Fast Facts: Preprimary education enrollment (516)

Preprimary education enrollment

Question:
What percentage of children are enrolled in preprimary education?

Response:

Formal schooling, such as kindergarten and preschool programs, is an important component of early childhood education. This Fast Fact looks at the school enrollment rates of 3- to 5-year-olds using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement. This Fast Fact also compares enrollment rates by various child and family characteristics within the 3- to 4-year-old and 5-year-old age groups.

In October 2021, about 63 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds were enrolled in school overall. The enrollment rate was higher for 5-year-olds than for 3- to 4-year-olds (86 vs. 50 percent).¹ For both age groups, enrollment rates were lower than they had been in October 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic. A closer examination of the changes in enrollment rates over time shows the following:

For both age groups, enrollment rates in October 2019 were not measurably different from those in October 2010.²
Between October 2019 and October 2020, enrollment rates decreased for both age groups: the rate for 5-year-olds fell 6 percentage points (from 91 to 84 percent), while the rate for 3- to 4-year-olds fell 13 percentage points (from 54 to 40 percent).
Between October 2020 and October 2021, the enrollment rate increased for 3- to 4-year-olds only, by 10 percentage points (from 40 to 50 percent).³
For both age groups, enrollment rates in October 2021 remained lower than in October 2019, despite the 10-percentage-point recovery from October 2020 to October 2021 for 3- to 4-year-olds.

In October 2021, for both 3- to 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds, enrollment rates were lower for Hispanic children than for their peers of some other racial/ethnic groups.⁴ Specifically, enrollment rates in October 2021 were

lower for Hispanic 3- to 4-year-olds (42 percent) than for those who were White (55 percent) or Asian (59 percent); and
lower for Hispanic 5-year-olds (82 percent) than for those who were Black (90 percent), Asian (92 percent), or of Two or more races (97 percent).

The enrollment rate was also lower for White 5-year-olds (86 percent) than for those of Two or more races. There were no other measurable differences by race/ethnicity in the school enrollment rates of 3- to 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds.

In October 2021, enrollment rates did not measurably differ by sex for either 3- to 4-year-olds or 5-year-olds.

¹ As of 2020, there were 47 states—plus the District of Columbia—that required that free education be offered by age 5; however, schooling was only compulsory for 5-year-olds in 11 states and the District of Columbia (see 50-State Comparison: Free and Compulsory School Age Requirements).
² For historical data on enrollment rates for 3- to 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds (i.e., data prior to 2010), see Digest of Education Statistics 2019, table 202.10.
³ Enrollment drops during the coronavirus pandemic were also observed in data collected by NCES (see indicators Public School Enrollment and Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools).
⁴ For both 3- to 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds, the October 2021 enrollment rates for American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander children did not meet reporting standards and were thus excluded from the analyses.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Enrollment Rates of Young Children. The Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved June 21, 2023, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cfa.

Numbers in figure titles reflect original numeration from source Condition of Education indicators.

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