Afterschool provider survey data offers insights into the subset of child care providers

In the most recent wave of the program provider survey, the Afterschool Alliance continues to capture the changing status, needs, and services of providers during the COVID pandemic. Conducted from March 21st, 2022 to April 12th, 2022, the Wave 7 survey included the ability for providers to identify as “child care providers”, as one of a list of multiple ways they might identify Twelve percent of program providers identified as a child care center or 111 out of 948 respondents. Looking at the variation between the responses of the total universe of providers and those identifying as child care centers yields some interesting takeaways.

Who they serve: Child care centers are more likely to serve Pre-K and elementary schoolers than middle and high schoolers. Sixty-seven percent of the child care centers were serving Pre-K, 82% serving elementary, 13% serving middle school students and 5% serving high school, compared to the general provider population of which 32% served Pre-K, 85% elementary, 49% middle school, and 27% high school. The identified child care centers were more likely to serve rural students than providers overall (48% compared to 36%) and to serve smaller numbers of children - 42% of them served between 1 to 25 children compared to 12% of the general providers for the 2020-2021 year. They were less likely to be operating in urban areas?—17% compared to 37%?—of the full group of respondents.

Connections to Schools: Child care centers were also less likely to be operating in a public school than providers overall (29% to 64%) and less likely to employ certified teachers (28% to 41%). They were more likely to be spaces for virtual school days (44%to 29%), and less likely to have reduced operations due to space concerns (5% to 31%). Additionally, they are less likely to be involved with schools on how to support students over the summer (31% to 56%). They are also more likely to operate year-round (63% compared to 42% of the overall survey population).

Offerings for Youth: Child care center sites were less likely to report offering academic/homework help (61% to 78%), STEM learning opportunities (49% to 73%), or access to technology (38% to 63%). They also reported offering only slightly lower opportunities than the general responses for youth with regards to skills such as communication, teamwork and critical thinking (66% to 77%). Child care center sites reported substantially fewer offerings for leadership opportunities (26% to 52%) or social and emotional supports including specialized mental health and counseling support (14% to 32%). And they were less likely to have ever operated as a meals site. Thirty seven percent had never been a meals site compared to 24% overall.

Operational Issues and Staffing: Child care respondents had the same general concerns over possible losses of funding for their programs and any concerns over furloughing staff or closing. They did however have more challenges when it came to ratios and staffing. Compared to other general programs, centers were less likely to have reduced their staff-to-student ratios (13% compared to 20%) and are also more likely to be operating at reduced capacity due to staffing issues (85% to 71%). They were also much more likely to report having waitlists (72% to 51%).

Funding and Investments: Child care center respondents were more likely to be supported by parent fees (79% to 42%), and CCDF funding (16% to 7%) and less likely to get 21st Century Community Learning Center funding, or private donations or philanthropy. They were, however, more likely to have received new sources of funding since the pandemic (50% to 43%), including likeliness to report receiving COVID relief dollars (33% to 20%). Child care centers were more likely to report their extra funding going to staffing and were also more likely to engage in more activities to recruit and retain staff, such as increasing wages and salaries (76% to 59%), providing free child care for staff (33% to 19%), providing additional paid time off (23% to 14%) and sign-on bonuses (32% to 15%). While 23% of the full universe of respondents reported doing nothing additional to attract staff, only 6% of child care center providers said the same. Child care programs also anticipate their costs will increase. Sixty-three percent of providers said costs have or will increase between 1-10% and another 27% has or will have an increase between 11-25%.

The results above provide some insight into the relationship between programs that define themselves as child care centers and other afterschool programs. First, child care centers seem to be less connected with school settings. This was an advantage during COVID-19 when schools closed and off-site locations were needed for children of essential workers and other vulnerable populations. It also might allow them to serve more children in smaller groups more closely to students’ homes and in more rural areas, as well as offer settings that support students over the summer. However, this more distinct separation from schools also offers an opportunity to provide additional professional development for school-age child care center providers including information on building connections to school-day learning and providing or connecting with additional social, emotional and mental health supports for youth.

From the above data it also seems more mechanisms were in place to get relief funding to these child care center providers and that as a result, these providers instituted more staff supports. This is important to understand as providers continue to deal with continued staffing concerns. Data also suggests additional attention may be required as relief funding runs out for child care centers in order to retain these incentives and keep their staff so they may continue to work within their required ratios and if possible, recruit additional staff to reduce waitlists.

We realize these numbers are only a small part of a larger story on how the field is responding to the COVID emergency. If you are a child care provider or other afterschool provider with a story to share, please reach out to let us know how you are doing and what you need to continue to serve children and youth at high levels of quality.