The 1995 National Household Education Survey (NHES:95) was a random digit dial telephone survey of households developed by the National Center for Education Statistics. The NHES:95 included two topical survey components: the Adult Education component, which collected information about adults' participation in adult education, and the Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) component, which collected information about children's participation in nonparental child care and early childhood programs. This manual provides documentation and guidance for users of the public release data file for the ECPP component. Information about the purpose of the study, the data collection instruments, the sample design, and data collection and data processing procedures is provided. Some information about factors that should be kept in mind when using ECPP data is also provided. For the ECPP component, interviews were conducted with parents of 14,064 children, a figure that included 101 home schooled children. Four appendixes present screening and study questionnaires, information about the file layout, the Statistical Analysis System code for derived variables, and the ECPP codebook. (Contains 8 tables, 2 figures, and 23 references.) (SLD)

Drawing on data from the 1995 National Household Education Survey, this report examines the characteristics of the care and education children receive on a regular basis before they enter school. The report focuses on various characteristics of child care arrangements categorized into two groups: those that have been associated with children's development and those that stem from parental concerns other than child development, such as family budget or work schedules. Following an introduction detailing data sources and limitations and what characteristics of child and family and of non-parental care are of interest, the report presents factors and findings in the following areas: (1) what were children's experiences in non-parental care in 1995; (2) what factors were associated with the types and characteristics of the child care arrangements that parents chose; (3) what were parents' sources of information and preferences regarding child care arrangements; (4) what were parents' preferences related to the attributes of the child care arrangements they selected; and (5) what were parents' preferences related to the types of arrangements they selected. The final section of the report provides a summary and conclusions. Among the findings highlighted are the following: (1) compared with children who did not have various characteristics associated with school failure, children who had these characteristics spent more time in nonparental care and were more likely to be in multiple care arrangements; (2) parents valued having their children cared for by a trained provider and with a small number of children, cost of child care was almost as important as the number children cared for; (3) a variety of other child care characteristics were related to parents' choices, including distance between home and care, whether sick child care was available, and whether English was spoken most of the time; and (4) inconsistent relationships were found between cost of care and characteristics associated with positive child outcomes. The report's two appendices present supplemental tables of data and technical notes and methodology of the study. (Contains 57 references.) (HTH)

The National Household Education Survey (NHES) is a random digit dial telephone survey of households developed by the National Center for Education Statistics. It has been conducted in 1991, 1993, 1995, and 1996, with varying components each year. The NHES 91/93/95/96 CD-ROM contains an electronic codebook (ECB) program that, after being installed on a personal computer, allows the user to examine the variables in each of the NHES data sets as well as create Statistical Analysis System (SAS) or Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) programs to generate an extract data file for any of the NHES data files on the CD-ROM. The files include the 1991 and 1995 Adult Education files, the primary and preprimary education files from 1991, the school readiness and school safety files from 1993, the 1995 early childhood program participation file, and the 1996 household and library, parent and family involvement in education and civic involvement, youth civic involvement, and adult civic involvement files. The ECB is a DOS-based program for IBM-compatible personal computers. Sections describe its contents and use, focusing on what can be done with the ECB and how to do it. Emphasis is on extracting information from the files. Eight appendixes provide specific use information and samples, including SAS and SPSS samples. (SLD)

A study focused on researchers' use of the English-Language Background Questionnaire (EBQ) portion of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), the results of which were released in 1993. Data were gathered by surveying NALS data users about how they have used the EBQ data, their perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the EBQ, and their recommendations for changes to the EBQ. A content analysis was also conducted of published research papers that have involved analyses of the EBQ data to determine how the data were used in these research analyses. The study also drew upon recommendations garnered by a series of focus groups conducted by the American Institutes for Research in 1998. These sources were integrated with the study's own analysis of the NALS data. The following changes to the EBQ for future adult literacy assessments were recommended: expand the questions pertaining to educational experiences; expand the section on social and political participation or move the current items to other areas and delete this section; add an item on voter registration; acquire more detailed information regarding work history, wages, and parents' occupations; expand the section pertaining to literacy practices; and gather information on technological literacy practices. (Appendixes include 34 references; instruments; and studies examined for content review.) (YLB)