New ECE Data Sources: National Survey of Early Care and

Education

TX ECEA Presentation October 29, 2012

Richard N. Brandon, Ph.D.

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NSECE Team

• A. Rupa Datta, Project Director• Robert Goerge, Principal Investigator• Richard Brandon, co-Principal Investigator• Lisa Gennetian, co-Principal Investigator• Ann Witte, Co-Principal Investigator• Wladimir Zanoni, Co-Investigator• Nicole Forry, Child Trends• Lina Guzman, Child Trends

CONSULTANTS:• Marty Zaslow• Deanna Schexnayder• Lee Kreader• Bobbie Weber

• Ivelisse Martinez-Beck, Ph.D. Federal Project Officer

• Susan Jekielek

U.S. Dept. of Health & Human ServicesAdministration for Children & FamiliesOffice of Planning, Research & Evaluation

Two New Data SourcesPotential revision of federal occupational categories

for ECE/SAC – affect Census, Labor, others >2016 (SOC)

• Workforce and establishment data; not program information.

• Available at least annually: national, state, local.• Comparable to other occupations, industries

National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE)• One-time national survey. Rich array of program,

occupational and household data. Some TX data.• Available late 2013.

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Key Features of Revised SOCCritical features currently missing:

Define occupation by Activity = care/instruction• Can occur in different settings/establishments

Distinguish ECE (B-5) from SAC (5+)• Based on age of child primarily responsible for

Distinguish roles/responsibilities• Lead/full teacher; Asst. Teacher/Aide; Director/owner

Comparable data for Center/Home-based; • Consistent treatment of all home-based

Capture Paid Family, Friend, Neighbor (FFN) 4

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NSECE Study ContextPublic and Policy Interest in ECE◦Early childhood development, parent employment◦Expanded availability of pre-K and school-age care◦Parental search and decisions related to price,

availability and type of care◦Understanding ECE/SAC workforce: quantity, quality

Changing Role and Context of ECE◦Demographic and economic shifts◦Expansion of CCDF subsidies◦CCDF support of quality improvement and

professional development systems (QRIS)

Main NSECE Topicso Availability of ECE (Early Care and Education) -

slots, prices, auspices, program characteristics

o Preferences for, needs, and usage of ECE/School-Age Care among households in the U.S. with children under age 13

o Count and characteristics of the ECE workforce: home-based settings and center-based classroom

o Local ECE markets; explore how household demand and provider supply interact with price, quality, availability, community characteristics

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Four coordinated nationally-representative surveys1) households with children under 13 (11,600) 2) center-based entities (8,200)3) home-based providers: formal/FFN (6,000)4) classroom staff in sampled centers (5,600)

All 50 states; 755 provider/HH “clusters”

Oversamples of low- and near-low-income families (up to 250% of FPL); Spanish translation.

Full info for ECE (B-5): partial for School-age/OOST

NSECE Data Components

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Captures parental needs and preferences, availability of providers at community level

Utilization localized, varies by demography, provider availability, geography

Explore how parents and providers define the geographic boundaries of their search areas

Equity, access determined at local market-level;

The NSECE describes ‘shared ECE community’ as an ecosystem: parents’ needs and preferences, providers’ services, population characteristics, and public policies determine the local use, price and quality of ECE

Defining Shared ECE Communities

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Provider Cluster Example

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Data can be linked with policy-relevant databases, e.g.o Census characteristics, local and state policieso CCDF, Pre-K & Head Start policieso Licensing regulations and QRIS standards

ECE in Context: Interaction among surveyso Relationship of employment/training/job search to ECE

in context of communities and programs o Parent preferences, search and use in context of

availability, price, subsidyo Relationship of worker qualifications, compensation

and predictors of quality to program characteristics – funding, auspices, management practices

Opportunities for Policy Research - Examples

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Capture wide spectrum of HH ECE/SAC use

• ECE/SAC in family context: structure, employment, SES, community of location - assess ‘equal access’ and related policy objectives

• Data on all regular care arrangements for each age-eligible child in the household (<age 13)

• How do state and local performance/program standards, and consumer education initiatives (QRIS), affect children of varying income levels and cultural background?

• How do families’ ECE/SAC choices reflect multiple children and differences in child-specific needs?

A Detailed Weekly Portrait of Employment and Child Care

Calendar of time spent working, commuting and children’s time in care for week prior to survey interview• First incremental quantification of total time in care, by

type, and timing of coverage for parental employment • Are certain employment schedules and child care use

associated with take-up of child care subsidies or other types of subsidized early care programs?

• How are child care arrangements used to accommodate nonstandard work schedules? For multiple children? Different household composition?

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Parental Search and PreferencesParent reports of formal and informal providers considered during child care search, their characteristics, even if not selected. Factors that constrain parental ECE choices.

• Define ECE market with provider cluster design• Permits ‘revealed preference’ estimation using methods

from labor economics literature on search• Design policies (QRIS, R&R, and consumer education) to

align with the ways that parents actually search and decide

• How does search differ by such factors as age of child, income and employment schedule?

Two Types of Provider InformationFor both center/home-based

Program level information: auspices, prices, enrollment, staffing, subsidies, special needs, curriculum, wages and benefits, professional development offered

Individual workforce information: education and training, attitudes/orientations, activities, planning, curriculum, stress/morale, family structure and income, wages/benefits.

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Describing Center-Based Programs

• Directors of sampled center-based entities answered a 40-minute questionnaire (web-based, telephone or in-person)

• Includes questions about randomly-selected classroom/group

• Examine how programs vary across

• Workforce size and characteristics

• Funding Sources (Blended/ Collaborative Funding)

•Comprehensive service provision

•Prices charged to families

• Predictors of quality (e.g, professional development of staff, staff child ratios, group sizes, supports to families •Enrollment by age (total, subsidized, special needs, ELL), potential availability

• Provide first complete, nationally representative sample of entire ECE workforce and caregiving population: center/home-based; formal vs. FFN providers, and nannies.

• Examine workers/caregivers in context of workplace and community.

• Include items predictive of observed quality.

• Include and compare to unpaid FFN’s.

Objectives for Workforce Component: Counting, Characteristics, Context

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• Individual WF sample from selected classrooms allows linkage of individual staff to organizational characteristics collected from Directors.

• Age of children responsible for.

• Representative geographic sample (low-income oversample) allows linkage of staff characteristics to demographic, workforce and price-availability data.

Examine Workers in Context

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• Qualifications: education, age, experience, ECE certification, compensation.

• Attitudes and orientations: Modernity Scale; stress, depression, professional identification and motivation scales.

• Leadership and Morale. Turnover.

• Professional development/training support and participation.

• Activities: use of curriculum, planning, structure, screen time, vigorous physical.

Worker Items Linked to Observed Quality

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• Compare staff serving low-income or high-minority communities, urban/rural, high/low percentages of subsidized, ELL or special-needs children, on wide range of characteristics.

• Examine relation of staff characteristics to center leadership, compensation, prices, subsidies, auspices funding sources.

Examining WF in Context

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Study Schedule

• Data collection Nov 2011 – June 2012

• Project team begin analysis Jan 2013• Interim findings Fall 2013• Public/Restricted Use Data Summer 2014• Final Report Fall 2014

Data Collection Instruments are available at:http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/research/project/national-survey-of-early-care-and-education-nsece-2010-2014

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Conclusion: Exciting ECE Data Opportunities

SOC Revision = Ongoing Workforce Data:• High frequency: monthly, quarterly, annual• Ability to analyze at national, state, local level• Compare to other occupations, industries

NSECE = Major New Survey• Comprehensiveness: supply-demand• Nesting: individual HH’s and workers in context

of program, community• Potential link to state/sub-state policy data

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Contact for Information about the NSECERupa Datta, NSECE Project Director

E-mail: nsece@norc.orgIvelisse Martinez-Beck, NSECE Federal Project Officer

E-mail: ivelisse.martinezbeck@acf.hhs.gov

Information about Revising SOC Categories: NAS ECE Workforce Report:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13238 Ivelisse Martinez-Beck, NSECE Federal Project Officer

E-mail: ivelisse.martinezbeck@acf.hhs.gov

Thank you!

Questions, Comments

EXTRA SLIDES

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NSECE sampling and questionnaires

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• Nationally-representative sample in all 50 states and DC (not state-level estimates) – 755 clusters (of which, 500 low-income)

• 11,600 households with children under 13 (15.4 per cluster)• 12,200 formal providers of care (18.8 per cluster), including

center-based and regulated home-basedo 8,200 centerso 4,000 home-based providers

• 2,000 informal home-based providers, including workforce information (2.7 per cluster)

• 5,600 classroom staff members of the ECE workforce from 5,600 center-based programs (7.2 per cluster)

NSECE Case Counts

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Sampling Formal Providers

• To build the provider sample frame, NSECE requested national and state-level administrative lists of providers: o State-level lists from all 50 states and DC of:

• Center- and home-based providers (where available)• Licensed providers• Registered providers• Faith-based or other exempt providers• Public pre-K providers

o National lists of: • Head Start • Elementary and middle schools• Department of Defense child care

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Public Support for Early Care & Education• Parent self report on receipt of CCDF subsidies, Head Start, pre-K,

employer subsidies, tax credits & deductions• ‘Probabilistic modeling’ of receipt of public support• Provider reports of funding sources• Which families are ultimately receiving public support for their

child and school-age care needs? • Do programs blend some funding sources more than others? • Does blending of funds improve availability for low-income

families?• What type of public support are families with different risk

characteristics using?

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Drawing from HH and Provider Data

Examples of key topics include:• Public investment and use of public dollars for early and out of

school care• Use and availability of school age care• Predictors and perceptions of child care quality• Availability of care for low income families and high poverty

communities• The extent to which FFN care is used in response to availability

and/or affordability

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A (somewhat) National Picture of SSS School-Age Care

• Screened sample of all schools offering grades K-8 for presence of school-age care on-site

• All home-based school-age care providers• Subset of center-based programs caring for young and school age

children.• HH reports of all non-parental care used for school-age children under

age 13 in the reference week including single activity, self, and sibling care• What types of school-age care arrangements are parents choosing? Does

this differ for low-income families?• How do predictors of quality compare in settings that offer mixed age

care vs only early care (or for home-based, school-aged care only)? • To what extent are young children being cared for by siblings?