Child Trends’ Early Childhood team has been instrumental in designing content for and producing technical assistance and substantive products from the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE). The NSECE, which offers the most current nationally representative data on the supply and use of early care and education (ECE) in the United States, is a set of four integrated surveys with nationally representative samples of center-based providers, the center-based workforce, home-based providers, and U.S. households with children under age 13.
The NSECE has been fielded three times (2012, 2019, and 2024). Each wave of the NSECE characterizes the supply of and demand for ECE in the United States in the year of its fielding, permitting an understanding of how well families’ needs and preferences coordinate with providers’ offerings and constraints. The 2019 wave also included longitudinal follow-up surveys of center-based providers, home-based providers, and the center-based workforce, while the 2024 wave includes 2025 follow-up surveys of households and the center-based workforce.
In partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago, the NSECE’s prime contractor, Child Trends has contributed to survey development, dataset production, technical assistance resources for data users, and dissemination products that highlight key findings across all waves of the survey. Separately, through projects such as the Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Analysis (CCEEPRA) project and two historical national research centers focused on the ECE workforce and Hispanic children and families, Child Trends has used NSECE data to produce policy briefs, blogs, and data points for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates. Child Trends’ NSECE work has yielded data that could be used to inform decision-makers at the federal, state, and local level.
Funding for Child Trends’ activities related to the development and analysis of the NSECE datasets has been provided by the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Background
Prior to the NSECE, the last nationally representative study of child care supply and demand was the 1990 National Child Care Survey (NCCS) and Profile of Child Care Settings (PCS). Major policy developments between the 1990 NCCS/PCS and the 2012 fielding of the NSECE included passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and the expansion of Early Head Start and state-funded pre-kindergarten programs. These changes reshaped the ECE market and impacted the demand for care, the care options available to families, and the price of care.
From 2012 to 2019, additional policy and funding developments affected the ECE landscape, including revisions to the Head Start Program Performance Standards and Early Learning Outcomes Framework, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014, and federal grants to states to improve their early childhood systems through the Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five (PDG B-5) program. In addition to these policy changes, there was strong emphasis during this time on the importance of high-quality learning interactions for children, strengthening the quality of professional practice of the ECE workforce, and estimating the true costs associated with offering high-quality care to all children.
Between the 2019 and 2024 NSECE waves, the ECE landscape was impacted by funding expansions in state-funded pre-kindergarten, Early Head Start/Head Start, Child Care Development Fund subsidies, and PDG B-5, as well as the American Rescue Plan Act’s infusion of funds to stabilize the sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research approach
Child Trends capitalizes on the Early Childhood team’s substantive expertise in ECE programs and systems, the early childhood workforce, parental decision making around child care, and on our methodological expertise in analyzing complex survey data. Our experts have informed the design of each wave of the NSECE by serving as part of the design team and as members of the Technical Expert Panel. Utilizing our researchers’ extensive understanding of the NSECE datasets and data analytic skills, Child Trends has conducted a variety of secondary analyses of the NSECE datasets to investigate a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to):
- Access to ECE center-based and home-based programs in the United States over time
- Parents’ search for care and their decision-making process around choosing child care
- The price of care and how it has changed over time in the United States
- Indicators of quality of care across different types of ECE
- Characteristics of the ECE workforce, including their professional preparation, compensation, and work environments
- Associations between ECE workforce characteristics and the characteristics of children in their care
Latest NSECE products and resources developed by Child Trends researchers
- Wages, Benefits, and Financial Circumstances of Center-Based Infant-Toddler Educators
- Mental Health of the Center-based Child Care and Early Education Workforce
- Health Insurance Coverage of the Center-Based Child Care and Early Education Workforce: Findings from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education
- Employment Experiences of the 2019 Center-Based Child Care Workforce during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key Findings by Role, Education, and Certification
- Wages of the Center-Based Child Care and Early Education Workforce: Findings from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education
- Turnover in the Center-based Child Care and Early Education Workforce: Findings from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education
- Supporting the Psychological Well-being of the Early Care and Education Workforce: Findings from the National Survey of Early Care and Education
- State CCDF Policies and Child Care Access for Families of Children with Disabilities
- Asian American Households’ Child Care and Work Disruptions Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- The Potential Need For and Use of Out-of-School Time Care for School-Age Children in 2012 and 2019
- Parents’ Reasons for Searching for Child Care and Early Education: Findings from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education
- Nearly Half of Hispanic Children in Households With Low Incomes Used Early Care and Education in 2019
- Many Hispanic Households With Low Income Access No-Cost or Low-Cost Care, Yet Nearly One in Four Face High Out-of-Pocket Costs
- Parents’ Reasons for Searching for Early Care and Education and Results of Search: An Analysis Using the Access Framework
- Snapshots from the NSECE: How are Lower-Income Households Using Nonparental Care for Children Under Age 6?
- Multiple Factors Predict Higher Child Care Costs for Low-Income Hispanic Households
- Child Care Affordability Is Out of Reach for Many Low-Income Hispanic Households
- Why and How Do Low-income Hispanic Families Search for Early Care and Education (ECE)?
- Snapshots from the NSECE: How much did Households in the United States Pay for Child Care in 2012? An Examination of Differences by Household Income
- Snapshots from the NSECE: How Much Did Households in the United States Pay for Child Care in 2012? An Examination of Differences by Child Age
- Snapshots from the NSECE: How Much Did Households in the United States Pay for Child Care in 2012? An Examination of Differences by Community Urbanicity
- How Common Are Nonstandard Work Schedules Among Low-Income Hispanic Parents of Young Children?
- Informal and Formal Supports May Affect Hispanic Early Educators’ Physical and Mental Well-Being
- Early Care and Education Providers Vary in Their Availability and Flexibility to Meet Hispanic Families’ Needs
- Professional Characteristics of the Child Care and Early Education Workforce in 2012 and 2019: Descriptions by Race and Ethnicity, Languages Spoken, and Nativity Status
- A Demographic Comparison Between the Listed Home-Based Early Care and Education Workforce and Children in their Care
- Demographic Characteristics of the Early Care and Education Workforce: Comparisons with Child and Community Characteristics
- Professional Characteristics of the Early Care and Education Workforce: Descriptions by Race, Ethnicity, Languages Spoken, and Nativity Status
- Prices Reported by Center-Based Early Care and Education Providers: Associations with Indicators of Quality
- Who is Caring for Latino Children? The Characteristics of the Early Care and Education Teachers and Caregivers Serving a High Proportion of Hispanic Children
- Access to Early Care and Education for Disadvantaged Families: Do Levels of Access Reflect State's Child Care Subsidy Policies?
- Describing the Preparation and Ongoing Professional Development of the Infant/ Toddler Workforce: An Analysis of the National Survey for Early Care and Education Data
- History of the National Survey of Early Care and Education Part 1: The Development of the 2012 NSECE
- History of the National Survey of Early Care and Education Part 2: The Development of the 2019 NSECE and the NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up
- Measuring Access to Early Care and Education (ECE) with the 2019 NSECE
- Measuring and Comparing Multiple Dimensions of Early Care and Education Access
- Measuring Predictors of Quality in Early Care and Education Settings in the National Survey of Early Care and Education (2012)
Featured Experts
Nicole Forry
Senior Research Scientist
Tracy Gebhart
Data Scientist I
Lina Guzman
Chief Strategy OfficerDirector of the Hispanic Institute
Tamara Halle
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Ying-Chun Lin
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Rebecca Madill
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Emily Maxfield
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Katherine Paschall
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Maria A. Ramos-Olazagasti
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