2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE)

Description

The National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) captures families' needs, preferences, and choices of non-parental care for children under age 13 and providers' child care and early education offerings. Since the NSECE was last conducted in 2019, the landscape of ECE has changed dramatically. Funding for early childhood programming has grown as policymakers recognize the important role access to ECE plays for families as a work support for parents and an investment in children's future educational and economic opportunities. At the same time, beginning in 2020, the nation experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to significant shifts in the U.S. economy. These circumstances likely altered parents' use of ECE and the labor market and economic forces in which ECE providers operate. The 2024 NSECE builds on findings from the 2012 and 2019 NSECE to allow for comparisons of supply and demand of child care and early education over the 12 years that span data collection. The 2024 NSECE aims to inform future policy discussions about child care and early education at the local, state, and national levels by providing data to: * Build on the efforts and lessons from the 2012 and 2019 NSECE to allow for comparisons of child care and early education supply and the early care and education workforce from 2012 to 2024 * Capture the characteristics of households with children under age 13, such as parental employment status and schedules, preferences and choices of non-parental care, and other factors that affect their need for and access to child care and early education * Document how the field of child care and early education responded to policy initiatives during the period between 2012 and 2024, including changes in supply and demand during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020

Conditions

Children Under 13

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

The National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) captures families' needs, preferences, and choices of non-parental care for children under age 13 and providers' child care and early education offerings. Since the NSECE was last conducted in 2019, the landscape of ECE has changed dramatically. Funding for early childhood programming has grown as policymakers recognize the important role access to ECE plays for families as a work support for parents and an investment in children's future educational and economic opportunities. At the same time, beginning in 2020, the nation experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to significant shifts in the U.S. economy. These circumstances likely altered parents' use of ECE and the labor market and economic forces in which ECE providers operate. The 2024 NSECE builds on findings from the 2012 and 2019 NSECE to allow for comparisons of supply and demand of child care and early education over the 12 years that span data collection. The 2024 NSECE aims to inform future policy discussions about child care and early education at the local, state, and national levels by providing data to: * Build on the efforts and lessons from the 2012 and 2019 NSECE to allow for comparisons of child care and early education supply and the early care and education workforce from 2012 to 2024 * Capture the characteristics of households with children under age 13, such as parental employment status and schedules, preferences and choices of non-parental care, and other factors that affect their need for and access to child care and early education * Document how the field of child care and early education responded to policy initiatives during the period between 2012 and 2024, including changes in supply and demand during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020

2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE)

2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE)

Condition
Children Under 13
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Chicago

NORC at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60603

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * Households with at least one child under the age of 13.
  • * Individuals who care for a child under 13 who are 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 workforce (classroom staff) survey are selected from the list of instructional staff associated with the randomly selected classroom from the center-based provider interview.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Collaborators and Investigators

National Opinion Research Center,

Rupa Datta, PhD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, NORC at the University of Chicago

Study Record Dates

2024-12