The number of children born to immigrant parents in the U.S. is rising dramatically, now accounting for one in four of all children under the age of 6, but these children may not be getting the same quality childcare as native-born children, according to a new report from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI).
For healthy development and academic success, it's essential for immigrant children who speak English as a second language to receive high-quality early learning experiences, according to the report.
"However ... children of immigrants are enrolled in pre-K at lower rates in most states than their peers with U.S.-born parents," the report reads.
Though immigrant workers now make up 18 percent of the total early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce, "immigrant workers - and the linguistic and cultural diversity that they bring to the field - are highly over-represented in lower-skilled and lower-paying sectors," the report reads.
Most immigrant child care workers work in home- and family-based child care programs, while "few hold leadership positions as center directors or work as pre-K teachers." Immigrant children are also more likely to be enrolled in home-based programs.
MPI contends that because home-based programs pay the lowest wages, children in these programs receive lower-quality care.
"Low wages are so clearly linked to lower program quality," said Maki Park, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.
According to the report, "Racial stratification across lower- and higher-paying sectors of the workforce may send adverse messages to young children, signaling potential barriers to advancement for immigrant workers."
The report also notes that 54 percent of immigrant ECEC workers have limited English proficiency, while 19 percent are both limited in their English proficiency and have less than a high school diploma.
Current trends requiring higher levels of education "may have the indirect result of pushing immigrant workers with less formal education out of the ECEC field, in turn diminishing the linguistic and cultural competence of the workforce overall," according to the report.
In the absence of carefully planned workforce training strategies to help these workers improve their linguistic and cultural competency skills to meet requirements, immigrant workers will likely be left behind, as will the children they care for.
"Considering the needs of immigrant workers in ECEC policy and capacity-building efforts is not only strategic but also an urgent necessity," MPI concluded.
"As investment in early childhood programming expands and the young child population continues to become increasingly diverse, the training, compensation, and other needs of the ECEC workforce bear further examination - particularly those of workers who bring much-needed cultural diversity and language skills but who appear to face barriers to advancement."
