National Survey of Early Care and Education

NCT02188329 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: HHHSP23320095647WC, 23337017T
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 31,436
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The primary purpose of the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) was to provide a comprehensive snapshot of both the availability and utilization of early care and education in the United States. The main objectives of the study included:

• Providing the first national portrait of the availability of early care and education for the full spectrum of care providers, including householders and providers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• Identifying early care and education and school-age care (ECE/SA) needs and preferences among households in the United States with children under age 13 as they pertain to supporting both the employment of parents and the development of children.
• Capturing data on all forms of non-parental care for all children in a household.
• Providing the perspectives of both families and providers on the services offered in a system where children are often in multiple arrangements and providers receive funding from multiple sources.
• Linking the data set collected with policy-relevant data.
• Increasing the understanding of the care received by low-income children and how that varies across communities. The NSECE is a set of four integrated, nationally representative surveys conducted in 2012. These were surveys of 1) households with children under 13, 2) home-based providers 3) center-based providers, and 4) the center-based provider workforce. Together they characterize the supply of and demand for early care and education in America and permit better understanding of how well families' needs and preferences coordinate with providers' offerings and constraints.

Conditions

Supply and Demand of Early Care and Education in the US

Keywords

Early care and education; ECE; workforce; child care; caregivers; home-based providers; center-based providers

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Need for and use of childcare in households with children under 13

  The household questionnaire collected information on each household's need for and use of early care and education services, including details on usage of non-parental care, expenditures on non-parental care, parental search behavior for early care and education, and the balance of parental employment with child care needs and availability.

  At time of interview

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Provision and characteristics of child care among center-based providers

  At time of interview

Other Outcomes (2)

• Provision and characteristics of child care among home-based providers

  At time of interview

• Characteristics and experiences of the ECE workforce

  At the time of interview

Study Arms (4)

Households with children under 13

Interviews were conducted with the parent or guardian of a child or children under age 13.

Home-based providers

Individuals who provide care in a home-based setting to children under age 13 who are not their own.

Center-based providers

Directors of early care and education programs that provide care to children not yet in kindergarten.

Center-based workforce

Classroom-assigned instructional staff sampled from each center-based provider who completed an interview.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Households with children under 13 years. Individuals providing at least 5 hours' weekly care to children under 13 years not their own in a home-based setting. Early care and education centers serving children not yet in kindergarten. Individuals working in center-based classrooms.

You may qualify if:

• Households with at least one child under the age of 13.
• Individuals who care for a child under 13 who is not their own in a home- based setting for at least five hours a week.
• Center-based ECE programs that provide care to children not yet in kindergarten who were identified from the provider sampling frame built from state or national administrative lists such as state licensing lists.
• Respondents for the center-based workforce survey are selected from the list of instructional staff associated with the randomly selected classroom from the center-based provider interview.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Opinion Research Center: lead
• Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation: collaborator
• Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago: collaborator
• Child Trends: collaborator
• Impaq Intl.: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

NORC at the University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, 60603, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• National Survey of Early Care and Education Project Team. (2013). National Survey of Early Care and Education: Summary Data Collection and Sampling Methodology. OPRE Report #2013-46, Washington DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

  BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Robert M Goerge, PhD

  Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: ECOLOGIC OR COMMUNITY
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Vice President and Senior Fellow

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 21, 2014
• First Posted: July 11, 2014
• Study Start: November 1, 2011
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2012
• Study Completion: June 1, 2012
• Last Updated: November 8, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-11

Locations

US (1)