Indicator 6. Care Arrangements

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, contains a birth cohort of a representative sample of children born in the United States in 2001. This indicator examines the distribution of 4-year-olds from this cohort by their primary type of care arrangement, as reported by their parents. The types of arrangements include staying home with a parent (no regular nonparental arrangement), home-based care with either a relative or a non-relative, center-based care, or multiple arrangements.

Overall, in 2005, the primary care arrangement for 20 percent of 4-year-olds was staying at home without any regular nonparental care. A higher percentage of Hispanic 4-year-olds (27 percent) than 4-year-olds of other races/ethnicities were in this arrangement; the percentage for Hispanics was 9 percentage points higher than Whites, 11 percentage points higher than Blacks, 10 percentage points higher than Asians, 7 percentage points higher than American Indians/Alaska Natives, and 9 percentage points higher than children of two or more races. Although the overall rate of participation in center-based care was 57 percent, 20 percent of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 4-year-olds and 49 percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds participated in center-based care. These percentages were lower than the percentages for White, Black, Asian, and American Indian/Alaska Native 4-year-olds (ranging between 60 and 62 percent). Thirty-one percent of American Indian/Alaska Native 4-year-olds and 25 percent of Black 4-year-olds were enrolled in Head Start, the federal program for disadvantaged children, compared with 7 percent of Whites, 19 percent of Hispanics, 5 percent of Asians, and 5 percent of Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders. White (53 percent) and Asian (55 percent) 4-year-olds had the highest percentages of enrollment in center-based programs other than Head Start.

View Table 6
View Figure 6