Introduction
This Guidebook addresses the development of a common definition and approach to measuring access to early care and education (ECE). It is split into four sections:
1. Clarifying and Defining Access to ECE
2. Describing the Indicators of ECE Access
3. Measuring the Indicators of ECE Access
4. ECE Access Datasets and Sources
The working definition of access to early care and education:
“Access to early care and education means that parents, with reasonable effort and affordability, can enroll their child in an arrangement that supports the child’s development and meets the parents’ needs.”
This working definition takes the perspective of the family and their experiences finding ECE arrangements that meet their needs. A family-based perspective allows for consideration of the unique preferences, priorities, and needs of each household. Four dimensions of early care and education access are present in this definition:
1. Requires reasonable effort
2. Is affordable
3. Supports the child’s development
4. Meets the parents’ needs
Purpose
The ECE Access Guidebook was developed to address the need for developing a common definition and approach to measuring access. This Guidebook is intended to support states’ efforts to assess the reach and effectiveness of their policy initiatives aimed at expanding ECE access.
Key Findings and Highlights
For each of the four identified dimensions of access, the guidebook provides indicators that can be measured in an analysis of the dimension. Accompanying each indicator is a definition explaining the indicator, a list of data sources including information that can be used to calculate the indicator, and examples of the policy questions that could be answered using the listed indicator and data sources.
You will also find analytical guidance for a select number of these policy-related questions. The following information is included for each question:
• Suggested datasets with the data elements needed to answer the question
• Indicators of ECE access addressed by the question
• Metrics for operationalizing those indicators
• Description of the process for deriving an answer to the question
Finally, the guidebook provides a list of datasets collected by federal and state agencies that can be used to calculate access to early care and education.
Methods
This guidebook was created through three discrete steps:
1. Conducting a literature review of peer-reviewed articles for a greater understanding of how ECE access has been conceptualized and measured
2. Convening an ECE Access Expert Panel to discuss current definitions of ECE access; gaps in current definitions; data used by states to make determinations of ECE access; and insufficiencies in the availability of data about ECE access
3. Iterating, refining, and editing the list of dimensions and indicators
Citation
Friese, S., Lin, V., Forry, N. & Tout, K. (2017). Defining and Measuring Access to High Quality Early Care and Education: A Guidebook for Policymakers and Researchers, OPRE Report #2017-08, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services