The Years before School: Children's Nonparental Care Arrangements from 2001 to 2012. Stats in Brief. NCES 2017-096

Nearly 24 million children age 5 and under resided in the United States in 2014. Previous research has shown that about 60 percent of these children have some type of nonparental care arrangement before entering kindergarten. Studies of nonparental care arrangements are important because it is through such arrangements that many children receive basic care while their parents are at work, school, or otherwise not able to care for them. They are also where children may learn early literacy and numeracy skills that are important for kindergarten entry. Policymakers have focused on establishing broader access to quality preschool and kindergarten programs. Four in five states now have public prekindergarten programs, and enrollment has expanded rapidly over the past decade. In 2010, over 50 percent of children entering kindergarten had attended a center care arrangement in the previous year. This Statistics in Brief examines the nonparental care arrangements of children in the United States, from birth through age 5, who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten. The report draws on data from the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) Surveys of 2001, 2005, and 2012. Previous reports have shown that children's nonparental care arrangements vary by age, with higher percentages of older children participating in center care arrangements. The evidence suggests that this may be because as children get older, their parents begin to focus more on their academic skills. Younger children's parents, in contrast, may be more concerned about practical factors such as cost and arrangement reliability as well as factors related to caregivers' trustworthiness and ability to form caring, home- or family-like relationships with children. Given the emphasis in recent years on young children's early learning and nonparental care arrangements, it is important to better understand where children are spending their time during the years before school entry. This report presents findings on nonparental care over time, specifically on the arrangements children participate in, the time they spend in these arrangements, and the out-of-pocket expense for these arrangements. The following are appended: (1) Data Tables; and (2) Standard Error Tables.