Introduction
Research Questions
- How many centers report church or religious private school sponsorship? How many children did these centers serve?
- How many centers were located in buildings associated with faith-based organizations that did not report faith-based sponsorship? How many children did these centers serve?
- How many centers reported neither church nor religious school sponsorship nor locations in buildings associated with faith-based organizations? How many children did these centers serve?
Practitioners, researchers, and policymakers often have questions about the size of the faith-based child care and early education (CCEE) sector, and other roles played by faith-based organizations in CCEE. This snapshot provides information about the number of CCEE centers that have some association with faith-based organizations and the number of children they serve.
This snapshot presents estimates of the role of faith-based organization in center-based CCEE using data from the 2019 NSECE. It provides separate counts for CCEE centers whose respondents indicated they were either sponsored by a faith-based organization or were located in a building affiliated with a faith-based organization. It also provides counts of the children through age 5 not yet in kindergarten that these centers served.
Purpose
This snapshot presents nationally representative estimates of the role of faith-based organizations for centers. It also presents counts and percentages of the children through age 5, not yet in kindergarten served by centers sponsored by a church or religious private school, located in buildings associated with faith-based organizations, or reporting neither. The estimates are based on 2019 NSECE data.
Key Findings and Highlights
- In 2019, 1,200 centers located in faith-based buildings/schools but not sponsored by a church or religious private school served 853,000 children.
- In 2019, 7,550 centers sponsored by a church or a religious private school served 432,000 children.
- In 2019, 98,800 centers neither sponsored by a church or religious private school nor located in buildings associated with faith-based organizations served 5.87 million children.
Methods
This snapshot draws from data collected in the 2019 NSECE Center-based Provider Survey. In the NSECE, a center-based provider is defined as the set of all CCEE services to children birth through five years, not yet in kindergarten, provided by an organization at a single location. Center-based providers were identified from a national provider sampling frame built from state or national administrative lists such as state licensing lists, Head Start program records, or lists of public pre-K programs obtained from each state. These providers included regulated, licensed, and other private providers as well. Respondents to this nationally-representative survey were directors or other instructional leaders of center-based child care and early education (CCEE) providers to children age five and under, not yet in kindergarten. For this snapshot, 2019 tabulations’ data are for approximately 6,900 centers.
Citation
Joshua Borton. 2019 NSECE Snapshot: The Role of Faith-based Organizations in Center-based Child Care and Early Education. OPRE Report No. 2022-233, Washington DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/national-survey-early-care-and-education-2019-2017-2022
Glossary
- Sponsorship:
- Sponsorship was defined for respondents as: “a sponsoring organization may provide funding, administrative oversight, or have reporting requirements; however, organizations that are solely funding sources should not be considered sponsors.”
- Faith-based sponsorship:
- Centers who indicated either “Church or religious group” or “Private school, religious” in response to the question, “What type of organization sponsors your program?”
- Buildings associated with faith-based organizations:
- Respondents who chose “Religious building” from a list in response to the question, “In what kind of building is your program located? Please choose one only for each building your program occupies.”
- Center-based Provider:
- Providers that deliver child care or early education services to children birth through 5 years old, not yet in kindergarten, at a single non-residential location.