National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up, [United States], 2019-2022 (ICPSR 38578)
Version Date: Oct 9, 2024 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
United States Department of Health and Human Services. Administration for Children and Families. Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation;
NSECE Project Team (National Opinion Research Center)
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38578.v3
Version V3 (see more versions)
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Summary View help for Summary
In 2019, the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) team conducted 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 as a cross-sectional follow-up to the original 2012 NSECE. Together they characterize the supply of and demand for early care and education (ECE) in the U.S. 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 low-income families, as these families are the focus of a significant component of ECE and school-age public policy.
In light of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) funded a new data collection effort beginning in 2020 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 was first conducted in 2012. Before that effort, there had been a 20-year long absence of nationally representative data on the use and availability of ECE. The NSECE was conducted again in 2019 to update the information from 2012 and shed light on how the ECE and school-age care landscape changed from 2012 to 2019. The 2019 NSECE followed a similar design as the 2012 survey, including surveying households with children under age 13, home-based providers, center-based providers, and staff working in center-based classrooms.
The 2019 NSECE is funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The project team is led by NORC at the University of Chicago, with partners Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and Child Trends, as well as other collaborating individuals and organizations.
For additional information about this study, please see:
- NSECE project page on the OPRE website
- NSECE study page on NORC's website
- NSECE Research Methods Blog
For more information, tutorials, and reports related to the NSECE, please visit the Child and Family Data Archive's Data Training Resources from the NSECE page.
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This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, the NSECE Restricted-Use data files are restricted from general dissemination. Users interested in obtaining these data must agree to the terms and conditions of the Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request of each specific dataset, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. For more information about the application requirements, please refer to this online document. If an applicant is not able to meet the requirements of any of the Data Security Plans for Secure Dissemination and/or plans to collaborate with researchers at another institution, please use the Virtual Data Enclave application.
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Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
We encourage users to access the NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up manuals, user's guides, and surveys provided by NORC.
This collection is related to the following studies:
- National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE), [United States], 2012 (ICPSR 35519)
- National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) Public-Use Files, [United States], 2019 (ICPSR 37941)
- National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) Level 1 Restricted-Use Files, [United States], 2019 (ICPSR 38445)
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up provides rigorously-collected and nationally-representative data about 2019 early care and education (ECE) providers and the 2019 ECE workforce to help understand how the pandemic affected these providers and workforce members, how the ECE supply available to families may have changed from 2019 through early 2022, and how providers and workforce members might be better supported in future emergency situations. The availability of pre-pandemic characteristics and behaviors from the 2019 NSECE for these samples greatly enriches the ability to understand the experiences of ECE providers and workforce members during the pandemic.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The 2019 NSECE is a coordinated set of four nationally representative surveys pertaining to the supply of ECE and demand for ECE and school-age care in the United States, including the individuals working directly with children. To facilitate over-time comparisons, the 2019 NSECE largely replicates the design of the 2012 NSECE, although both are cross-sectional surveys with no intentional overlap in the households or providers that were sampled.
As in the 2012 NSECE, there are two primary sources of sample for the four surveys: a household sample and a provider sampling frame. NSECE constructed the household sample using an address-based sample of housing units in order to draw a nationally representative sample of the demand for ECE and school-age care. NSECE constructed the provider sampling frame from many administrative lists in order to draw a nationally representative sample of the supply of ECE.
Two surveys used the household sample and three surveys used the provider sampling frame. In the household sample, a household screener identified households who were eligible for the household survey and for the home-based provider survey. In the provider sampling frame, a center-based screener identified providers who were eligible for the center-based provider survey. The center-based provider survey then selected respondents for the workforce survey. Home-based providers were also selected for the home-based provider survey from the provider sampling frame. Note that the home-based provider survey includes both samples: the household sample (for unlisted providers) and the provider sampling frame (for listed providers).
In the current study, 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.
Unlike the 2012 and 2019 NSECE where in-person prompting and interviewing occurred, this study had no in-person contacting. Instead, sample members were contacted by mail, email, and phone. Individuals participating in the study completed the survey via a web survey or by phone with an interviewer.
Sample View help for Sample
The COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up sample was generated from the 2019 NSECE sample design, which is a multistage probability design. In the first stage, the NSECE selected 219 primary sampling units (PSUs) across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The NSECE allocated PSUs to states by size based on the population of children under age 18 within each state. In the second stage, the NSECE selected secondary sampling units (SSUs) for the household sample. Because the experiences of low-income families are of special interest in public policy addressing ECE and school-age care, the NSECE sample design included a low-income oversample. The NSECE disproportionately selected SSUs from areas in which at least 40 percent of households had income below 250 percent of federal poverty guidelines. Altogether, the NSECE selected 747 SSUs, with 508 SSUs in these high density lower-income areas and 239 in areas with lower densities of low-income households. The large majority of PSUs in the 2019 NSECE were also part of the 2012 NSECE, although SSUs were newly sampled for 2019 within the PSUs, so census tracts overlap in the two years only by chance.
There were two primary sources of sample for the four 2019 NSECE surveys. The first was the household sample, which was an address-based sample of housing units. The NSECE project selected the household sample from the Delivery Sequence File (DSF) maintained by the United States Postal Service.
The second primary source of the 2019 NSECE sample was the provider sampling frame. The NSECE constructed a sampling frame of "listed" providers from administrative lists in order to draw a nationally representative sample of the supply of ECE. The NSECE project team built the provider sampling frame through compiling and geo-coding all available state-level and national lists of providers of ECE collected from various agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. These lists of providers included licensing, regulation, and license-exempt lists, as well as lists of providers in specific programs such as those offering Head Start or public pre-K.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
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.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
- Workforce Survey:
- Center-based Provider Survey:
- Home-based Provider Survey:
Administered to individuals who participated in the 2019 NSECE workforce survey: classroom-assigned instructional staff selected from completed center-based provider surveys.
Key topics include: employment during the study period, experience of pandemic assistance programs, ECE practices related to COVID-19 mitigation, interactions with parents and other staff, availability of professional development and other supports, compensation (wages and benefits), and perceived leadership and morale, as well as personal information about qualifications, attitudes toward ECE, financial hardship, food insecurity, COVID-19 vaccination, and stress, depression, and demographic information.
Administered to providers who participated in the 2019 NSECE center-based provider survey: directors of sampled ECE programs that provided care to children not yet in kindergarten.
Key topics include: center operations during the study period, experience of pandemic assistance programs, health practices related to COVID-19 mitigation, parents' concerns about ECE during the pandemic, enrollment and characteristics of children served, staffing and compensation (wages and benefits), and services provided to children/families.
Administered to individuals who participated in the 2019 NSECE home-based provider survey: individuals who provided paid care at least five hours weekly in a home-based setting to at least one child under age 13 who was not their own.
Key topics include: child care operations during the study period, employment during the pandemic, experience of pandemic assistance programs, health practices related to COVID-19 mitigation, parents' concerns about ECE during the pandemic, compensation, and enrollment and characteristics of children served, as well as personal information about financial hardship, food insecurity, COVID-19 vaccination, and stress, depression, and demographic information.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Workforce surveys:
- Cumulative data files: 3,249 interviews were completed, with a weighted response rate of 69.6%.
- Wave 1 data: 2,805 interviews were completed, with a weighted response rate of 59.8%.
- Wave 2 data: 2,725 interviews were completed, with a weighted response rate of 58.1%.
Center-based provider surveys:
- Wave 1 data: 4,800 interviews were completed, with a weighted response rate of 78.6%.
- Wave 2 data (partial Spring wave): 2,349 interviews were completed, with a weighted response rate of 79.5%.
- Wave 2 data (partial Fall wave): 2,914 interviews were completed, with a weighted response rate of 71.8%.
Home-based provider surveys
- Wave 1 data: 3,302 interviews with listed providers were completed, with a weighted response rate of 79%. 202 interviews were completed with unlisted/paid providers, with a weighted response rate of 56%.
- Wave 2 data: 2,756 interviews with listed providers were completed, with a weighted response rate of 65%. 140 interviews were completed, with a weighted response rate of 38%.
Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2023-07-11
Version History View help for Version History
2024-10-09 Added National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) COVID-19 overview document
2024-02-26 Data and documentation for Center-based Providers (DS5-DS8) and Home-based Providers (DS9-DS12) were added. The ICPSR Processing Notes, Workforce User Guide, and Workforce Manual were updated.
2023-07-11 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Please refer to the accompanying User Guides and Manuals for weighting information and usage for all datasets.
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The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.