2012-2026
The National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) aims to provide a comprehensive portrait of both the availability and use of early care and education (ECE) in the United States.
The National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) collected data from nationally-representative samples including interviews in all 50 states and Washington, DC. The NSECE includes a set of four integrated surveys of 1) households with children under age 13, 2) home-based providers, 3) center-based providers, and 4) the center-based workforce. Together these four surveys characterize the supply of and demand for ECE in the United States and permit better understanding of how well families' needs and preferences mirror providers' offerings and constraints. The NSECE surveys make particular effort to measure the experiences of families with low income, as these families are the focus of a significant component of ECE and school-age public policy.
The study uses a provider-cluster approach for sampling all four surveys from the same small geographic areas. This approach allows the survey to document the relationship between the supply of and use of early care and education where it occurs—in local communities—while simultaneously capturing data that efficiently constructs national estimates.
2012 NSECE (2010-2015)
In 2012, the NSECE was launched to improve our understanding about the ECE services available throughout the U.S. The 2012 NSECE was the first nationally representative survey of ECE supply and demand conducted in over 20 years and has improved our understanding about the different types of ECE services available and how families with young children select and pay for child care services.
The 2012 NSECE data are archived at the Child and Family Data Archive
https://www.childandfamilydataarchive.org/cfda/archives/cfda/studies/35519
2019 NSECE (2017-2022)
The 2019 NSECE builds on the data collected in the 2012 NSECE. The 2019 NSECE collected data in a manner that facilitates comparisons with data collected in the 2012 NSECE and allows for examination of the changing landscape of child care and early education programs during that 7-year period. It also provides data to answer new and persistent research questions, including:
- How have parental schedules, ECE costs, and parental preferences for types of care changed since 2012?
- What are the characteristics of ECE providers and workers in 2019?
- How do providers blend funding from different sources?
- Which providers are willing and able to participate in the child care subsidy program?
- How do parents seek help paying for ECE?
The 2019 NSECE data are being archived at the Child and Family Data Archive https://www.childandfamilydataarchive.org/cfda/archives/cfda/studies/37941
NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a new data collection effort began in Spring 2020 under the 2019 contract to learn how the pandemic was affecting ECE providers and the individuals who work directly with children in ECE settings. The NSECE project team sought to re-interview center-based providers, center-based workforce members, listed home-based providers, and unlisted and paid home-based providers who completed surveys in the 2019 NSECE. Households participating in the 2019 NSECE were not included in the NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up. Data collection for the NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up took place across two waves between late 2020 and early 2022.
The NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up data files are being archived at the Child and Family Data Archive on a rolling basis beginning in summer 2023: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38578
Support for Analytic Capacity of National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) Data (2020-2025)
This project supports the NSECE data dissemination and use to achieve the data’s full potential as an analytic and methodological resource for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), researchers, policymakers, and the early care and education (ECE) community broadly.
This project enhances the analytic capacity and supports the optimal use of data collected across both rounds through:
- provision of restricted-use data access to researchers,
- enhancements to public-use and restricted-use data files,
- technical assistance to researchers using the NSECE data, and
- analyses of data on questions of high priority to ACF.
2024 NSECE (2021 — 2026)
The National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) 2024 builds on the data collected in the 2012 and 2019 NSECE.
The NSECE 2024 will collect data in a manner that facilitates comparisons with data collected in the NSECE 2012 and 2019 and allows for examination of the changing landscape of child care and early education programs during that 12-year period. It also provides data to answer new and persistent research questions, including:
- How have parental schedules, ECE costs, and parental preferences for types of care changed since 2019?
- What are the characteristics of ECE providers and workers in 2024, and how have these changed since 2019?
- How do providers blend funding from different sources?
- Which providers are willing and able to participate in the child care subsidy program?
- How do parents seek help paying for ECE?
- What are the employment experiences, job conditions and economic conditions of ECE workers?
The NSECE 2024 is implemented through a contract with NORC at the University of Chicago, with partners from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, and Child Trends
Data users may contact NORC directly with any questions at nsece@norc.org.
Data from the NSECE 2024 are expected to be archived at the Child and Family Data Archive
Point(s) of contact: Ivelisse Martinez-Beck and Ann Rivera.
This study is registered on https://clinicaltrials.gov/ under the title National Survey of Early Care and Education 2019. Visit disclaimer page.
Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0391. Related materials are available on RegInfo.gov . To view all approved documents for these information collections (e.g., Supporting Statements, instruments, contact materials), search for ICR Reference # 0970-0391. This will generate a list of all approved information collections for the NSECE. Within this list, select a cohort, then View Information Collection (IC) List to view instruments, or View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to view supplementary documents.