Join the Value. Voice. Vote. Movement

Every May, we pause during Teacher Appreciation Week to say thank you to the educators who show up for children every single day. And every year, "thank you" feels both necessary and insufficient. 

Early childhood educators are doing some of the most consequential work in our society. Their success, documented in quality research, is unambiguous. The experiences of children in their earliest years shape their brains, their relationships, their sense of self, and their futures. And the people responsible for holding those years with care, intention, and skill are among the lowest-paid professionals in the country, earning a medium wage of about $15 an hour. 

Teacher Appreciation Week is a moment to say thank you. It is also a moment to be honest about what it means to truly value someone's work — and what it looks like when we don't. 

Why Early Childhood Educators Deserve More Than a Thank You

This year, as NAEYC marks 100 years of advancing the early childhood field, we invited educators, leaders, advocates, and others to share their reflections. Stories have come in from across the country and beyond. What they reveal, over and over, is a workforce that chose this work on purpose, grew into it deeply, and has been asked to sustain it on wages that don't reflect its worth. 

"I recall telling people outside my job that I worked as a teacher, and I always got the question, 'What grade?' When I would share that it was with infants or toddlers, almost every response was, 'So you babysit?' Or 'so you just watch kids all day?' I would simply ignore it or laugh it off because at the time, I really didn't have the knowledge or the words."

— Mary S.
Online Community Manager at NAEYC and former ECE educator 

"I stopped minimizing early childhood education as 'just the beginning' and began honoring it as the foundation. I found true belonging in a field that understands what it means to plant seeds that others will harvest and to do that work with joy, even when the world doesn't always see its value."

— Sharelle G.
Mom, Trainer, and Advocate

The Gap Between What We Know and What We Fund

The people doing this work have always known its value. The gap isn't in their understanding of what they do. The gap is between what the field knows and what our broader systems have been willing to invest. 

It closes when early childhood educators are seen as the constituents and voters they are. It closes when policymakers and candidates are asked directly where they stand on child care funding, workforce compensation, and the true cost of quality. It closes when the profession shows up — at town halls, at the ballot box, in conversations with the people who write policy and budgets. 

That's the premise behind NAEYC's Value. Voice. Vote. campaign — that appreciation for this workforce has to translate into civic action if we want it to translate into systemic change.to translate into systemic change. 

The Ripple Effect of Early Childhood Education

Early childhood educators and those who appreciate them see how they shape not only the early years, but the trajectory of their students’ lives. 

"I saw how he blossomed under their care, how he learned to trust his voice, how he transformed from 'I can't' to 'I can.' That transformation didn't just change him; it changed me. It showed me the profound impact early educators have on the lives of children and families."

— Kashonda L.
Early Childhood Educator and Mom 

"I attended the high school graduation of a student from my very first infant class. Standing there, watching that young adult cross the stage, I saw the long-term reality of the work we do in those earliest years." 

— Natalie W.
ECE professor/faculty member/administrator 

Making Teacher Appreciation Week Count Beyond May

One hundred years into NAEYC's history, the field has never been more ready to make that case. The stories, the research, the relationships, the reach — it's all there. What comes next depends on what the field does with it between now and Election Day. 

So this week, we say thank you to every early childhood educator — sincerely, and with full knowledge of what that thanks is and isn't worth on its own. You deserve wages, benefits, and working conditions that match the importance of what you do. And you deserve leaders at every level of government who understand that. 

Your value is clear. Now let's make sure your voice is heard. 

NAEYC is celebrating 100 years of advancing early childhood education through the Year of Reflections campaign. Share your story at NAEYC.org/centennial/year-of-reflections  

Learn more about Value. Voice. Vote. at NAEYC.org/value-voice-vote