The 2012 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2012) Data File User's Manual provides documentation and guidance for users of the NHES:2012 data files. The manual provides information about the purpose of the study, the sample design, data collection procedures, data processing procedures, response rates, imputation, weighting and standard error calculation and use, data considerations and anomalies, a guide to the data file structure, nonresponse bias analysis, data collection instruments, data file layout, comparisons of estimates from NHES:2012 to prior NHES administrations and other data sources, and tables of nonresponse adjustment cells and response rates. The NHES:2012 consists of two topical surveys--the Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) Survey and the Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) Survey--that were last fielded in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The ECPP survey has a target population of children age 6 or younger who are not yet in kindergarten. The PFI survey has a target population of children and youth age 20 or younger who are enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade in a public or private school or who are being homeschooled for the equivalent grades. The NHES:2012 was a two-phase survey conducted primarily by mail. The first phase of the survey was the administration of a short household screener questionnaire used to identify households with children under age 20. A total of 159,994 households were selected, and the response rate was 73.5 percent. The second phase of the survey was the collection of topical survey data from households with eligible children. The topical response rate was 78.7 percent for the ECPP survey and 78.4 percent for the PFI survey. The overall response rates (the product of the screener response rate and the topical response rate) were 57.8 percent for the ECPP survey and 57.6 percent for the PFI survey. The following are appended: (1) Questionnaires; (2) Data File Layout and Position Order; (3) Comparison of Estimates; (4) Screener Nonresponse Interview Adjustment Cells; (5) ECPP Nonresponse Interview Adjustment Cells; (6) PFI Nonresponse Interview Adjustment Cells; and (7) Summary of Weighting and Sample Variance Estimation Variables.

This report presents data on students in the United States attending kindergarten through grade 12. The main focus of the report is on parent and family involvement in the students' education during the 2011-12 school year as reported by the students' parents. It also includes the percentage of students who participated in family activities, as well as the number of children who were homeschooled. Demographic information about students and families is presented, including students' poverty status and parents' education and language spoken at home, as well as school characteristics, such as school size and school type. The data for this report come from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012 (NHES:2012), Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) Survey. The PFI survey is designed for students who are enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12 or are homeschooled for equivalent grades and asks questions about various aspects of parent involvement in education, such as help with homework, family activities, and parent involvement at school. For homeschooled students, the survey asks questions related to the student's homeschooling experiences, the sources of the curriculum, and the reasons for homeschooling. The NHES:2012 is an address-based sample covering the 50 states and the District of Columbia and was conducted by the United States Census Bureau from January through August 2012. Results presented in the tables within this report are weighted. All statements of comparison made in this report have been tested for statistical significance using two-tailed t-tests and are significant at the 95 percent confidence level. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. Some estimates that appear different may not be measurably different in a statistical sense due to sampling error. This report introduces new NHES survey data by presenting selected descriptive information. Readers are cautioned not to draw causal inferences based on the results presented. It is important to note that many of the variables examined in this report may be related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships among the variables have not been explored. The following are appended: (1) Technical Notes; (2) Glossary; and (3) Standard Error Tables. (Contains 17 tables and 2 footnotes.).

This report presents data on the early care and education arrangements and selected family activities of children in the United States from birth through the age of 5 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten in the spring of 2012. The report also presents data on parents' satisfaction with various aspects of these care arrangements and on their participation in various learning activities with their children. For each category of information included in the report, the results are broken down by child, parent, and family characteristics. The data in this report are from the 2012 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2012) Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) Survey. The ECPP survey is used to collect information on children from birth through age 6 who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten. Prior to the 2012 ECPP survey that is the focus of the current report, the survey was last conducted in 2005. The ECPP asks detailed questions about children's participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. It also asks about the main reason for choosing care; what factors were important to parents when choosing a care arrangement; what activities the family does with the child, such as reading, singing, and arts and crafts; and what the child is learning, such as counting, recognizing the letters of the alphabet, and reading. As noted above, the ECPP asks detailed questions about children's participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. However, children can have more than one care arrangement within a particular type of care (e.g., two relative care arrangements). Parents were instructed on the questionnaire to answer the detailed questions about the person or center that provided the most care. The tables in this report refer to these arrangements as "primary" arrangements. Children can have multiple primary care arrangements across arrangement types (e.g., primary relative care and primary center care). This report (NCES 2013-029.REV) is revised from an earlier version of the report (NCES 2013-029) that was released in August 2013. This updated version is based on estimates that utilize the final NHES:2012 data, for which survey weights have been corrected. The correction in survey weights has led to small changes in the estimates presented, typically of one to two percentage points. The revised report also revises the estimates related to children's parents so that they are more consistent within tables and so that the parent(s) reported by the survey respondent, regardless of whether a birth, adoptive, step, foster parent or a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or another guardian in the household, is counted as a parent/guardian.

This report presents data on the early care and education arrangements and early learning of children in the United States from birth through the age of 5 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten in the spring of 2012. The report also presents data on parents' satisfaction with various aspects of these care arrangements and on their participation in various learning activities with their children. For each category of information included in the report, the results are broken down by child, parent, and family characteristics. The data in this report are from the 2012 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2012) Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) Survey. The ECPP survey is used to collect information on children from birth through age 6 who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten. However, 6-year-old preschoolers are atypical and too few in number to support separate estimates, and therefore they have been excluded from this report. The ECPP asks detailed questions about children's participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. It also asks about the main reason for choosing care; what factors were important to parents when choosing a care arrangement; what activities the family does with the child, such as reading, singing, and arts and crafts; and what the child is learning, such as counting, recognizing the letters of the alphabet, and reading. Results presented in the tables within this report are weighted. All statements of comparison made in this report have been tested for statistical significance using two-tailed t-tests and are significant at the 95 percent confidence level. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. Some estimates that appear different may not be measurably different in a statistical sense due to sampling error. The purpose of this First Look report is to introduce new NHES survey data through the presentation of selected descriptive information. However, readers are cautioned not to draw causal inferences based on the results presented. Many of the variables examined in this report may be related to one another, but the complex interactions and relationships among them have not been explored. The variables examined here are also just a few of the variables that can be examined in these data; they were selected to demonstrate the range of information available from the study. The release of this report is intended to encourage more in-depth analysis of the data using more sophisticated statistical methods.The following are appended: (1) Technical Notes; (2) Glossary of Terms; and (3) Standard Error Tables. (Contains 15 tables.).

This report presents data on the early care and education arrangements and selected family activities of children in the United States from birth through the age of 5 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten in the spring of 2012. The report also presents data on parents' satisfaction with various aspects of these care arrangements and on their participation in various learning activities with their children. For each category of information included in the report, the results are broken down by child, parent, and family characteristics. The data in this report are from the 2012 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2012) Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) Survey. The ECPP survey is used to collect information on children from birth through age 6 who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten.1 Prior to the 2012 ECPP survey that is the focus of the current report, the survey was last conducted in 2005. The ECPP asks detailed questions about children's participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. It also asks about the main reason for choosing care; what factors were important to parents when choosing a care arrangement; what activities the family does with the child, such as reading, singing, and arts and crafts; and what the child is learning, such as counting, recognizing the letters of the alphabet, and reading. As noted above, the ECPP asks detailed questions about children's participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. However, children can have more than one care arrangement within a particular type of care (e.g., two relative care arrangements). Parents were instructed on the questionnaire to answer the detailed questions about the person or center that provided the most care. The tables in this report refer to these arrangements as "primary" arrangements. Children can have multiple primary care arrangements across arrangement types (e.g., primary relative care and primary center care). This report (NCES 2013-029.REV) is revised from an earlier version of the report (NCES 2013-029) that was released in August 2013. This updated version is based on estimates that utilize the final NHES:2012 data, for which survey weights have been corrected. The correction in survey weights has led to small changes in the estimates presented, typically of one to two percentage points. The revised report also revises the estimates related to children's parents so that they are more consistent within tables and so that the parent(s) reported by the survey respondent, regardless of whether a birth, adoptive, step, foster parent or a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or another guardian in the household, is counted as a parent/guardian.