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CHILD CARE QUALITY: STRUCTURAL QUALITY
NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION SURVEYS PROGRAM
Measure: Structural Child Care Quality items from Before- and After-School Programs and Activities Questionnaire and Early Childhood Program Participation Questionnaire
Source
“The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a data collection system of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) that is designed to address a wide range of education-related issues. It provides descriptive data on the educational activities of the U.S. population and offers policymakers, researchers, and educators a variety of statistics on the condition of education in the U.S.
Although the primary purpose of the NHES is to conduct repeated measurements of the same phenomena at different points in time, one-time surveys on topics of interest to the Department of Education have also been fielded. The 1993 School Safety and Discipline and the 1996 Household and Library Use surveys were one-time surveys in the NHES” (http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/).
The NHES is funded and conducted by NCES and is carried out by Westat. The surveys completed with information pertaining to the structural components of childcare quality are as follows:
Before- and After-School Programs and Activities: 1999, 2001 Early Childhood Program Participation: 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001
The Before- and After-School Programs and Activities Survey (ASPA-NHES) was designed specifically for the National Household Education Surveys Program in consultation with a panel of experts.
The Early Childhood Program Participation Survey (ECPP) was designed specifically for NHES in consultation with a panel of experts.
Population Assessed
The NHES is designed to survey a representative sample of the noninstitutionalized civilian people in the United States. A representative sample of between 45,000 and 60,000 households are sampled in the original screening. The original screening helps test which households are appropriate for the surveys being conducted, and multiple surveys are given to households whenever possible to minimize costs. Minorities are oversampled in all surveys in an attempt to increase the reliability of the estimates produced for ethnic and racial groups.
ASPA-NHES was administered to 12,396 parents of children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Minorities are oversampled to produce accurate estimates for those populations.
The ECPP was administered to 6,749 parents of children who ranged in age from birth to 6 years old and who had not yet started kindergarten.
Periodicity
ASPA-NHES was first administered in 2001, although some of the same questions were asked in the parent interview of 1999. The questionnaire is scheduled to be administered again in 2005.
The NHES has been conducted in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, and 2003. Early Childhood components were administered in 2001, 1999, 1995, and 1991. The ECPP specifically was administered in 1999.
Subscales/Components
ASPA-NHES includes a section entitled Before- and After-School Arrangements that addresses the type of childcare arrangements as well as the parent’s ratings of the current care arrangements. Questions address the type of care the child receives (relative, non-relative, or center based), the amount of time the student spends in this care, and the activities the student does while in those arrangements.
The ECPP-NHES includes a section on early childhood care and programs and a section on parental views on choices for childcare. The questions address issues such as the type of care received, cost of care, amount of time spent in care, and parent satisfaction with the care.
Procedures for Administration
The survey is administered over the telephone using computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) procedures. The most knowledgeable parent available, usually the mother, completes the survey. More complete information about ASPA has not been released.
The mean time to administer the 1999 Parent Interview, including the ECPP, was 13.9 minutes. Information specifically related to the childcare questions is not readily available.
Psychometrics/Data Quality
Because the NHES 2001 data have not been released, this information is unavailable at this time.
The item response rates specifically for the ECPP items are not readily available. The median item response rate on the Parent Interview was 98.96 percent. For more thorough information about item response rates, please see the NHES 1999 Methodology Report.
Languages Available
The CATI system contains both English and Spanish versions of the instruments. If a bilingual interviewer encounters a Spanish speaker, the interview is immediately conducted in Spanish. If the interviewer is not bilingual or encounters a language other than Spanish, the interviewer codes the case as “language other than Spanish” and another bilingual interviewer is assigned to the case. If the interviewer cannot complete the interview because of language differences, it is finalized as a “language problem.”
Items Included
A section of the ASPA-NHES questionnaire is devoted to childcare. It is available at http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/ under the link entitled Questionnaires. Sample questions are included below.
Is (CHILD) now receiving care from a relative other than a parent on a regular basis, for example, from grandparents, brothers or sisters, or any other relatives?
How many different regular care arrangements do you have with relatives for (CHILD) before or after school?
(Let’s talk about the relative who provides the most care before or after school. Is the relative who cares for (CHILD) before or after school (his/her)
Grandmother
Grandfather
Aunt
Uncle
Brother
Sister
Another relative?
How old is (he/she/that person)?
Is that care provided in your home or another home?
Own home
Other home
Both/varies
Does (CHILD)’s (RELATIVE) who provides this care live in your household?
How long does it usually take to go from your home to (his/her) (RELATIVE)’s home?
How long does it usually take to go from (CHILD)’s school to (his/her) (RELATIVE)’s home?
Does (CHILD) receive care from [his/her (RELATIVE)] before school, after school, or both?
Before school
After school
Both
Is the care that (CHILD) receives from (his/her) (RELATIVE) regularly scheduled at least once each week?
Does (Child’s (RELATIVE) care for (him/her) on some other regularly scheduled basis, at least once each month?
How many days each week does (CHILD) receive care from (his/her) (RELATIVE) (before) (or) (after) school?
How many hours each week does (CHILD) receive care from (his/her) (RELATIVE) before school?
How many hours each week does (CHILD) receive care from (his/her) (RELATIVE) after school?
On the days that (CHILD) receives care, that would be about (HOURS) per day, on average. Is that right?
How many of those hours, if any, occur after 6:00 pm. each week?
For how many weeks each month does (CHILD) receive care from (his/her) (RELATIVE)?
During (that week/those weeks), how many days each week does (CHILD) receive care from (his/her) (RELATIVE)?
And during (that week/those weeks), how many hours each week does (CHILD) receive care from(his/her) (RELATIVE)?
How many children are usually cared for together, in the same group at the same time, by (CHILD)’s (RELATIVE), counting (CHILD)?
Counting (CHILD)’s (RELATIVE), how many adults usually care for (him/her) at the same time during those out-of-school hours
ECPP
Is (CHILD) now receiving care in your home or another home on a regular basis from someone who is not related to (him/her)?
Has (CHILD) ever received care in a private home from a nonrelative on a regular basis?
How old was (CHILD) in years and months when (he/she) first received regular care in a private home from any nonrelative?
Do you currently have more than one regular care arrangement with a nonrelative for (CHILD)?
How many different regular care arrangements do you have with nonrelatives?
Let’s start with the nonrelative who provides the most care. Is that care provided in your own home or in another home?
Own home
Other home
Both/varies
Does this person who cares for (CHILD) live in your household?
How long does it usually take to go from your home to that person’s home?
Is the care that (CHILD) receives from that person regularly scheduled at least once each week?
Does that person care for (CHILD) on some other regularly scheduled basis, at least once each month?
How many days each week does (CHILD) receive care from that person?
How many hours each week does (CHILD) receive care from that person?
For how many weeks each month does (CHILD) receive care from that person?
During (that week/those weeks) for how many days each week does (CHILD) receive care from that person?
And during (that week/those weeks), how many hours each week does (CHILD) receive care from that person?
On the days that (CHILD) receives care, that would be about (HOURS) per day, on average. Is that right?
How many children are usually cared for together, in the same group at the same time, by that person, counting (CHILD)?
Counting that person, how many adults usually care for (CHILD) at the same time during that care arrangement?
How old was (CHILD) in years and months when this particular regular care arrangement with that person began?
Was this care provider someone you already knew?
References and Source Documents
The questionnaire is available online at http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/ under the link entitled Questionnaires.
Codebooks, Data Products, User’s Guides, and Reports from previous years are available on the NCES Web site at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=004. Information from 2001 has not yet been released.
CD-ROM: National Household Education Surveys of 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, and 1999: Data Files and Electronic Codebook
NCES Number: 2002005 Release Date: April 15, 2002
National Household Education Survey of 1999 Data Files
NCES Number: 2000079 Release Date: June 2, 2001
National Household Education Survey of 1999: Data File User’s Manual, Volume I
NCES Number: 2000076 Release Date: January 5, 2001
National Household Education Survey of 1999: Data File User’s Manual, Volume II - Parent Interview Data File
NCES Number: 2000081 Release Date: January 5, 2001
Condition of Education 2002 in Brief
NCES Number: 2002011 Release Date: September 10, 2002
NCES Handbook of Survey Methods
NCES Number: 2003603 Release Date: May 1, 2003
National Household Education Survey of 1999: Methodology Report
NCES Number: 2000078 Release Date: August 18, 2000
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