Last week, New America, a Washington, D.C., think tank, hosted a policy event called, “At the Breaking Point: How to Better Compensate and Support Teachers of Our Youngest Learners.”

It was a panel discussion on workforce challenges that you can watch by clicking on the video above or by clicking here.

“Teaching and caring for young children is skilled and challenging work. Yet current conditions cause many early childhood educators to come to work each morning exhausted, worried about how to pay their bills, and even clinically depressed,” New America says.

Stories of struggling early educators have been told by the New York Times as well as Boston Magazine.

“States working to improve early care and education must understand what it takes to attract and retain a high-quality workforce,” New America adds.

In Massachusetts, legislators have made progress on investing in the workforce, but there is still more work to do both here and across the country.

New America’s event adds to the workforce discussion by looked at policy and research.

“The average income for the early childhood education workforces is remarkably low,” Laura Bornfreund, New America’s director of Early & Elementary Education Policy, said in the event’s introduction. “Right here in the Washington region, where the cost of living is very high, it is less than $30,000.”

Bornfreund was followed by two panel discussions.

A panel on research moderated by Abbie Lieberman, a senior policy analyst at New America, featured:

George Phillip
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment

Kathleen Gallagher
Director of Research and Evaluation, Buffett Early Childhood Institute, and

Rebecca Madill
Research Scientist, Child Trends

A panel discussion on policy and practice moderated by Aaliyah Samuel, the Education Division director at the National Governors Association, featured:

Ruth Schmidt
Executive Director, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association

Erin Carroll
Director of Classroom and Workforce Improvement, Louisiana Department of Education Office of Early Childhood

Jacqueline Hines
Board Member, DC AEYC, and

Jamal Berry
School Director, Educare Washington, D.C.

We want to give a special shout-out to Erin Carroll from the Louisiana Department of Education because she’s also a former Strategies for Children intern.

Please be sure to check out the video of this event — and share important points from it with your communities, social media networks, and elected officials.