Space Speaks! Early Childhood Spaces and Cultural Diversity

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For many years I worked as a director of a NAEYC accredited and Reggio-inspired early childhood program located in the Pilsen area, a predominantly Mexican community in Chicago. The Chicago Commons Guadalupano Family Center where I worked strongly valued cultural differences. Making children and their families feel at home was important to our program, and providing our children with diverse, multicultural experiences was a key component. We strived to create an environment that was welcoming and represented the culture of the families we served. 


The following are some examples of ways we demonstrated our commitment to valuing the diversity of our children. These are ideas you too can do to help children and parents feel welcome in your program. You’ll see some photos of how we worked in these values into our space: 


  1. Add books, pictures, music, furniture, and other materials such as pots and pans, dishes, and pottery that represent families’ culture or are relevant to their culture to the dramatic play area. 
  2. Serve a variety of foods that are common in the families’ cultures. 
  3. Add furniture from their culture to common areas such as parents waiting areas. 
  4. Hire staff that speak the parents’ and child’s home language, live in their community, and/or understand their culture. 
  5. Translate materials, such as projects and artwork displays throughout the program, into families’ home language(s). 
  6. Create a mural or other display where families can tell stories about where they came from or stories from/about their communities. 
  7. Create displays where families can express their hopes and dreams for their children. 


Parents and children feel valued when there are visual representations of their culture/community throughout the program and when program staff speak their home language. In addition to making families feel valued, this will also help children develop a sense of belonging. 

Interested in exploring this topic more? I invite you to check out the following resources: 


Migdalia Young is an Assessor and Training Specialist at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership. Prior to joining the McCormick Center, Migdalia worked for many years as a director of a NAEYC Accredited and Reggio-inspired early childhood program.

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Examining the Role of Employer Benefits and Turnover in Center-based Child Care

By Robyn Kelton, M.A. • June 27, 2025
INTRODUCTION Turnover rates in child care are among the highest in education, with over 160,000 workforce openings predicted annually (Bassok et al., 2014; Doromal et al., 2022; Joughin, 2021; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). While some turnover is expected and even necessary, the levels of turnover experienced in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) are not only alarmingly high but deeply problematic. In 2021, a national survey conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children found that over 80% of child care centers were experiencing a staffing shortage, with the majority of those programs reporting one-to-five open roles, but 15% reporting between six and 15 open roles (NAEYC, 2021). Staffing shortages result in lost revenue, financial uncertainty, and program instability, often forcing administrators to operate below capacity and/or under reduced hours (NAEYC, 2021; NAEYC, 2024; Zero to Three, 2024). Limited enrollment slots and classroom and program closures lead to increased waiting lists (Zero to Three, 2024; Carrazana, 2023). In turn, families are placed in a highly vulnerable position of needing to leave the workforce to stay home with their child or turn to potentially unsafe or unregulated child care. Moreover, increased turnover in classrooms interrupts continuity of care and disrupts the relationships built between children and their educators (Reidt-Parker, J., & Chainski, M. J. (2015). Research has begun to highlight some of the programmatic and personnel characteristics predictive of increased staff turnover in ECEC programs. Low wages are most commonly identified as a strong predictor of turnover (Amadon et al., 2023; Bryant et al., 2023; Fee, 2024; Guevara, 2022; Totenhagen et al., 2016). However, workforce advocates and some researchers have begun to expand conversations on compensation to explore the impact the profession’s general lack of benefits such as paid time off, access to health insurance, and retirement benefits has on retention (e.g., Amadon et al., 2023; Bryant et al., 2023; Fee, 2024; Lucas, 2023). While informative, this body of work has typically approached benefits as binary variables (i.e., have or do not have) rather than reflect the spectrum on which benefits are commonly offered (e.g., the number of days off, the percent of insurance covered by the employer, and levels of retirement matching funds). This Research Note aims to expand on previous work investigating the relationship between benefits and turnover by exploring the possibility of a more nuanced relationship between the variables to determine if the level of benefits offered impacts turnover rates. METHOD This study used data collected via formal Program Administration Scale, 3rd Edition (PAS-3) assessments conducted by Certified PAS-3 Assessors between 2023 and 2025. To become certified, PAS-3 assessors must first achieve reliability (a score of at least 86%) on a test conducted after four days of training on the tool. Next, they must conduct two PAS assessments within three months of reliability training. PAS-3 national anchors reviewed the completed assessments for consistency, accuracy, and completeness. The study analyzed data from 133 PAS-3 assessments collected during the certification process across 12 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Mariana Islands.  Measures Data for this study were collected using the PAS-3, a valid and reliable tool used to measure and improve Whole Leadership practices in center-based programs (Talan, Bella, Jorde Bloom, 2022). The PAS-3 includes 25 items, each composed of 2-5 indicator strands and scored on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = inadequate, 3 = minimal, 5 = good, and 7 = excellent). Item scores are averaged to determine a mean PAS-3 score. Of particular interest to this study is Item 5: Benefits. Item 5 measures employee access to health insurance and considers what percentage of the cost is paid by the employer, the total number of paid time off days within the first and fifth years of employment, access to a retirement plan, and the percentage at which the employer will match the employee’s contribution. Last, Item 5 explores provisions made to cover the costs of staff’s professional development. Non-applicable is allowed as a response for indicators related to health insurance and retirement if there are no full-time staff employed by the program. Sample Program enrollment ranged in size from four children to 285, with a mean enrollment of 65 and a median of 55. Total program staff for the sample ranged from two to 44 staff, with an average of just under 14 staff (13.93) and a standard deviation of 8.80. Table 1 below provides a detailed breakdown of staff by role and full-time and part-time status.
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