Child care director vs early head start director

The differences between child care directors and early head start directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a child care director and an early head start director. Additionally, an early head start director has an average salary of $39,448, which is higher than the $37,471 average annual salary of a child care director.

The top three skills for a child care director include customer service, childhood and critical care. The most important skills for an early head start director are social work, child development, and childhood.

Child care director vs early head start director overview

	Child Care Director	Early Head Start Director
Yearly salary	$37,471	$39,448
Hourly rate	$18.01	$18.97
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	79,105	16,978
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 56%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	4

Child care director vs early head start director salary

Child care directors and early head start directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Child Care Director	Early Head Start Director
Average salary	$37,471	$39,448
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $57,000	Between $25,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	Easton, PA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Pennsylvania	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Anthem	Columbia University in the City of New York
Best paying industry	-	Professional

Differences between child care director and early head start director education

There are a few differences between a child care director and an early head start director in terms of educational background:

	Child Care Director	Early Head Start Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 56%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Early Childhood Education	Early Childhood Education
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Pennsylvania

Child care director vs early head start director demographics

Here are the differences between child care directors' and early head start directors' demographics:

	Child Care Director	Early Head Start Director
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 16.9% Female, 83.1%	Male, 10.6% Female, 89.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 13.7% Asian, 4.3% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.1% Asian, 4.3% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	16%	16%

Differences between child care director and early head start director duties and responsibilities

Child care director example responsibilities.

Manage care for k-5 kids before and after school.
Establish cooperative relationship with state/regional USDA CACFP office.
Require to acquire CPR, first aid, a training.
Develop compliance and audit program for Medicare.
Certify medication & CPR, maintain portfolio for each student
Charge clients for daycare payments and merchandise using POS system.

Early head start director example responsibilities.

Lead program development for an early childhood education initiative.
Provide technical assistance to EHS staff i.e.
Implement direct early childhood development education, health, nutrition, and social services to children and families.
Monitor regulations at the NAEYC accredit program sites.
Ensure all classrooms exceed NAEYC accreditation standards and guidelines.
Participate and develop the design of EHS internal structures, systems and policies.

Child care director vs early head start director skills

Common child care director skills

Customer Service, 19%
Childhood, 10%
Critical Care, 9%
Child Development, 8%
Quality Care, 7%
CPR, 6%

Common early head start director skills

Social Work, 14%
Child Development, 8%
Childhood, 8%
Social Services, 8%
Community Resources, 6%
Child Care, 5%

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Child Care Director
Child Care Director vs Early Head Start Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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