New research from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families examines how early learning and care providers who serve Hispanic children fair on access and availability of ECE programs.
Their latest brief, How Well are Early Care and Education Providers Who Serve Hispanic Children Doing on Access and Availability, hones in on characteristics that are indicative of access and availability of programs, such as time and flexibility of provider hours.
On a high-level, the Center found that high-Hispanic-serving centers are on par with or perform worse than, low-Hispanic-serving centers in 5 of the 7 indicators measured. Specific key findings from the report include:
- Roughly 1 in 5 ECE providers serves a high proportion of Hispanic children
- Most of the children served by high-Hispanic-serving providers are Hispanic
- Less than half of high-Hispanic-serving, center-based providers offer full-time hours
- The majority of high-Hispanic-serving providers do not provide care during evening or weekend hours.
- Many high-Hispanic-serving providers offer flexible features for schedules and payment, but many also charge fees for late pick-up.
- The majority of high-Hispanic-serving centers and listed, home-based providers have denied care or placed a child on a waitlist because of lack of space.
Despite the unmet need of flexible, longer hours of care and learning, the brief provides key insight into ways providers can further reduce inequalities and gaps in access and availability of care for low-income children, but of those also in the Hispanic community.
Read the full brief here.