Understanding Families’ Needs and Preferences to Advance Measurement of Equitable Access to Child Care and Early Education

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report identifies actionable steps that state and territory childcare administrators as well as local childcare and early education (CCEE) leaders can take to advance measurement of equitable CCEE access. These steps are based in: 1) the Access Guidebook’s definition of access which centers families’ child care needs and preferences; 2) a published literature review on early care and education (ECE) access with literature prior to 2019; 3) literature on ECE access published since 2019; and 4) a convening of state agency staff, researchers, and policy experts in four states who discussed their current measures of CCEE access.