 21.2 hours at the time of response) are factored into the equation, child care providers work on average 70.5 hours per week pre-COVID and 68.5 hours per week at the time of response and average $4.45 per hour pre-COVID and $4.59 per hour at the time of response.

As independent business owners, family child care providers set their own rates. Rates can exceed the CCAP rates reimbursed by the state. Providers can choose to have parents pay the difference between the CCAP reimbursement rates and their private rates. In FY 2021, providers were asked to provide information about their experience with the IDHS subsidy program. These questions specifically addressed whether providers charged parents more than their CCAP copays, the difficulty they experience in collecting copays, and whether or not the difficulty in collecting copays had changed in the past two years. Out of 954 respondents, 11.1 percent of providers (n = 106) reported charging families more than their CCAP copay; 88.9 percent (n = 848) of providers reported charging families their CCAP copay only.

Out of 938 practitioners who rated the difficulty of collecting copays pre-COVID, on a scale of 1 ("Very Easy") to 5 ("Very Difficult"), providers reported an average of 2.9 (median = 3.0), and an average of 3.2 (median = 3.0; n = 942) at the time of response. A rating of 3 means providers thought it was "neither easy nor difficult" to collect copays, and a rating of 2 means it was "somewhat easy". Table 44 display difficulty collecting copays pre-COVID and at the time of response

Table 44. Difficulty collecting copays (n = 938 pre-COVID; n = 942 at response time)

Difficulty Collecting Copays	Percentage Pre-COVID	n Pre-COVID	Percentage at response time	n at response time
1 (Very Easy)	21.9%	205	15.3%	144
2 (Somewhat Easy)	18.8%	176	14.2%	134
3 (Neither Easy nor Difficult)	25.2%	236	25.9%	244
4 (Somewhat Difficult)	21.2%	199	25.9%	244
5 (Very Difficult)	13.0%	122	18.7%	176

⁴³The average hourly wage of a family child care practitioner can be calculated using the formula: Average net income ÷ (average of hours worked per week X average number of weeks worked per year).

In response to whether the difficulty in collecting copays had changed pre-COVID, on a scale of 1 ("Much Easier") to 5 ("Much More Difficult"), out of 941 respondents, providers reported an average of 3.0 (median = 3.0), and an average of 3.4 (median = 3.0; n = 944) at the time of response. A rating of 3 means providers felt the difficulty collecting copays had "stayed about the same" as before, though the average increased slightly at the time of response compared to pre-COVID. Table 45 show changes in difficulty collecting copays pre-COVID and at the time of response.

Table 45. Change in difficulty collecting copays (n = 941 pre-COVID; n = 944 at response time)

Change in Difficulty Collecting Copay	Percentage Pre-COVID	n Pre-COVID	Percentage at response time	n at response time
1 (Much Easier)	10.2%	96	3.3%	31
2 (Somewhat Easier)	13.4%	126	9.1%	86
3 (About the Same)	54.1%	509	50.8%	480
4 (Somewhat More Difficult)	14.9%	140	22.6%	213
5 (Much More Difficult)	7.4%	70	14.2%	134

Providers were then asked to rate on a scale of 1 ("Decreased Greatly") to 5 ("Increased Greatly") how their financial situation had changed pre-COVID and at the time of response. In response to changes in their gross annual earnings, out of 1,005 providers responding to the question, an average of 2.6 (median = 3.0) was reported for pre-COVID, and an average of 2.1 (median = 2.0; n = 1,014) was reported for at the time of response. Table 46 shows more providers responding lower (indicating a decrease in gross annual earnings) on the scale at the time of response compared to pre-COVID. Providers were also asked to rate changes in their annual expenses, on a scale of 1 ("Decreased Greatly") to 5 ("Increased Greatly"), 1,006 providers reported an average of 3.0 (median = 3.0) pre-COVID, and an average of 3.2 (median = 3.0; n = 1,006) at the time of response. A score of 3 indicates that providers' annual expenses "stayed about the same". Table 47 show more providers reporting greater expenses at the time of response in comparison to before the pandemic.

Table 46. Change in gross annual earnings (n = 1,005 pre-COVID; n = 1,014 at response time)

Change in Gross Annual Earnings	Percentage Pre-COVID	n Pre-COVID	Percentage at response time	n at response time
1 (Decreased Greatly)	19.2%	193	35.0%	355
2 (Decreased Somewhat)	21.7%	218	33.0%	335
3 (Stayed About the Same)	46.5%	467	20.0%	203
4 (Increased Somewhat)	9.7%	97	10.3%	104
5 (Increased Greatly)	3.0%	30	1.7%	17

Table 47. Change in annual expenses (n = 1,006 pre-COVID; n = 1,006 at response time)

Change in Annual Expenses	Percentage Pre-COVID	n Pre-COVID	Percentage at response time	n at response time
1 (Decreased Greatly)	10.3%	104	15.2%	153
2 (Decreased Somewhat)	13.8%	139	17.8%	179
3 (Stayed About the Same)	52.0%	523	21.1%	212
4 (Increased Somewhat)	16.8%	169	25.6%	258
5 (Increased Greatly)	7.1%	71	20.3%	204

Finally, in response to changes about their net annual earnings pre-COVID, out of 1,003 providers, an average of 2.6 (median = 3.0) was reported, and an average of 2.1 (median = 2.0; n = 1,001) was reported at the time of response. For all questions, a response of 3 means that providers felt their gross/net annual earnings and expenses "stayed about the same", whereas a score of 2 means gross/net annual earnings and expenses "decreased somewhat". Table 48 show a similar trend for net annual earnings as there was for gross annual earnings.

Table 48. Change in net annual earnings (n = 1,003 pre-COVID; n = 1,001 at response time)

Change in Net Annual Earnings	Percentage Pre-COVID	n Pre-COVID	Percentage at response time	n at response time
1 (Decreased Greatly)	16.7%	167	34.2%	342
2 (Decreased Somewhat)	21.8%	219	33.9%	339
3 (Stayed About the Same)	50.9%	511	21.1%	211
4 (Increased Somewhat)	8.8%	88	10.2%	102
5 (Increased Greatly)	1.8%	18	0.7%	7

Other Income Sources

Providers were asked to report on other sources of income beyond their family child care programs. Under one tenth of providers (6.4 percent) reported having a second paid job. Nearly half of providers (49.4 percent) indicated there was at least one other adult who contributed to their household income. In addition, the Child and Adult Food Care Program⁴⁴ was an income source identified by the majority of providers (77.6 percent).

⁴⁴The Child and Adult Care Food Program is a nutritional program funded through the USDA. In Illinois, this reimbursement program is administered by the Illinois State Board of Education. The program educates providers about proper nutrition and reimburses them for the meals and snacks they serve to children in care.

Fee Policies

Family child care homes are considered small businesses; therefore, fee policies are decided by the owner(s). As Table 49 shows, the majority of family child care providers chose to be paid when children are absent due to sickness. In addition, 73.0 percent of providers require parents to pay when the child care home is closed for holidays and 49.4 percent require payment when the home is closed for vacation days. More than half of providers (57.7 percent) require parents to pay for days the child is on vacation. The preponderance of providers do not require parents to pay for days when the family child care home is closed due to provider illness or workshop attendance. When day care homes are closed for other reasons (e.g., family emergencies, bereavement, jury duty, doctor appointments, personal days, or inclement weather), 16.4 percent of family child care practitioners require parents to pay for these days. Although no questions specifically pertained to how providers construct their fee policies, the survey asked practitioners to record any additional thoughts they had about compensation in the field of child care. One provider shared:

"I handle a lot of responsibilities for little respect and little pay (when you break it down to each child/ hour). More Kids Equal More Pay But More Responsibility. Although rates are raising my families cannot afford to keep paying that, so I charge below what the state pays."

Table 49. Fee policies (n=795)

Provider is paid when...	n	Percentage
Closed for Holidays	577	73.0%
Children are absent because they are sick	569	71.9%
Children are on vacation	453	57.7%
Closed for vacation days	387	49.4%
Closed for sick days	309	39.3%
Closed for training days	142	18.3%
Other reasons	123	16.4%

Note: Percentages add up to greater than 100 percent as respondents were asked to endorse all items applicable to their programs.

IDCFS requires family child care homes to have a written policy that describes what will occur if a child is picked-up late. This policy also includes information about any late fees that will accrue. Out of 1,019 practitioners who responded to this question, 53.4 percent charged a late fee (or early drop-off fee). The fee for late pick up or early drop off averaged $2.32 (median = $1.00) per minute for family child care providers who stated their fee (n = 524).

Financial Assistance

Family child care practitioners were provided with a list of financial assistance resources and asked the question: "In the past two years, have you received any types of financial assistance?" Nearly half (47.7 percent) of the total respondents selected one or more of the financial assistance resources. Specifically:

• 35.3 percent selected "COVID relief funding";
• 11.7 percent selected "Medicaid/Medicare for yourself";
• 5.7 percent selected "Medicaid for your children";
• 5.2 percent selected "Food stamps/SNAP";
• 4.6 percent selected "AllKids for your child(ren)";
• 0.2 percent selected "Subsidized housing/Section 8";
• 0.6 percent selected "FamilyCare for yourself"; and,
• 0.2 percent selected "TANF/AFDC".

Benefits

Practitioners were asked whether they were currently covered by any health insurance or medical plan. In response, 90.4 percent (n = 923) of the 1,021 child care practitioners that responded reported having health care coverage. As with 2017 and 2019, this represents a significant increase over the 80.4 percent reported in 2013 and is likely due to requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Further analysis of health care coverage shows that 12.2 percent received full coverage and 18.2 percent received partial coverage through their spouse's employer, 26.3 percent purchased health insurance on their own, and 19.3 percent reported that they were Medicaid/Medicare eligible. Of respondents, 24.0 percent had paid health care coverage received through a variety of other sources, including as retirement benefits from previous employers, community health services, and through the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a union for family child care providers. There were 0.6 percent of respondents who indicated they have health care coverage but that did not respond to one of the options displayed.

Nearly 60 percent of practitioners (58.1 percent) indicated that they contribute to Social Security and Medicare. When asked the question, "In the last year, have you set aside any savings for your retirement," nearly one-third of the respondents (30.3 percent) said they had (slightly up from 29.4 percent in the 2017 report and 29.8 in 2019).

Per the comment section of the survey, many practitioners expressed anxiety about the lack of affordable health care insurance (including dental and vision care) available to child care providers and their families. In addition, many acknowledged the need for retirement benefits. One provider's remarks are shown below.

"Providing health coverage extended to cover the families of the child care providers. Paid vacation and sick days would be of great help as well as I think we do a lot for these families, but they are already having financial hardship. Same applies for a retirement plan to ensure the future of child care providers. Thank you for your time and attention."

Professional Support

Family child care practitioners often work alone and have no other adults within close proximity. Research suggests that the lack of "social, instrumental, and problem-solving support over a long workday as the only adult in the setting" and the lack of support when "having to play multiple roles" are potential sources of stress for providers. One way to combat that stress is to use support services such as participation in a professional organization or network with other professionals.⁴⁵ Based on this rationale, providers were asked whether they had any contact with any other child care professionals. A predominance of home-based practitioners (84.3 percent) responding to the survey indicated that they have at least one other child care professional with whom they can discuss a problem in their program.

⁴⁵Charlyn Harper Brown, "Strengthening Families: Almost Like Family: Family Child Care", Center for the Study of Social Policy, October 2009, https://cssp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Almost-Like-Family-Family-Child-Care-FINAL.pdf

There are national, state, regional and local child care associations that support the needs of family child care providers. Over half of respondents (55.8 percent; n = 571 of 1,023) reported that they were members of a child care association. Just over two-thirds (68.1 percent; n = 701 of 1,030) indicated that they utilized their Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) as a professional support in the past two years. Local CCR&Rs provide various services to child care professionals.

Turnover

Practitioners were asked to identify the length of time they would continue to operate their day care home. Nearly two-thirds (64.3 percent; n = 665) of providers responded "I don't know"; this is similar to what was reported in FY 2019, FY 2017, and FY 2015 but is an increase from the 50.0 percent reported in the FY 2013 survey report. The remainder of providers (n = 353) indicated they would continue to provide child care in their homes for an average of ten years (mean = 9.6 years; median = 10.0 years). This average is a decrease from the previous survey, which reported a mean of 13.1 years and median of 8.0 years.

To gauge potential turnover, providers were asked the question, "In the past two years, have you ever considered no longer providing care?" Under 40 percent (35.4 percent; n = 369 of 1,042) had considered closing their business. Respondents who answered "yes" to that question were asked to further clarify by responding to a follow-up question which contained a list of reasons that traditionally contribute to provider burn-out. Practitioners were asked to rate the importance of each item on a scale of 1 ("Not important") to 5 ("Very important"). Table 50 presents the reasons why a provider may discontinue care and various statistics for each reason.

Table 50: Reasons providers considered for no longer providing care

Reason	Mean	Median	n	Percentage Rating Item as "Very Important"
Economic Stresses from COVID-19 pandemic	3.9	4.0	357	48.2%
Too little respect for child care providers	3.8	4.0	358	47.8%
Dissatisfied with benefits	3.8	4.0	358	47.5%
Retirement	3.6	4.0	351	43.3%
Too little time off	3.7	4.0	358	40.8%
Dissatisfied with salary	3.8	4.0	362	39.8%
Physical stresses/health issues from COVID-19 pandemic	3.6	4.0	351	37.6%
Working hours too long	3.6	4.0	361	36.8%
Enrollments are too low	3.3	3.0	358	34.1%
Too much stress	3.6	4.0	359	34.0%
Other personal reasons	3	3.0	317	27.8%
Frustration with parents	3.2	3.0	359	21.7%
Isolation	2.9	3.0	351	21.7%
Health problems	2.6	3.0	354	18.1%
Returning to school	2.1	1.0	358	10.9%
Moving/relocating	1.9	1.0	352	10.2%
Not enough work hours	1.9	1.0	352	7.4%
Enrollments are too high	1.9	1.0	350	7.4%

According to Table 50, "economic stresses from the COVID-19 pandemic", "too little respect for child care practitioners", and "dissatisfaction with benefits" were the three primary reasons instigating turnover in the field. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average yearly salary of a child care worker was the ninth lowest out of 29 occupations listed under the category Personal Care and Service Occupations.⁴⁶ Providers are aware of the balance between earning an income while realizing parents cannot afford to pay more for care:

⁴⁶"Occupation Employment Statistics: May 2017 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for Illinois", Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_il.htm#00-0000

"Compensation for child care is low. I don't charge extra, because my family are low-income, and they live paycheck to paycheck. I love working with children and their parents. Having extra help would be wonderful, but because the child care pay is low, hiring extra help is impossible. Even now with COVID, enrollment is low and cleaning supplies are getting expensive."

Practitioners were asked to rate on a scale of 1 ("Not important") to 5 ("Very important") a number of items that might influence them to continue providing child care in their homes. Participants rated higher pay and better benefits as the main factors that would most entice them to continue providing child care. "More time off" was also rated as "very important" to nearly half of all respondents (mean = 3.8). (Again, family child care homes are only closed an average of 15.8 days per year.) Table 51 displays the results.

Table 51: Reasons to continue offering care

Reason	Mean	Median	n	Percentage Rating Items as "Very Important"
Better Benefits	4.2	5.0	359	64.6%
Higher Income	4.2	5.0	357	61.1%
More Time Off	3.8	4.0	354	46.9%
Help finding substitute caregivers	3.3	3.0	358	34.4%
Help with problem solving	3.3	3.0	358	33.0%
Higher enrollments	3	3.0	352	28.7%
Family child care training	3	3.0	358	26.8%
Being part of a professional organization	2.8	3.0	357	22.7%
More contact with other providers	2.8	3.0	358	19.8%
Lower enrollments	2.6	2.0	355	19.2%
More work hours	2	1.0	346	6.9%

In order to assess turnover rate, the total number of family child care providers listed in the provider database on June 30, 2019 (the end of IDHS's fiscal year) was compared to the number of providers listed in the same database on June 30, 2021. Through comparison of both databases, data could be collected regarding the number of providers who were new on the database and the number of providers no longer providing child care. Table 52 presents the information, with visual representations in Figure 35 (provider turnover) and Figure 36 (capacity turnover).

Table 52. Provider turnover 2019-2021: Licensed Family Child Care Homes⁴⁷

Provider Turnover	Homes 2019	Lost due to Homes Closing	Gained due to Homes Opening	Homes in 2021	Net Change 2019-2021
Active Providers	7,006	-1,499	738	6,245	-10.9%
Total Licensed Capacity	68,672	-13,874	6,188	60,986	-11.2%

⁴⁷INCCRRA transitioned from NACCRRAware to DTP going into FY 2020 and there was a lot of cleanup done between the two systems. Some of the loss of providers was due to that cleanup (e.g., some CCR&Rs had a program listed twice under different names).

Motivations and Perceptions about Providing Child Care

In order to grasp what motivates family child care practitioners to provide child care in their home and capture their perceptions about their work, they were given a series of statements and asked to rate each statement on a scale of 1 ("Strongly disagree") to 5 ("Strongly agree"). Some of the statements focused on motivation and others on perception. As Table 53 reveals, practitioners reported several factors that motivated them to be in the child care business. The most enthusiastically endorsed (rated as "Strongly agree" by 60 percent or more of the respondents) were: "Enjoy teaching children" and "Like to be in business for self." The least common motivator was "Stay at home with own children" (which still received a rating of "Strongly agree" by almost a quarter of the respondents).

Table 53. Reasons for providing child care

Reason	Mean	Median	n	Percentage Item Rating as "Strongly agree"
Enjoy teaching children	4.6	5.0	1,026	67.3%
Like to be in business for self	4.5	5.0	1,026	67.0%
Earn an income	4.0	4.0	1,017	35.7%
Stay at home with own children	3.0	3.0	1,018	19.5%

Table 54 reflects the responses to questions that pertain to a practitioner's perceptions about their work. The mean and median, number of respondents, and the percentage of respondents who rated the statement as a 5 ("Strongly agree") are presented in the table below. Perceptions most highly embraced by providers revolved around their sense of professionalism in the job. Most respondents considered themselves to be small business owners, early childhood professionals, and acknowledge the role that training plays in furthering and maintaining their status as a professional.

Table 54. Perceptions about providing child care

Perception	Mean	Median	n	Percentage Item Rating as "Strongly agree"
I consider myself a small business owner	4.6	5.0	1,024	68.6%
I consider myself an early childhood professional	4.4	5.0	1,022	57.7%
Getting more training helps me become more professional	4.2	5.0	1,026	51.7%
I can set my own rates and policies	3.7	4.0	1,021	30.2%
I do not provide child care for the money	3.2	3.0	1,017	19.2%

Providers were asked to respond to the question, "In the past two years, have opportunities for family child care providers become better, stayed the same, or become worse." Out of 1,017 respondents, essentially half (49.9 percent) replied that opportunities over the past two years had "stayed the same", 26.1 percent indicated they had become better, and 24.0 percent responded that opportunities had become worse.

Providers who felt that opportunities for family child care programs have gotten worse observed:

"I have met some wonderful children and, overall, the parents have been a pleasure to work with. However, I have found that there are limited resources offered to providers on how to effectively run a child care business, i.e. tuition rates in your specific areas, tips on saving for retirement, how to hire and retain good staff, and networking with other childcare providers. Also, I wish that there was some form of government assistance for retirement and health care for providers."

"I am just starting; I am not aware of many opportunities to use resources. As a registered provider, and for other providers who are registered, I think we all should be notified about all the resources that are available to better serve our children."

"Necesitamos más ayuda. Creo que no tenemos oportunidades. Más talleres por línea. (We need more help. I believe that we do not have opportunities. More workshops online)."

Providers who felt that opportunities for family child care programs had gotten better focused solely on support, resources, and training opportunities.

"There are more opportunities to advance, due to more training and resources as well as pay."

"This is the first time that I have seen [Illinois] fight for childcare like they have during the pandemic. Resources to maintain staff, payroll, and keep your business flowing has been and continues to be great.."

Providers offered other comments which reflected the issues they were facing in their child care programs. Many addressed their finances and worries about funding due to the COVID-19 pandemic; many families are unemployed and not needing care or cannot afford payments. Additionally, many providers mentioned the costs of personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning procedures, and voiced their worries about being vulnerable to illness in their homes. Others brought up their frustrations with unemployment payments as they felt that this was a large factor impacting staffing and parents needing care. Some providers focused on the lack of documents in languages other than English; the lack of translated documentation makes it difficult to keep up with licensing processes and requirements, applying for funding opportunities, and more. There were concerns raised about the rules and regulations they must be in compliance with in order to maintain a day care home license. Some of the practitioners voiced concern over unlicensed or "illegal" day care homes that exist and its impact on their business, primarily those that take payments "under the table". Others commented about how the public continues to perceive the profession as "babysitting". Many practitioners shared their concerns and frustrations regarding training and professional development opportunities.

"Nothing new has been offered or implemented. Programs and professional development opportunities like Excelerate, do not have enough specializations."

"My level of knowledge is not being challenged at a level that ensure me to secure knowledge to meet all of my credentials at different levels. There are not enough opportunities to meet with other child care providers."

Despite the frustrations that family child care providers may face, there were many comments describing their passion and love for early care and education and the children for which they care.

"The child care program is a very important part of the educational process of our youth. Therefore, there should be a consistent national effort to improve, to be innovative in educational pursuit for children at the adolescents age to engage them in STEM learning and cultural activities."

"I love helping build a strong foundation for children in the early years and partnering with parents to help meet the needs of the children."

Conclusion

Child care is a vital foundational service that allows for employment and economic betterment for families. Without affordable quality care options, parents are less likely to function effectively in their jobs and children are less likely to receive the developmentally stimulating environments proven to benefit them. Research has shown high quality child care contributes to young children's social competence and cognitive development⁵⁰. A nurturing and stable relationship with a provider is one important component of high-quality care settings. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the education and stability of the child care workforce are critical to the well-being of children and their working parents. Young children have much to gain from a well-educated and stable child care workforce; however, Child Care Aware of America asserts that the minimal requirements for education (many states do not require any education beyond high school) and the high turnover rate among child care practitioners (roughly one-third leave the field each year ⁵¹) is challenging the opportunity for quality child care to be achieved and maintained. In knowing the importance of education and continuity in the care of children, it is important to learn more about the child care workforce within the state of Illinois as a means of ensuring quality care for all children. As such, the Illinois Salary and Staffing Survey provides in-depth information every two years about wages, salaries and benefits, and other information pertinent to the child care work environment in licensed child care centers and in licensed family child care homes. To complement the Illinois Salary and Staffing Survey, the Gateways to Opportunity Registry can provide more frequently collected and updated information regarding several workforce characteristics, including qualifications and salaries.

⁵⁰D. Vandell, J. Belsky, M. Burchinal, N. Vandergrift, & L. Steinberg. "Do effects of early child care extend to age 15 years? Results from the NICHD study of early child care and youth development." Child Development, 2010, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938040/
⁵¹Meredith MacMillian, "NAEYC calls for fair compensation for the early childhood workforce on worthy wage day." National Association for the Education of Young Children, May 1, 2012. Bassok, D., Markowitz, A. J., Bellows, L., & Sadowski, K. "New evidence on teacher turnover in early childhood." Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 2021, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0162373720985340

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic also caused massive disruptions throughout the economy, but particularly in the child care sector with mandated closures, reduced enrollments, and increased costs for sanitation supplies. This has made this survey even more valuable in understanding the child care workforce characteristics, how the sector responds to massive disruptions such as this, and how aid may be used to increase industry resiliency. With this in mind, readers will note some dramatic changes from the previous report throughout including items such as enrollments, turnover rates, and some changes to demographic makeup of staff such as increased hiring of males or a reduction in the number of centers reporting non-English speaking staff.

The majority of the child care workforce in Illinois has attained formal education beyond high school. Most practitioners in centers and homes had some college education. In addition, 63.8 percent of early childhood teachers and 33.1 percent of family child care practitioners had earned an associate, bachelor's, or master's degree. Further, 26.0 percent of early childhood teachers earned their degree in early childhood education (ECE) or child development (CD), and 12.3 percent of family child care providers earned their degree in ECE/CD.

As is the case at the national level, job turnover among child care providers in Illinois is a continuing problem. The past two years showed a turnover rate of 39.5 percent for early childhood teachers and a 55.9 percent turnover rate for early childhood teacher assistants, both representing increases from the previous survey. The primary reason reported for early childhood teacher departure was "dissatisfied with pay"; which is consistent when compared to the predominant reasons cited in past surveys (with the exception of FY11). Other principal reasons reported for staff departure included dissatisfaction with benefits, personal or family issues, or burnout. As many of these reasons were endorsed at a similar rate by directors, it suggests that the reasons for turnover are usually complicated, especially since many directors also rated each reason for leaving by indicating there was a "personal reason" associated with the staff departure. Since data for this survey are gathered from directors or other administrative staff and not the departing staff member, having staff directly respond with their reasons for leaving might yield richer findings.

In the past two years, 35.4 percent of family child care practitioners considered closing their child care home; one in five did. Economic stresses from the COVID-19 pandemic, "too little respect for child care providers", and dissatisfaction with salary and benefits, and were the predominant reasons reported.

When it comes to compensation, patterns of compensation for center positions were varied. Per the FY 2021 survey, the hourly wages of early childhood teachers saw the largest increase from the FY 2019 survey. All other positions also saw increases, with school-age worker having the slightest increase compared to FY 2019.

The median hourly wage for an early childhood teacher in 2021 was $14.29, as compared to $13.00 in 2019, $12.50 in 2017, $12.00 in 2015, $11.04 in 2013, $11.50 in 2011, and $11.00 reported in 2009. Assuming a full-time early childhood teacher position equals 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, gross annual salary would equal $29,723.20. This represents more than twice the median net earnings of licensed family child care providers whose 2021 reported earnings were $14,000. This is higher than the $12,000 reported in 2019 and 2017 the $13,000 reported in 2015 and 2013.

Wages differed substantially in centers around the state. Early childhood teachers employed in Carterville (located in southern Illinois) earned a median hourly wage of $11.00 per hour compared to early childhood teachers in Glendale Heights (located in northern Illinois) who earned a median hourly wage of $14.50, a difference of almost $4.00 per hour. Level of education also mattered, as teachers with more education earned more than those without degrees. Moreover, teachers who majored in early childhood education (ECE) or child development (CD) and obtained an associate, bachelor's, or master's degree, earned more than teachers with a degree in another field.

In addition to the low wages of the child care workforce, the benefits are also minimal. Although at least 84 percent of centers reported offering paid vacation, holidays and sick leave, only 52.4 percent offered health insurance, and 50.5 percent offered a retirement/pension plan. Life insurance was offered by only 43.4 percent of centers. While centers may provide benefits to employees as part of their compensation, family child care practitioners must pay for their own. Although 90.4 percent of family child care providers were covered by a health plan, many received coverage through their spouse's employer. Other benefits are modest for family child care providers who reported being closed only a median of 15 days per year. While 73.0 percent charged when closed for holidays, only 49.4 percent charged when closed for vacation. Substantially fewer charged when closed for sick days or training days. Providers indicated that they did not charge when closed because they were sensitive to their clients' financial situations and they did not think their clients would pay.

As in past Salary and Staffing Surveys, low wages and poor benefits were voiced to be a major concern by all survey respondents. Aside from the obvious financial stress these factors create for providers, they're perceived to underscore a lack of value and respect for the child care labor force. These dynamics continue to be a driving force for turnover in the child care field. Throughout the survey, while providers and administrators repeatedly described their love of and dedication to children and their development, they also admitted that they need to make a living. In the end, many expressed pessimism about the child care field and a plea for help to supplement income, educate parents, and provide benefits. If these survey results and comments have any predictive value, it may be to forecast a continuing ambivalence toward the profession among practitioners at all levels of the child care workforce.

In spite of these somber findings, survey results also indicate there are some reasons for optimism. The frequency of directors and family child care providers who are aware of Gateways to Opportunity programs and other support programs suggests that there is more awareness of the resources and options that some centers and providers are able to access that provides some compensation for lower wages and benefits in the field of child care.

Several statewide programs support provider education and help reduce turnover. Survey respondents acknowledged these to be valuable supports to the child care field. The Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program awards partial college scholarships for both center and family child care practitioners to further their education in early childhood or school-age care. The Great START wage supplement program offers a stipend every six months to center and home-based providers based on their educational achievements (as long as they remain at their present place of employment). ExceleRate Illinois enhances the income of programs which provide quality care to CCAP enrolled children by providing a supplemental add-on to the CCAP reimbursement rate. Participating programs also receive support and recognition for their commitment to providing quality child care. The Gateways to Opportunity Credentials recognize the education, experience, and professional contributions of early childhood practitioners. The ExceleRate Circles of Quality, above the Licensed Circle, require that a percentage of personnel have achieved a Gateways Credential. Such programs can help improve the compensation possibilities of practitioners, thus leading to lower turnover and ultimately higher quality of child care in Illinois.

Appendix A: Survey Instruments

Child Care Center Survey

Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies

Fiscal Year 2021 Illinois Child Care Salary and Staffing Survey

Child Care Centers

Instructions:

• Please read and follow all directions carefully for each question. For some questions, you will need to check the appropriate box; for some questions, you will need to circle the appropriate number; and for some questions, you will need to write in the appropriate number or information requested.
• Please DO NOT write your name anywhere on the questionnaire. We have given each survey a number to help us keep track of which providers have returned their forms and which need reminders. All information will be kept confidential.
• Please try to answer every question as accurately as possible, adding explanatory notes only when necessary.
• Please complete the questionnaire and return it in the enclosed, stamped envelope to: Jordan Norton INCCRRA 1226 Towanda Plaza Bloomington, IL 61701
• Thank you for taking valuable time out of your busy schedule to complete this survey. The survey will take approximately 45 minutes to complete. It need not be completed at one sitting, but we ask that you return it to us within 2 weeks of receiving it. Your investment of time will contribute to knowledge that will improve the conditions and address the needs of all child care providers in Illinois. Thank you again. Please return by June 30, 2021!

PERSONAL PROFILE

1. What is your title? (select one)
   • Owner
   • Owner/Director
   • Director
   • Director/Teacher
   • Other (please specify)
2. How many years of experience do you have in a child care and education administrative role? 
3. How many years of experience do you have in child care?
4. What County does your program operate in?

ABOUT YOUR PROGRAM

1. How long has your program (site) been in operation?
   • 1 year or less
   • 2-3 years
   • 4-6 years
   • 7-10 years
   • Over 10 years
2. What is the operation schedule of your center? (select one)
   • Full-Day (8 or more hours), Full Year (at least 47 weeks) only
   • Full-Day/Full- Year with separate part-day option
   • Part-Day only - nursery school, preschool, Head Start
   • Part-Day only - before- and/or after-school program
   • Other (please specify)
3. Which best describes your center? (select one)
   • For Profit - Private proprietary or partnership
   • For Profit - corporation or chain
   • For Profit - corporate sponsored
   • Private nonprofit - independent
   • Private nonprofit - affiliated with a social service agency or hospital
   • Public nonprofit - sponsored by federal, state, or local government
   • College or university affiliated
   • Military sponsored
   • Public school
4. Is your center sponsored by a faith-based organization? 
   • Yes
     No
5. Is your center (select one) If your center is part of a multi-site program, what is the name of the parent organization?
   • a single-site program?
   • part of a multi-site program?
6. Check ALL current sources of funding received by your center:
   • Tuition-based (parent fees)
   • Illinois Department of Human Services vouchers/certificates (IDHS CCAP) and/or IDHS Site Contract
   • Chicago Department of Family & Support Services (DFSS) Site Contract
   • Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) vouchers/certificates
   • Head Start
   • Early Head Start
   • Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Preschool for All (Early Childhood Block Grant)
   • Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Preschool for All (Early Childhood Block Grant)
   • Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
   • Private donations, grants (e.g., foundations, United Way), or fundraising Corporate/employer subsidies
   • COVID-19 relief funds (CCRG, PPP, other CARES funding, etc.)
   • Other (please specify)
7. Please estimate the percentage of funds you received last year on average from each of the following sources: (These should add up to 100%.)
   • Parent fees
   • IDHS CCAP Vouchers, Site Contract, or DFSS Site Contract
   • DCFS Vouchers/Certificates
   • Head Start or Early Head Start funds
   • ISBE or CPS Preschool for All funds
   • Child and Adult Care Food Program
   • Private donations, grants (e.g., foundations, United Way), or fundraising
   • Corporate/employer subsidies
   • Other public funding (state, federal, or local money)
   • COVID-19 relief funds (CCRG, PPP, other CARES funding, etc.)
   • Other (please specify)
   •  TOTAL 100%
8. What are the approximate annual operating costs (expenses) for your center?
9. From the beginning of 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), how did your annual operating costs change? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly.
10. From March 2020 to present (post-COVID), how have your annual operating costs changed? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly.
11. What are the approximate annual revenues (income) for your center?
12. From January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), how did your annual revenues change? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly.
13. From March 2020 to present (post-COVID), how have your annual revenues changed? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly.

ENROLLMENT 

1. What is your current total enrollment?
2. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes your enrollment pattern prior to March 2020 (pre-COVID). There were always vacancies There were often vacancies There were sometimes vacancies, There were rarely vacancies, There were never vacancies
3. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes your current enrollment pattern (post-COVID). There are always vacancies There are often vacancies There are sometimes vacancies, There are rarely vacancies, There are never vacancies
4. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes how your enrollment pattern changed from January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID). Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
5. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes how your enrollment pattern has changed from March 2020 to present (post-COVID).
   Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
6. Do you have children in your program whose primary language is not English? 
   • If yes, please respond to the statement for each language option below: In my program I have children whose primary language is…
     • Spanish
       Chinese dialect: Cantonese or Mandarin
       Korean
       Vietnamese
       Japanese
       Polish
       Russian
       German
       French
       Farsi
       Hebrew
       Arabic
       Hindu/Urdu
       Other (please specify)
7. Please estimate the percentage of children in your program in each category. (These should add up to 100%.)
   • African American
     Caucasian/White
     Hispanic/Latino
     Native American
     Asian/Pacific Islander
     Multi-Racial
     Other
     TOTAL 100%
8. Do you accept children in your program whose families receive IDHS and/or IDCFS child care financial assistance (subsidy)?Yes, and I have had subsidized children enrolled at some point in the last 2 years
   • Yes, but I have not had subsidized children enrolled in the last 2 years
     If yes, during a typical week, how many children whose families receive IDHS and/or IDCFS child care financial assistance (subsidy) do you care for?
     If yes, how many families in your program receive assistance paying for child care (funding from government, employers, or local agencies)? Do not include discounts that you offer to families.
     If yes, do you charge parents more than the amount paid for with subsidy (including the state payment and parent co-payment)?
     If no, why not? (select all that apply)
     I don't know what the subsidy program is/I have never looked into it.
     Program doesn't qualify (i.e. Head Start, free program).
     Subsidy families can't afford or won't pay the tuition balance.
     We offer our own tuition break/scholarship to families in need.
     There are no interested families/families in need
     We don't have time for paperwork or the paperwork is too complicated.
     We need weekly operating funds.
     We have no openings.
     Other (please specify)
9. Using the scale below, please circle the response that best indicates how the number of children whose families receive IDHS and/or IDCFS child care financial assistance (subsidy) in your care has changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
10. If you served, from January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), children whose families receive child care financial assistance, how easy or difficult was it to collect the parents' share (co-payments, the difference between the state assistance and what you charge, etc.)?Very Easy, Somewhat Easy, Neither Easy nor Difficult, Somewhat Difficult, Very Difficult
11. If you serve, or have served since March 2020 (post-COVID), children whose families receive child care financial assistance, how easy or difficult has it been to collect the parents' share (co-payments, the difference between the state assistance and what you charge, etc.)? Very Easy, Somewhat Easy, Neither Easy nor Difficult, Somewhat Difficult, Very Difficult
12. From January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), had it become easier, more difficult, or about the same, to collect the parents' share of child care cost for those families in your program who receive assistance paying for child care? Much Easier, Somewhat Easier, About the Same, Somewhat More Difficult, Much More Difficult,
13. From March 2020 to present (post-COVID), has it become easier, more difficult, or about the same, to collect the parents' share of child care cost for those families in your program who receive assistance paying for child care?Much Easier, Somewhat Easier, About the Same, Somewhat More Difficult, Much More Difficult

COVID-19 IMPACT

1. After the Governor ordered the closure of child care facilities, did you: 
2. Decide to close
   Apply for emergency license to serve essential workers
3. If you closed, when did you open again?
4. Since reopening after initial mandated closures/regulations, have you had to close for any other period?
5. If you have had to close for any period since reopening or accepting more children, why? (check all that apply)
6. State/County/City mandated closure
   Potential COVID exposure
   Staff shortage
   Low enrollment
   Cost
   Personal Reasons
   Other
7. What was your average estimated enrollment January 31, 2020?
8. What was your average estimated enrollment 6 months later, roughly July 31, 2020?
9. What is your current estimated average enrollment?
10. Prior to COVID, how many days of operational reserves did your business have? (estimate if fine)
11. Did you need to apply for additional funding to remain open?
12. Yes
    No
13. If yes, did you successfully receive (check all that apply): ?
14. Paycheck Protection Program Loan (Federal)
    Economic Injury Disaster Loan (Federal)
    Child Care Restoration Grant (State)
    Emergency Child Care Stipend Program (CCR&R)
    Private Loan
    Other
15. Which of the following, if any, staffing challenges have you faced since the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020)? (Check all that apply)
16. Permanently laying off staff based on needs changing
    Temporarily laid off staff
    Staff who were temporarily laid off preferred to continue collecting unemployment
    Staff have expressed concern for health/safety to come back to work
    Staff have their own child care challenges based on closures and/or virtual schooling
    Have struggled to hire new staff when needed
    Staff missed work for COVID-19 exposure, or exposure in their home
    None/Other
17. Has filling roles become more or less difficult throughout the pandemic? Much Easier Somewhat Easier About the Same Somewhat More Difficult Much More Difficult
18. Have you had to close any classrooms due to inability to fill staff roles? 
19. Yes
    No
20. If yes, how many classrooms?
21. Has your enrollment capacity changed due to being unable to hire staff and thus unable to meet certain staff to children ratios? ?
    • Yes
      No
22. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being 'not at all worried/stressed' and 10 being 'the most worried/stressed I have ever been,' how would you rate your level of concern on the following issues:
23. Financial stability of program:
    Safety of myself and other staff members: 
    Health and well-being of families we serve: 
24. If you are interested in answering some more in depth questions about your COVID-19 impact/response, please leave your information below (again all answers are kept confidential, your contact information will only be used to send a follow-up virtual survey): Name: Email:

ABOUT YOUR STAFF

1. How many staff are in your program? List the number of staff within each category (categories a-f are teaching/instructional staff defined by DCFS licensing regulations).
   1. Administrative Director
   2. Director/Teacher
   3. Early Childhood Teacher
   4. Early Childhood Assistant/Aide
   5. School-Age Worker
   6. School-Age Assistant/Aide
   7. Curriculum Coordinator
   8. Family Support/Parent Educator 
   9. Cook 
   10. Administrative Support/Secretary e. School-Age Worker
   11. Building Support Staff (e.g., janitor, maintenance) 
   12. Other
2. Of the staff in categories b, c, and e above, how many lead teachers do you have? Please use the following definition of a lead teacher:
   • "The lead teacher is the individual with the highest educational qualifications assigned to teach a group/classroom of children and who is responsible for daily lesson planning, parent conferences, child assessment, and curriculum planning."
     • Depending on the program, this individual may be called a head teacher, master teacher, or teacher.
     • Each group/classroom will have one, and only one, lead teacher
3. Do you contract for any of the following regularly-provided services for your center? (select all that apply)
4. Food service
   Building cleaning
   Outdoor/Grounds maintenance
   Other (please specify)
5. How many of your administrative and teaching/instructional staff (staff titles a-f above) have a second paying job outside of your center?
6. Number of staff
   I don't know
7. Of these, have any started the second jobs over the course of the pandemic due to cut hours/wages?
8. Yes
   No
   I don't know
9. How many staff in your program are male? List the number of staff within each category who are male.
   1. Administrative Director
   2. Director/Teacher
   3. Early Childhood Teacher 
   4. Early Childhood Assistant/Aide 
   5. School-Age Worker 
   6. School-Age Assistant/Aide
10. How many staff in your program are fluent in a language other than English? List the number of staff within each category who are fluent in a non-English language.
    1. Administrative Director
    2. Director/Teacher
    3. Early Childhood Teacher
    4. Early Childhood Assistant/Aide
    5. School-Age Worker
    6. School-Age Assistant/Aide
11. If you have staff who are fluent in another language other than language, please identify the language(s) they are fluent in:
12. Spanish
    Chinese dialect: Cantonese or Mandarin
    Korean
    Vietnamese
    Japanese
    Polish
    Russian
    German
    French
    Farsi
    Hebrew
    Arabic 
    Hindu/Urdu
    Other (please specify)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Have you heard of the following programs and services?
2. Gateways to Opportunity Registry
   Great START
   Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program
   Gateways to Opportunity Credentials (i.e., Illinois Director Credential, ECE Credential, Infant Toddler Credential)
   Professional Development Advisor (PDA) Program
   ExceleRate Illinois Consultants/Specialists available through your local Child Care Resource & Referral Agency (i.e., Mental Health Consultant, Quality Specialist, Infant Toddler Specialist)
   Online trainings through iLearning
3. Do you have a staff professional development plan for your center?
4. Do you have an individual staff professional development plan for each of your teaching/instructional staff?
5. Do you offer in-service training opportunities for your teaching/instructional staff?
6. Do you pay for conference/training registration for your teaching/instructional staff?
7. In the last year, did you or any of your staff receive any training in early childhood education, child development, or health education from the following? (select all that apply)
8. Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) training
   Local community training
   Training at professional association meetings or conferences
   Online training
9. Do you feel there are adequate training opportunities available to you and your staff?
10. Yes
    No
11. Do you have a salary schedule that you share with your staff? 
    • Yes
      No
    • If no, do you have something other than a salary schedule?
      • If you use something other than a salary schedule, please specify what you do use.
    • If you DO have a salary schedule, is it differentiated by: (select all that apply) ?
      • Education level
      • Attainment of a Gateways Credential
      • Attainment other industry-recognized credentials (e.g., CDA, professional educator license)
      • Level of experience
      • Additional or supplementary training
      • Other (please specify)
12. For each position listed (as defined in DCFS licensing), what is the a) starting wage/salary for the position and b) highest wage/salary for the position? Please check the box to indicate whether you are providing an amount that is an hourly wage or an annual salary.
13. Administrative Director
    Director/Teacher
    Early Childhood Teacher
    Early Childhood Assistant/Aide 
    School-Age Worker
    School-Age Assistant/Aide
    
14. Approximately how many child care professionals in addition to your immediate staff did you speak to last week? (select one)
    • 0
      1-2
      3-5
      6-9
15. Approximately how many child care professionals do you know personally, in addition to your immediate staff? (select one)
    • 0
      1-2
      3-5
      6-9
      10  or more

STAFF TURNOVER AND REPLACEMENT

1. How many staff members have left your program in the last 24 months? Please refer to your permanent full-time and part-time staff members, not temporary, substitute, or seasonal staff.
   • Administrative Director
     Director/Teacher
     Early Childhood Teacher
     Early Childhood Assistant/Aide
     School-Age Worker
     School-Age Assistant/Aide
     Other (please specify)
2. Of the total number of staff above that left your program, how many left
   • Of their own choosing
     Not of their own choosing
     Of their own choosing (COVID-related)
     Not of their own choosing (COVID-related layoffs)
3. Of the staff that left your program of their own choosing, how many staff in each role left for each reason listed? Please indicate only the primary reason staff left your program
   • Dissatisfied with wages or benefits
     Dissatisfied with work schedule or availability of hours
     Not enough opportunities for professional development or growth
     Unhappy with the job duties
     Burnout
     Retirement
     Personal or family issues
     Staying at home with their own children
     Unknown / did not share a reason
4. Of the staff that left your program of their own choosing, how many
   • Opened their own child care center or family child care home
     Went to work at a different child care center
     Went to work within the public school system
     Found another job within the field of early care and education (not in a child care center, family child care home, or public school)
     Found another job outside of the field of early care and education
     Moved out of the area
     Went back to school
     Unknown / did not share
5. Please report the number of applicants who applied when you sought to fill a vacancy in the last two years. Write in the number of applicants by category of employee
   • Number of DCFS-qualified applicants
     Number of program qualified applicants (e.g., Head Start)
     Number of non-qualified applicants
6. Please report the number of male applicants who applied when you sought to fill a vacancy in the last two years. Write in the number of applicants by category of employee 
7. Please report the number of male applicants fluent in a language other than English who applied when you sought to fill a vacancy in the last two years. Write in the number of applicants by category of employee.
8. If there were any applicants fluent in a language other than English who applied when you sought to fill a vacancy in the last two years, please identify the language(s) they were fluent in:
   • Spanish
     Chinese dialect: Cantonese or Mandarin
     Korean
     Vietnamese
     Japanese
     Polish
     Russian
     German
     French
     Farsi
     Hebrew
     Arabic
     Hindu/Urdu
     Other (please specify)
9. How long did it take you to fill vacancies for each category of staff? For each category of staff, circle how long, on average, it took to fill the vacancy from the time you began your search until you filled the position. Less than one week, 1-2 weeks, 3-4 weeks, More than 4 weeks, Not applicable
   • Administrative Director
     Director/Teacher
     Early Childhood Teacher
     Early Childhood Assistant
     School-Age Worker
     School-Age Assistant
10. Please report the number of male applicants you have hired in the past two years, for each of the following staff categories. Write in the number of male hires by category of employee.
11. Please report the number of applicants fluent in a language other than English that you have hired in the past two years, for each of the following staff categories. Write in the number of hires fluent in a language other than English by category of employee.
12. If there were any applicants you hired who were fluent in a language other than English, please identify the language(s) they were/are fluent in:
    • Spanish
      Chinese dialect: Cantonese or Mandarin
      Korean
      Vietnamese
      Japanese
      Polish
      Russian
      German
      French
      Farsi
      Hebrew
      Arabic
      Hindu/Urdu
      Other (please specify)
13. Has the length of time to fill a vacancy changed over the last two years? For each category of staff, circle how long, on average, it took to fill the vacancy compared to two years ago.
    • Administrative Director
      Director/Teacher
      Early Childhood Teacher
      Early Childhood Assistant
      School-Age Worker
      School-Age Assistant
14. Generally, how easy or difficult has it been for you to fill positions in the past two years? For each category of staff, how easy or difficult has it been to fill that vacancy? Circle the response that best reflects your opinion.
    • Administrative Director
      Director/Teacher
      Early Childhood Teacher
      Early Childhood Assistant
      School-Age Worker
      School-Age Assistant
15. Have the staff you have hired in the past two years met or exceeded qualifications required in the DCFS licensing standards? For each category of staff, write in the number of staff you have hired who met, exceeded, or did not meet DCFS qualifications.
    • Administrative Director
      Director/Teacher
      Early Childhood Teacher
      Early Childhood Assistant
      School-Age Worker
      School-Age Assistant
16. Have the qualifications of your new hires changed over the last two years? Circle the response that best reflects your opinion of the qualifications of staff you have hired in the past two years compared to those you hired more than two years ago. Much Less, Qualified Somewhat, Less Qualified, Same Qualifications, Somewhat More Qualified, Much More Qualified, Not Applicable
    • Administrative Director
      Director/Teacher
      Early Childhood Teacher
      Early Childhood Assistant
      School-Age Worker
      School-Age Assistant
17. There are many reasons why people may not be attracted to employment in the child care field. How important, on a scale from 1="Not Important" to 5="Very Important", do you think each of the following reasons is? Circle the response for each reason that best reflects your opinion
    • Career opportunities in centers are not generally known by people choosing a profession
      Career opportunities are better in other professions or other child-oriented settings
      Child care is not seen as a professional career choice
      Salaries are low
      Benefits are not adequate
      Job openings in centers are not well adv
      Child care is not respected as a profession
      Other (please specify)

BENEFITS OFFERED TO STAFF

1. For each of the benefits listed below, please check whether your program offers that benefit to staff or whether that benefit is not offered to staff. Please respond based on what is offered/not offered for full-time staff and what is offered/not offered for part-time staff, as indicated below.
   • Free child care
     Reduced child care fees
     Paid sick days
     Paid holidays
     Paid personal/vacation days
     Paid time off for trainings
     Periodic increase in wages based on performance
     Yearly cost-of-living increase in wages
     Increase in wages based on educational advancement
     Increase in wages based on attainment of industry-recognized credential (e.g., Gateways Credential, CDA, professional educator license)
     Retirement or pension plan
     Health insurance
     Dental insurance
     Disability insurance
     Life insurance
     Payment/reimbursement for educational or training expenses (conference fees, tuition, travel costs, etc.)
     Formal mentoring/coaching
     Annual performance evaluation
     Written personnel policies available to the employee
     Separate staff area for breaks, lunch, staff resources
     Secure place for teachers' belongings

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS SURVEY!

Family Child Care Home Providers

Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies

Fiscal Year 2021 Illinois Child Care Salary and Staffing Survey

Family Child Care Home Providers

Instructions:

• Please read and follow all directions carefully for each question. For some questions, you will need to check the appropriate box; for some questions, you will need to circle the appropriate number; and for some questions, you will need to write in the appropriate number or information requested.
• Please DO NOT write your name anywhere on the questionnaire. We have given each survey a number to help us keep track of which providers have returned their forms and which need reminders. All information will be kept confidential.
• Please try to answer every question as accurately as possible, adding explanatory notes only when necessary.
• Please complete the questionnaire and return it in the enclosed, stamped envelope to: Jordan Norton INCCRRA 1226 Towanda Plaza Bloomington, IL 61701
• Thank you for taking valuable time out of your busy schedule to complete this survey. The survey will take approximately 45 minutes to complete. It need not be completed at one sitting, but we ask that you return it to us within 2 weeks of receiving it. Your investment of time will contribute to knowledge that will improve the conditions and address the needs of all child care providers in Illinois. Thank you again. Please return by June 30, 2021!

ENROLLMENT

1. What County does your program operate in?
2. During a typical week prior to March 2020 (pre-COVID), what is the largest number of children in your care at any time-excluding your own children?
3. During a typical week now (post-COVID), what is the largest number of children in your care at any time-excluding your own children?
4. Do you have children in your program whose primary language is not English?
   • • Yes
       No
   • If yes, please respond to the statement with each language option below: In my program I have children whose primary language is…
     • Spanish
       Chinese dialect: Cantonese or Mandarin
       Korean
       Vietnamese
       Japanese
       Polish
       Russian
       German
       French
       Farsi
       Hebrew
       Arabic
       Hindu/Urdu
       Other (please specify)
5. Please estimate the number of children in your program in each category. (These should add up to the total number of children you have enrolled.)
   • African American
     Caucasian/White
     Hispanic/Latino
     Native American
     Asian/Pacific Islander
     Multi-Racial
     Other
     Total
6. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes your enrollment pattern from January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID). There were always vacancies, There were often vacancies, There were sometimes vacancies, There were rarely vacancies, There were never vacancies 
7. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes your current enrollment pattern from March 2020 to present (post-COVID). There are always vacancies, There are often vacancies, There are sometimes vacancies, There are rarely vacancies, There are never vacancies
8. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes how your enrollment pattern changed from January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID). Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
9. Using the following scale, circle the response that best describes how your enrollment pattern changed from March 2020 (post-COVID). Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
10. Do you accept children in your program whose families receive IDHS and/or IDCFS child care financial assistance (subsidy)?
11. Using the scale below, please circle the response that best indicates how the number of children whose families receive IDHS and/or IDCFS child care financial assistance (subsidy) in your care has changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
12. 12. If you served, from January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), children whose families receive child care financial assistance, how easy or difficult has it been to collect the parents' share (co-payments, the difference between the state assistance and what you charge, etc.)? Very Easy, Somewhat Easy, Neither Easy nor Difficult, Somewhat Difficult, Very Difficult
13. If you serve, or have served from March 2020 to present (post-COVID), children whose families receive child care financial assistance, how easy or difficult has it been to collect the parents' share (co-payments, the difference between the state assistance and what you charge, etc.)?
14. 14. From January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), had it become easier, more difficult, or about the same to collect the parents' share of child care cost for those families in your program who receive assistance paying for child care? Much Easier, Somewhat Easier, About the Same, Somewhat More Difficult, Much More Difficult
15. 15. From March 2020 to present (post-COVID), has it become easier, more difficult, or about the same, to collect the parents' share of child care cost for those families in your program who receive assistance paying for child care? Much Easier, Somewhat Easier, About the Same, Somewhat More Difficult, Much More Difficult

COVID-19 IMPACT

1. After the Governor ordered the closure of child care facilities, did you: ? Decide to close ? Operate under restricted guidelines serving essential workers
2. If you closed, when did you open again?
3. Since reopening after initial mandated closures/regulations, have you had to close for any other period? ? Yes ? No
4. If you have had to close for any period since reopening or accepting more children, why? (select all that apply) ?
   • State/County/City mandated closure
     Potential COVID exposure
     Staff shortage
     Low enrollment
     Cost
     Personal Reasons
     Other
5. What was your average estimated enrollment January 31, 2020? 
6. What was your average estimated enrollment 6 months later, roughly July 31, 2020?
7. What is your current estimated average enrollment?
8. Prior to COVID, how many days of operational reserves did your business have? (an estimate is fine)
9. Did you need to apply for additional funding to remain open? ? Yes  No
10. If yes, did you successfully receive (check all that apply): ?
    • Paycheck Protection Program Loan (Federal)
      Economic Injury Disaster Loan (Federal)
      Child Care Restoration Grant (State)
      Emergency Child Care Stipend Program (CCR&R)
      Private Loan
      Other: 
11. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being 'not at all worried/stressed' and 10 being 'the most worried/stressed I have ever been,' how would you rate your level of concern on the following issues:
    • Financial stability of program:
      Safety of myself and other staff members:
      Health and well-being of families we serve:
      If you are interested in answering some more in depth questions about your COVID-19 impact/response, please leave your information below (again all answers are kept confidential, your contact information will only be used to send a follow-up virtual survey): Name: Email

ASSISTANTS

1. How many paid assistant caregivers do you have? (If you have no paid assistants, write "0".) If you do have paid assistants, how much, on average, do you pay your assistants? If you do have paid assistants, how many hours during an average week do assistants work with you?
2. How many unpaid assistant caregivers do you have? (If you have no unpaid assistants, write "0".)

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

1. In the last year, did you participate in any training in early childhood education, child development, or health education from the following? (select all that apply) ?
   • Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) training
     Local community training
     Training at professional association meetings or conferences
     Online training
     If you selected any of the above, approximately how many hours of training did you attend last year? 
2. In the last two years, have you completed any college coursework in early childhood education or child development? ? Yes ? No
   • If yes, how many credit hours did you complete in early childhood education or child development in the last two years?
     • Semester Hours
       Quarter Hours 
3. Do you feel you have adequate training opportunities? ? Yes ? No
4. What difficulties, if any, have you had trying to find appropriate training or educational opportunities? (select all that apply) ?
   • My community does not have enough courses or workshops.
     The cost of training is too high.
     The quality of training is not good.
     Most opportunities are during the day so it is difficult for me to attend.
     I am unable to take time away from my family to take more training.
     I am unable to take time away from my work to take more training.
     There is no reason to pursue more training.
     Technology Issues
     Other (please specify)

EARNINGS AND BENEFITS

1. What are your gross annual earnings (income before taxes and expenses, not money from Great START or Gateways Scholarship Program) from your child care program?
2. What are your net annual earnings (income after taxes and expenses, not money from Great START or Gateways Scholarship Program) from your child care program after deducting costs of providing care? If the amount is negative, (if you spend more on expenses than you receive in earnings), be sure to include a negative sign ( - ) in front of the amount.
3. What are your annual expenses (such as food, utilities, insurance, or materials) to provide care, not including your wages? $
4. From January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), how had your gross (before taxes and deductions) annual earnings changed? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly 
5. From March 2020 to present (post-COVID), how have your gross (before taxes and deductions) annual earnings changed? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
6. From January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), how did your net (your "take home") annual earnings change? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
7. From March 2020 to present (post-COVID), how have your net (your "take home") annual earnings changed? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat Increased Greatly
8. From January 2019 to March 2020 (pre-COVID), how had your annual expenses changed? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
9. From March 2020 to present (post-COVID), how have your annual expenses changed? Please respond by circling your response on the following scale: Decreased Greatly, Decreased Somewhat, Stayed About the Same, Increased Somewhat, Increased Greatly
10. Prior to March 2020 (pre-COVID), how many hours per week, on average, were you paid for taking care of children (not counting your own children)?
11. Currently, how many hours per week, on average, are you paid for taking care of children (not counting your own children)?
12. Prior to March 2020 (pre-COVID), how many hours per week, on average, did you spend on different aspects of your child care business after the children leave or before they arrive (such as preparing food for the children, shopping, cleaning, record keeping, or preparing educational activities)?
13. Currently, how many hours per week, on average, do you spend on different aspects of your child care business after the children leave or before they arrive (such as preparing food for the children, shopping, cleaning, record keeping, or preparing educational activities)? 
14. How many weeks per year do you operate?
15. Please respond to the statement with each option below: Are you paid when…
    • children are absent because they are sick?
      children are on vacation?
      you are closed for holidays?
      you are closed for vacation days?
      you are closed for sick days?
      you are closed for training days?
      you are closed for other reasons?
      If yes, please specify the other reasons
16. Do you charge extra when children are picked up late or dropped off early? If yes, approximately how much per minute? $ 
17. Do you close for any of the following reasons below? (If Yes, please also write in the number of days per year you are closed for that reason.)
    • Holidays? ? Yes, days per year
      Vacation? ? Yes,  days per year
      Sick Days? ? Yes, days per year
      Training? ? Yes,  days per year
      Other Days Off? ? Yes,  days per year
18. Do you participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program?
19. If you do participate in the Child Care and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), did you participate before the COVID-19 pandemic began?
20. Do you contribute to Social Security and Medicare for yourself?
21. In the last year, have you set aside any savings for your retirement?
22. Are you currently covered by any kind of health insurance or medical plan? If yes, who pays for your health insurance? (select one) ?
    • My spouse's employer pays 100%.
      My spouse's employer pays a partial amount.
      I purchase my own health insurance.
      I am Medicaid/Medicare eligible.
      Other (please specify) 
23. In the past two years, have you received any of the following types of financial assistance?
    • TANF/AFDC
      Medicaid/Medicare for yourself 
      Medicaid for your child(ren) 
      Subsidized housing/Section 8
      Food stamps/SNAP 
      FamilyCare for yourself 
      AllKids for your child(ren)
      COVID relief funding (CCRG, PPP, etc.) 
      Other (please specify) 
24. Do you have any other paid jobs, in additional to providing child care in your home? If yes, did you have another paid job before the COVID-19 pandemic began?
25. Does at least one other adult in your household contribute to your household income? 

PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT

1. Do you have at least one other child care provider you can talk to if you have a problem in your program? 
2. Approximately how many child care professionals in addition to your immediate staff did you speak to last week? (select one) 
3. Approximately how many child care professionals do you know personally, in addition to your immediate staff? (select one) 
4. In the past two years, have you contacted your local child care resource and referral agency for help or information when you have had a question or problem?
5. Have you contacted your local child care resource and referral agency for help or information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic?
6. Are you a member of a child care providers' organization? 
7. Have you heard of the following programs and services?
   • Gateways to Opportunity Registry
     Great START
     Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program 
     Gateways to Opportunity Credentials (i.e., Illinois Director Credential, ECE Credential, Infant Toddler Credential, Family Child Care Credential) 
     Professional Development Advisor (PDA) Program
     ExceleRate Illinois 
     Consultants/Specialists available through your local Child Care Resource & Referral Agency (i.e., Mental Health Consultant, Quality Specialist, Infant Toddler Specialist)
     Online trainings through iLearning
8. How much longer do you think you will continue to offer child care in your home?
   • Number of years
     I don't know
9. In the past two years, have you considered no longer providing care? 
   • If you have considered no longer providing care in the past two years, why? How important, on a scale from 1="Not Important" to 5="Very Important" are each of the following in your consideration for no longer providing child care?
     • Dissatisfied with salary
       Dissatisfied with benefits
       Want to go back to school
       Working hours are too long
       Not enough work hours
       Enrollments are too low
       Enrollments are too high
       Frustration with parents
       Too little respect for what child care providers do
       Health problems
       Moving/Relocating
       Too much stress
       Too little time off
       Isolation Economic stresses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic
       Physical stresses/health issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic
       Retirement Other personal reason(s)
       Other reason (please specify) 

     If you have considered no longer providing care in the past two years, how important, on a scale from 1="Not Important" to 5="Very Important" would each of the following be to make you want to continue providing child care?

     • Help with problem solving
       More contact with other providers
       Respite care (a substitute to allow me time off)
       Being part of a professional organization
       Access to family child care training
       Lower enrollments
       Higher enrollments
       Higher income
       Better benefits
       More time off
       More work hours
       Other reason (please specify) 
10. In the past two years, have opportunities for child care providers become better, stayed the same, or become worse? (select one) Better, Stayed the same, ? Worse
    • Please explain your selection:
11. Rate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements about providing child care by circling the number that best corresponds with your opinion. Note that 1="Strongly Disagree" and 5="Strongly Agree".
    • I consider myself an early childhood educator/professional.
      I consider myself a small business owner.
      I do not provide child care services for the money.
      Getting more training helps me become more professional.
      Because I am my own boss, I can set my rates and policies to meet my needs. 
      I would like more education/training related to family child care.
      I provide child care to earn an income
      I provide child care to stay at home with my children/grandchildren.
      I enjoy teaching children.
      I like being in business for myself. 

PERSONAL PROFILE

1. How old are you? (select one)  Under 20 years,  40-49 years, 20-29 year, 50-59 years, 30-39 years, 60 years +
2. What is your gender? (select one)  Female  Male
3. How do you identify your race/ethnicity? (select one)
   • African American
     Asian/Pacific Islander
     Caucasian/White
     Multi-Racial
     Hispanic/Latino
     Native American
     Other ? 
4. Is your primary language English? 
   • If no, which language is your primary language? (select one)
   • Spanish
     German
     Chinese dialect: Cantonese or Mandarin
     French
     Korean
     Farsi
     Vietnamese
     Hebrew
     Japanese
     Arabic
     Polish
     Hindu/Urdu
     Russian
     Other (please specify) 
5. How long have you been taking care of children in your home for pay? 
6. Have you ever been employed as a child care center teacher, child care center assistant, or child care center director or as a public school teacher? Yes No If yes, for how many years? 

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS SURVEY!
 

Appendix B: Child Care Resource and Referral System Map

Appendix C: Licensing Standards for Center Staffing

From Licensing Standards for Day Care Centers April 1, 2010 - P.T. 2010.04

TITLE 89: SOCIAL SERVICES
CHAPTER III: DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES
SUBCHAPTER e: REQUIREMENTS FOR LICENSURE
PART 407 LICENSING STANDARDS FOR DAY CARE CENTERS

Section 407.130 Qualifications for Child Care Director

1. Day care centers licensed for more than 50 children shall employ a full-time child care director to be on site in a non-teaching capacity. The director may be on site in a teaching capacity at the following times:
   1. During the first hour and last hour of a program that operates 10 or more hours per day; or
   2. hen attendance falls below 50 children.
2. Day care centers licensed for 50 or fewer children, or half-day programs with children attending no more than 3 consecutive hours per day regardless of capacity, may employ a child care director who also serves as a member of the child care staff.
   1. When the director serves in both capacities, he or she must meet the qualifications of both the director position and the teaching position.
   2. When the director attends to non-teaching responsibilities, his or her group must be supervised by a person qualified to be in charge of a group.
3. The child care director shall be at least 21 years of age.
4. The child director shall have a high school diploma or equivalency certificate (GED).
5. In addition to meeting the requirements of Section 407.100, the child care director of a facility serving the same number of groups of pre-school and school-age children or more groups of pre-school children than groups of school-age children shall have achieved:
   1. Sixty semester or 90 quarter hours of credit from an accredited college or university with 18 semester or 27 quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development from birth to age 6; or
   2. Two years (3120 clock hours) of child development experience in a nursery school, kindergarten, or licensed day care center, 30 semester or 45 quarter hours of college credits with ten semester or 15 quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, and proof of enrollment in an accredited college or university until two years of college credit have been achieved. A total of 18 semester or 27 quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development is required to be obtained within the total two years of college credits; or
   3. Completion of a credentialing program approved in accordance with Appendix G of this Part, completion of 12 semester or 18 quarter hours in courses related to child care and/or child development from birth to age 6 at an accredited college or university, and 2 years (3120 clock hours) child development experience in a nursery school, kindergarten or licensed day care center.
6. In addition to meeting the requirements of Section 407.100, the child care director of a facility serving more groups of school-age children than groups of pre-school children shall have achieved:
   1. Sixty semester or 90 quarter hours of credit from an accredited college or university with 18 semester or 27 quarter hours in courses related to child care and/or child development, elementary education, physical education, recreation, camping, or other related fields, including courses related to school-age children; or
   2. Two years (3120 clock hours) of child development experience in a recreational program, kindergarten, or licensed day care center serving school-age children, or licensed exempt school-age child care program operated by a public or private school, 30 semester or 45 quarter hours of college credits with 10 semester or 15 quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, elementary education, physical education, recreation, camping or other related fields, and proof of enrollment in an accredited college or university until two years of college credit have been achieved. A total of 18 semester or 27 quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, elementary education, physical education, recreation, camping or other related fields, including courses related to school-age children, is required to be obtained within the total two years of college credits.
7. Completion of a training program accredited by the American Montessori Society or Association of Montessori International may be substituted for the courses directly related to child care and/or child development required by this Section. Persons holding a Montessori pre-primary credential may serve as director to children through age six. Persons holding a Montessori primary or elementary credential may serve as director to children six years of age or older.
8. Persons who were deemed qualified to serve as a child care director prior to January 1, 1985, continue to be deemed qualified for their position.
9. When a program serves only school-age children and meets the criteria for Section 407.90(c), qualifications for the school-age director responsible for multiple sites and the site coordinators shall be as follows:
   1. The school-age director and each site coordinator shall be at least 21 years of age.
   2. The school-age director shall meet both the following requirements for education and experience:
      1. Sixty semester or 90 quarter hours of credit from an accredited college or university, with 18 semester or 27 quarter hours in courses related to school-age child care, child development, elementary education, physical education, recreation, camping or other related fields; and
      2. At least 1560 clock hours of child development experience in a recreational program or a licensed day care center serving school-age children.
   3. The school-age site coordinators must meet one of the following qualifications:
      1. Thirty semester or 45 quarter hours of credit from an accredited college or university with 12 semester or 18 quarter hours related to school-age child care, child development, elementary education, physical education, recreation, camping or other related fields and 750 clock hours of experience in a recreational program or a licensed day care center serving school-age children or in a license exempt school-age child care program operated by a public or private school; or
      2. 1560 clock hours of experience in a recreational program or licensed day care center serving school-age children or license exempt school-age child care program operated by a public or private school and either 6 semester hours or 9 quarter hours of credit from an accredited college or university related to school-age child care, child development, elementary education, physical education, recreation, camping or other related fields.
10. A staff member who meets the qualifications for a day care center director shall be designated to assume decision-making responsibility whenever the child care director is off-site. A record of employees who meet the qualifications for director and who have been designated to assume decision-making responsibility in the director's absence shall be kept at the site. All day care staff shall be informed of the designated director at each occurrence. The person designated as alternate director may be in the classroom and counted in the staff/child ratio under the following circumstances:
    1. When the center meets the criteria of Section 407.130(b); or
    2. During the first hour and last hour of a program that operated 10 or more hours per day; or
    3. When attendance falls below 50 children.
11. The child care director must successfully complete a basic training course of 6 or more clock hours on providing care to children with disabilities that has been approved by the Department. The day care center shall have on file a certificate attesting to the training of the child care director.
    1. Persons employed as a child care director shall complete this training within 36 months from date appointed as child care director.
    2. A child care director who has completed training prior to employment may have that training approved as meeting the provisions of this subsection (k). A certificate of training completion and a description of the course content must be submitted to the Department for approval.
    3. A child care director who obtains approved training and moves from one day care facility to another shall not be required to take another training course as long as the child care director can provide documentation in the form of a certificate that the training was completed.
    4. A training program approved by the Department in providing care for children with disabilities must include the following components:
       1. Introduction to Inclusive Child Care;
       2. Understanding Child Development in Relation to Disabilities;
       3. Building Relationships With Families;
       4. Preparing for and Including Young Children in Child Care Setting;
       5. Community Services for Young Children with Disabilities (including Early Intervention Services).
12. By July 1, 2017, the following education requirements for licensed day care center staff shall be met.
    1. All new child care directors hired on or after July 1, 2017 shall have a minimum of an associate degree in child development or early childhood education, or the equivalent (defined as 64 semester hours in any discipline with a minimum of 21 semester hours of college credit in child development, early childhood education or early childhood special education) and either a Gateways to Opportunity Level I Illinois Director Credential (see 89 Ill. Adm. Code 50.720(b) and http://www.ilgateways.com/en/illinois-director-credential-idc) or 3 semester hours of college credit or 3 points of credential approved training in administration, leadership or management.
    2. Effective July 1, 2017, licensed child care centers must have an employee on site at all times with a minimum of an associate degree in child development or early childhood education or the equivalent (defined as 64 semester hours in any discipline with a minimum of 21 semester hours of college credit in child development, early childhood education or early childhood special education).
13. Directors shall submit to their local licensing office a certificate of completion of lead safety training consisting of instruction in the following topics:
    1. Mitigation plan strategies for test results of 2.01 ppb or above; and
    2. Impact of lead exposure.

(Source: Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 224, effective January 1, 2019)

Section 407.140 Qualifications for Early Childhood Teachers and School-Age Workers

(Source: Amended at 28 Ill. Reg. 3011, effective February 15, 2004)

Section 407.150 Qualifications for Early Childhood Assistants and School-Age Worker Assistants

(Source: Amended at 34 Ill. Reg. 4700, effective March 22, 2010)

Appendix D: Supplemental Material

For additional information on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected child care facilities in the state of Illinois, please view the supplemental report from INCCRRA's Data and Research Department, Illinois COVID-19 Surveys of Child Care Facilities

Appendix E: Acknowledgements

We gratefully appreciate the support of the Illinois Department of Human Services and its Division of Early Childhood for the opportunity to conduct these analyses, and for proofreading earlier drafts of this report and making important editorial comments.