Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/school-age-child-care-trend-report/5017728/
What a difference a decade makes. In 1996 when I compiled the first Exchange Status Report on school-age child care (Neugebauer), I observed . . .“School-age care is the fastest growing segment of the early childhood arena . . . and possibly the least visible. While programs have been serving school-age children in out-of-school hours since the turn of the century, it is only in recent years that professionals have started to view school-age care as a distinct discipline with its own unique history, challenges, and opportunities.”
This year when I sat down to prepare for this status report, I was amazed at how much attention the school-age sector now generates. I found a multitude of studies and reports which have bisected, quantified, and assessed current programs serving school-age children. In fact, I am relying on a few of these manuscripts to provide the jumping off point for this report.
Who uses school-age care?
To answer this question, I will draw on data provided in the National Center on Children in Poverty (NCCIP) report, “School-Age Child Care Arrangements,” (Lawrence). According to this report, 20% of all U.S. children in kindergarten through eighth grade participate in some form of center- or school-based after ...