The Care and Education of Young Children in the U.S.

About 60 percent of children, age 5 and under (and not yet in kindergarten) were enrolled in a nonparental care arrangement at least once a week in 2016, according to new data from the National Household Education Survey (NHES).

The National Center for Education Statistics has released a new report entitled Early Childhood Program Participation, Results from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2016. The Early Childhood Program Participation Survey, part of the NHES program, collected data on children’s participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. It also collected information from parents about the main reason for choosing care, what factors were important to parents when choosing a care arrangement, and parents’ participation in various learning activities with their children.

The findings include:

• Among children in a weekly nonparental care arrangement, 41 percent were cared for by a relative , 22 percent were cared for in a private home by someone not related to them , and 59 percent were attending a day care center, preschool, or prekindergarten;

• Among children whose parents reported difficulty finding child care, nearly one-third (31 percent) cited cost as the primary reason. This was higher than any other reason; and

• Among children ages 3 to 5 who were not yet in kindergarten, 81 percent had parents who read to them three or more times in the past week; 69 percent had parents who sang songs with them three or more times in the past week; and 68 percent had parents who taught them letters, words, or numbers three or more times in the past week.