North Carolina Needs and Resources Assessment


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	Statewide Summary [pdf]
	County Reports
	Rankings [pdf]
	Data Dictionary [pdf]
	More at Four Report [pdf]
	Capital Needs Report [pdf]
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About North Carolina Needs and Resources Assessment

In 2002 the North Carolina General Assembly authorized needs and resources assessments for both the Smart Start initiative and the More at Four Pre-kindergarten Program. The necessary research was completed for the North Carolina Division of Child Development and the More at Four Pre-kindergarten Program in multiple stages by a team at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Child Care Services Association. This web site includes the components of the 2003 NC Early Childhood Needs and Resources Assessment that have been completed to date.

The Statewide Summary is a report highlighting needs and resources data for the state as a whole, including tables summarizing existing data from several sources (e.g., US Census 2000, Division of Child Development, Division of Social Services, Division of Medical Assistance, and Child Care Services Association). The 5 tables cover the following topics:

Demographic information about children birth through five (0-5) years and their families (Table 1)

Early care and education services available to children birth through age 5 (Table 2)

Child care enrollment by age and quality for all children birth through age 5 (Table 3)

Child care enrollment by age and quality for children birth through age 5 whose families receive child care subsidies (Table 4)

All data relevant to 4-year-old children (Table 5)

The statewide Child Care Work Force Study is an important part of the Needs and Resources Assessment and was conducted by the Child Care Services Association.

The County Reports include a summary of each county’s data and the same tables as in the state report. Each county’s report includes an additional table that shows the ranking of the county on key variables compared to the statewide averages. Each report concludes with the work force data specific to each county.

The County Rankings on Key Variables file presents the rankings of North Carolina’s 100 counties on several key variables.

The Data Dictionary provides the data source for each indicator variable and, for those variables that were calculated, describes how each was computed.

The More at Four Report summarizes data obtained from a survey conducted in February 2003 with all 90 More at Four Pre-kindergarten Programs. This document describes the sites, classrooms and children who were participating in the More at Four program in January 2003, and the available resources and funding sources as well as challenges the programs faced.

The Capital Needs Report summarizes results from a November 2003 survey of Smart Start executive directors regarding capital needs for early childhood.