2019 NSECE COVID-19 Follow-up

Study Summary

The objective of the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) is to document the nation's current supply of early care and education (ECE) services. Because the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have had an impact on the ECE supply, and because the availability of ECE services is critical to restoring the U.S. economy, updated data on the ECE supply will be crucial for policy-making and research. The purpose of the NSECE COVID-19 Follow-up Study is to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pre-pandemic ECE supply and the ECE workforce, including changes in supply or departures from and re-entries to the workforce. Data from the study can be used to estimate the impact of the pandemic on ECE supply and the financial health of ECE providers, as well as providers' experiences during and after the pandemic emergency. Through a two-wave design, the NSECE COVID-19 Follow-up Study data will trace providers' and workforce members' experiences from 2019, through the initial months of the pandemic (to be reported in the Wave 1 interview), and then to the one-year point since the onset of the pandemic (to be reported in the Wave 2 interview). This design is intended to capture the trajectories of providers and workforce members, for example through recovery back to full or modified participation in ECE supply, or long-term exits from ECE supply. Prospectively collecting these data allows inference about the types of providers and workforce members most likely to have exited or survived in ECE, as well as the programmatic supports received by those who remain in ECE at the time of the second interview.

Primary Outcome

The center-based provider questionnaire collects information periods of closure since the start of the pandemic to the time of the interview, experience with pandemic programs, ECE practices during reference period, ECE status during focal week.

Interventions

• OTHER No intervention