Boston Parent Survey 2006Boston Parent Survey 2006Boston Parent Survey 2006

Corey ZimmermanBoston EQUIP

A project of Associated Early Care and Education

Overview

• Why was this study done at this time?

• How was the data gathered?

• What were the results?

• What can we do with this information?

The purpose of the study was to learn from parents about their needs and priorities for

early care and education to inform planning.

• Missing “demand-side” data or the parent perspective

• Data needed in Boston to inform comprehensive citywide planning for children birth to school-age

• Strategies for Children / Early Education for All commissioning statewide parent survey to inform planning and costing-out efforts related to Universal Preschool.

The data was gathered by..Strategies for Children and Boston EQUIP engaged Opinion Dynamics, a

polling/survey research firm, to conduct a quantitative statewide survey with an over-sample in Boston

Data collection: Opinion Dynamics

Methodology = Telephone interviews ~ 16 minutes

Interview dates: April 13 – May 10, 2006

Sample = 205 primary caretakers of children younger than age 7 who live in Boston (n = 205 primary caregivers, n = 283 children)

Data analysis: Boston EQUIP

The survey respondents were:Age

18-24 9%25-29 17%30-34 26%35-44 32%45+ 11%(Refused) 3%

Marital StatusSingle 31%Married 50%Live w/ Partner 5.5%Other 13.5%

Relationship with childMother/Stepmother 77%Father/Stepfather 15%Foster Parent 2.5%Grandparent 4.5%

Number of children under 7One 67%Two 25%Three 5%Four or more 2%

In the presentation: All caretakers will be called “parents”

EthnicityWhite 43%African-American 21%Latino, Hispanic 28%Other 2%

Language spoken at home63% speak English at home37% spoke other language at home

Household income$0 - $24,999 24%$25,000 - $59,999 27.7%$60,000 - $99,999 17.1%$100,000 or more 10.6%Not sure / Refused 31.8%

Survey respondents (cont’d)

What did we find out?!?

In Boston, many people are providing early care and education in multiple locations.

9%

7%

10%

7%

4%

6%7%6%

10%

8%

21%

5%

Preschool offered by PublicSchool districtPreschool offered by aparochial or private schoolChild Care Center

Public School Kindergarten

Private School Kindergarten

Family Child Care

Neighbor, Babysitter, Nannyin Own HomeNeighbor or Babysitteroutside your homeAnother relative in your home

Another relative outside yourhomeSpouse

Parent-only(Note: The percentages are of counts of children using that type of arrangement. Children use multiples of these arrangements.)

For the 21% of children who receive early care and education solely from their parents, their parents offered

these reasons for their choice

Self/spouse at home 39%Not sure / Refused 25%No need / personal choice

23%

Trust / Safety issues 15%

Cost 2%

21%

39%

22%

6% 7%1% 1% 1% 1% 1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

61% of Boston children experience 1 or 2 care and education arrangements per

week, in addition to their parents.

(Number of care & education arrangements per week)

0 = Parent(s) onlyMean = 1.6+1.7 arrangements

(% o

f chi

ldre

n)

The other way to say that last slide is..

8 of every 10 Boston children regularly receive

early care and education from a non-parent.

21%18%

9% 10% 11%

5%7%

18%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

0 hours 1-10hours

11-20hours

21-30hours

31-40hours

41-50hours

> 50hrs

Notsure

Boston children spend at least 28 hours on average in care and education weekly.

If they are in care at least 1 hour a week, the mode is 40 hours a week.

Average = 28hrs + 22.5 hrs

Most children in care and education arrangements spend the majority of hours in

formal arrangements.*

70%28%

3%

of children of

children

of children

Most hours in INFORMAL arrangements

Most hours in FORMAL

arrangements

EQUAL

*If parents knew # hours in

arrangement, and if hours >= 1 per

week in arrangement.

5%

5%

5%

7%

1%

4%

17%

56%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

1 day

2 days

3 days

4 days

5 days

6 days

7 days

Depends / Not Sure

56% of Boston children are in care & education arrangements 5 days a week.

Mean = 4.5+1.3Median = 5

Most children’s care and education arrangements are stable.

7%

80%13%

More oftenthan every 6monthsLess oftenthan every 6monthsDepends /Not Sure

How often arrangements changed during the last school year -

71% of Boston children receive care and education in a location closer to their home than closer to where their parent’s work,

and parents prefer it that way.

61

1118

10

61

13 188

0

25

50

75

100

Closer to home Closer toWork/School

(Equaldistance/same)

(At my home)

% Current Location % Preferred Location

55% of parents transport their children by car to their early care and education.

14%

2%

55%

3%

20%

5%

CarPublic TransportationWalkPrivate Transportation arranged by providerPrivate Transportation arranged by parentOther(8% were not sure or refused)

47% of parents travel less than 10 minutes to get from their home to the place where their

child(ren) receive most early care and education.

47%

23%

10%

3%

2%

1%

14%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%Under 10 min.11-20 min.21-30 min.31-40 min.41-60 min.Over 1 hr.Don't Know/Refused/Other

Directions: Gave parents a list of items and asked them to

1) Rank the importance of the item2) Rate their early care and education arrangement

on the item.3) Choose if one of the items could be improved

from their current early care and education arrangement

92%

84%

83%

66%

68%

69%

51%

41%

4%

10%

10%

24%

17%

15%

19%

17%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Safety

Reputation of the provider

Opportunities for social and emotional development

Convenience of Location

Convenience of Hours of Operation

Getting your child ready to go to school

Cost

The ethnicity, language, or religion of the providers and other children

Quality is more important than Cost to Parents

% Very Important

% Somewhat Important

% responding

61%

60%

53%

52%

57%

51%

39%

46%

27%

27%

30%

33%

27%

27%

27%

32%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Safety

Reputation of the provider

Opportunities for social and emotional development

Convenience of Location

Convenience of Hours of Operation

Getting your child ready to go to school

Cost

The ethnicity, language, or religion of the providers and other children

Most parents rate their current care and education arrangements as excellent or good.

(88%)

(87%)

(83%)

(85%)

(84%)

(78%)

(66%)

(78%)

Excellent Good

96% 94% 93% 90%85% 84%

70%

58%

88% 87% 83% 85% 84%78%

66%

78%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Safety Reputation ofthe provider

Opportunitiesfor social and

emotionaldevelopment

Convenience ofLocation

Convenience ofHours of

Operation

Getting yourchild ready togo to school

Cost The ethnicity,language, orreligion of theproviders andother children

The importance and perceived quality of current arrangements are close.

Very & Somewhat Important

Excellent and Good Rate

Just as interesting as what they rated positively is what parents

didn’t rate.• No parent rated the opportunities for social

and emotional development in their current arrangements as poor.

• No parent rated the safety of their current care and education arrangements as “poor”– Although 12% ranked the safety as “Fair” or

“Refused”– Raises the question “how do parents define

safety?” Classroom safety? Community safety?

Not surprisingly even though quality is important, if parents could improve one item 29% would “improve” the cost of their care

and education arrangements.

29%

15%9%

3%9%

4% 5% 2%

21%

2%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

The cost Convenienceof location

Convenienceof hours ofoperation

The ethnicity,language or

religion of theproviders a

Safety Getting your(child/children)ready to go to

school

Opportunitiesfor social and

emotionaldevelopment

The reputationof the provider

(Don't know ) (Refused)

82% of Boston Parents are Interested in Universal Preschool.

82%

4%

11%

3%

Very/SomewhatInterested

Depends

Not very/ Notinterested

Notsure/Refused

There is currently a proposal at the MA State House to make high quality early education programs available for free for all 3 to 5 year olds in MA. How interested would you be in enrolling your child/childrenin a free, high quality early education program?

What we learned:• Majority of Boston children experience 1-2 care

arrangements /week• On average, Boston children are spending at least 28 hours

(+ 22.5 hours) in their care & education arrangements• More than half of Boston children are in their education and

care and arrangements 5 days per week.• Most Boston children travel less than 10 minutes to their

care and education, which is close to their home• About half of Boston children travel by car• Quality is more important than cost to parents.• Most parents view their current care and education

arrangements as excellent or good.• About a third of parents would improve the cost if they

could.

Action items….

1) PowerPoint available on www.bostonequip.org2) Conduct focus groups with parents to explore

cultural preferences of families, and ask– What other items are valuable to parents as they make

decisions?– How long does it take Boston parents to find care and

education arrangements they consider excellent/good?3) Feed data into comprehensive citywide planning

process to design services for children birth to school-age that meet their families’ needs.

4) What else?

For more information:

Corey ZimmermanBoston EQUIP

Associated Early Care and Education95 Berkeley St. Suite 306

Boston, MA 02116czimmerman@associatedece.org

617-695-0700 x 229www.bostonequip.org