Introduction
School-age children need safe, supervised places to learn and grow during non-school hours while their parents and caregivers work. Beyond providing safety and supervision, participation in high-quality school-age child care programs offered before or after school, or during the summer, is associated with positive developmental outcomes for young people.[i],[ii]
Yet, compared to child care and early education for children ages birth to 5 (and not yet in kindergarten), there has been relatively less nationally representative research on the availability and use of non-parental out-of-school time care for children ages 6 to 12. Based on the current analysis, there were approximately 27.9 million school-aged children in the United States in 2019, representing a substantial group of young people potentially in need of care.
[i]McCombs, J.S., Anamarie A.W., & Yoo, P.Y. (2017). The value of out-of-school time programs. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE267.html .
[ii] Neild, R.C., Wilson, S.J., & McClanahan, W. (2019). Afterschool programs: A review of evidence under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Research for Action. https://wallacefoundation.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/Afterschool-Programs-A-Review-of-Evidence-Under-the-Every-Student-Succeeds-Act.pdf (PDF)
Purpose
This snapshot describes the potential need for out-of-school time care for school-age children, and the prevalence of out-of-school time care among different demographic groups, using the 2012 and 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE).
Although the data for this snapshot are from before the COVID-19 pandemic began, which led to widespread disruptions to families’ access to child care, the findings provide useful information about differences and declining trends in use of non-parental out-of-school time care arrangements among some subgroups of children that began prior to the pandemic.
Key Findings and Highlights
- Just over a quarter of school-age children were engaged in out-of-school time care in 2019, about the same as in 2012.
- In 2019, there were over 17 million school-age children with fully employed parents, indicating large numbers (almost two-thirds of school-age children) who potentially need supervision and enrichment activities outside of school hours.
- School-age children from households with low incomes (those with incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, or FPL) had lower levels of participation in out-of-school time care arrangements than children from families whose incomes were at or above 200% FPL. More specifically, less than one in four school-age children in households with low incomes were in out-of-school time care, as compared to almost one-third of school-age children in households with incomes of 200% FPL and above.
- The percentage of children in households experiencing low incomes who were in out-of-school time care declined significantly from almost 29% in 2012 to almost 24% in 2019; it appears the income gap in out-of-school time care use widened over time, as about 32% of children in households with higher incomes were in out-of-school time care in both 2012 and 2019.
- The percentage of non-Hispanic Black school-age children in out-of-school time care decreased significantly from 35% in 2012 to 29% in 2019.
- The percentage of Hispanic school-age children in out-of-school time care decreased significantly from about 31% in 2012 to about 25% in 2019.
Citation
Sacks, V., Redd, Z., Madill, R., Paschall, K., & Her, S. (2024). The potential need for and use of out-of-school time care for school-age children in 2012 and 2019. OPRE Report #2024-081. Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Quick Facts Images
Figure 2. Percentage of children in out-of-school time care in 2012 and 2019, by race and ethnicity
