Trends in the Use of Early Care and Education, 1995-2011: Descriptive Analysis of Child Care Arrangements from National Survey Data. Data Sources and Methodology

In this report, we examine trends in the use of early care and education (ECE) from 1995 to 2011 by utilizing two large, nationally representative datasets: the October Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the National Household Education Survey (NHES) of Early Childhood Program Participation. Together, these sources provide a broad set of descriptive data that show trends over time. There are important differences in survey wording and timing, highlighted in the below table, that pertain to our analysis and findings and also contribute to our following definition of terms (pg. 9).

• Key Differences in the Two Data Sources

  • 	National Household Education Survey (NHES – Early Childhood Program Participation)	Current Population Survey (CPS – October Supplement)
    Years administered	1995, 2001, 2005	1995 – 2011, annually
    Ages of children	0, 1, 2, 3, 4	3, 4
    Center-based care	“center-based care”	“nursery school” or “preschool”
    Non center-based care	✓	Not assessed
    Financing of care	“charge or fee for program”	“private” or “public”
    Part and full-time preschool	Not assessed	✓

     

• Differences in Survey Wording

View full report

Download

"rb_ece.pdf" (pdf, 1.13Mb)

Note: Documents in PDF format require the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. If you experience problems with PDF documents, please download the latest version of the Reader®