Help safeguard tax dollars. Report suspicious activity.
Early Care and Education
We are working to update and improve this report. Please email eclds.support@state.mn.us if you have any questions.
- Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
- Student Early Education Enrollment
Data Definitions
Known Public ECE Participation: The count of public school kindergartners who participated in at least one of the following public early learning and development programs: Child Care Assistance (CCAP), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) or School District Preschool (MN District Preschool) prior to kindergarten entry.
No ECE Data Available: The count of public school kindergartners for whom there is no data indicating participation in any of the following public early learning and development programs: Child Care Assistance (CCAP), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) or School District Preschool (MN District Preschool) prior to kindergarten entry.
Key Terminology
- CTSTR: Counts Too Small To Report - when results are less than 10
- ECE: Early Care and Education
- Kindergarten Cohort: A group of children who participated in public kindergarten in a given school year
- No Data Available: No data is available for the selected criteria
- School County: County of the location of public school of enrollment
- School District: School district in the state of Minnesota
- School Year: Period of time that covers July 1 of one year through June 30 of the following
General
These charts show public school kindergartners who participated in at least one of the following public early learning and development programs: Child Care Assistance (CCAP), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) or School District Preschool (MN District Preschool) prior to kindergarten entry. Children attending private child care and early learning programs prior to kindergarten are not included in these counts.
Not all children participating in these programs may have attended public kindergarten in Minnesota.
As of June 2021, Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) and School Readiness Plus (SRP) data are included in the MN District Preschool data provided by the Minnesota Department of Education. School Readiness data begin with the 2013-2014 school year; VPK data begin with the 2016-2017 school year; SRP data begin with the 2017-2018 school year.
Because ECFE serves children from birth to kindergarten entrance, and ECFE data begins with the 2013-14 school year, ECLDS most fully represents ECFE participation in kindergarten reports beginning with the 2019-20 school year.
Participation by Program
Program level counts are not unique as children may participate in more than one program and therefore are not meant to be totaled.
Participation by Year Prior to Kindergarten
This chart shows the kindergartners who participated in public early care and education programs each year prior to entering kindergarten. Some children participate in a program over multiple years. Some children participate in multiple programs within a year.
With the ECLDS, Minnesota is effectively filling in prekindergarten knowledge gaps by linking data on early care and education participation to kindergarten records and by linking data from these early care and education programs to one another at the child level. In spite of this, gaps remain. Importantly:
- ECLDS does not contain data on children who:
- Participated in private-pay child care and preschool arrangements
- Go on to attend private or parochial K-12 schools
- Participated in programs for which data are not committed and integrated into the ECLDS
- ECLDS has limited information on children who:
- Were not born in Minnesota
- Were born in Minnesota but leave
- Have mobility between Minnesota and another state
Context matters. Whenever possible, users of ECLDS data should have an understanding of the local early childhood context in a given community when querying and using data for that area. Many early learning programs and interventions are undertaken at the local level. These local initiatives likely impact local results and can drive trends that are different from regional or state level trends.
Data is uploaded in the ECLDS twice annually. Programs may request complete reloads of their contributed data for a variety of reasons. ECLDS users should note that counts can and do change in the system. Therefore, users of ECLDS data products found at eclds.mn.gov are encouraged to use the following citation:
[Chart Title], [Year] by [Geographic Level]. Minnesota Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System [Date Printed].
- Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
- Student Early Education Enrollment
Data Definitions
Known Public ECE Participation: The count of public school kindergartners who participated in at least one of the following public early learning and development programs: Child Care Assistance (CCAP), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) or School District Preschool (MN District Preschool) prior to kindergarten entry.
No ECE Data Available: The count of public school kindergartners for whom there is no data indicating participation in any of the following public early learning and development programs: Child Care Assistance (CCAP), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) or School District Preschool (MN District Preschool) prior to kindergarten entry.
Key Terminology
- CTSTR: Counts Too Small To Report - when results are less than 10
- ECE: Early Care and Education
- Kindergarten Cohort: A group of children who participated in public kindergarten in a given school year
- No Data Available: No data is available for the selected criteria
- School County: County of the location of public school of enrollment
- School District: School district in the state of Minnesota
- School Year: Period of time that covers July 1 of one year through June 30 of the following
General
These charts show public school kindergartners who participated in at least one of the following public early learning and development programs: Child Care Assistance (CCAP), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) or School District Preschool (MN District Preschool) prior to kindergarten entry. Children attending private child care and early learning programs prior to kindergarten are not included in these counts.
Not all children participating in these programs may have attended public kindergarten in Minnesota.
As of June 2021, Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) and School Readiness Plus (SRP) data are included in the MN District Preschool data provided by the Minnesota Department of Education. School Readiness data begin with the 2013-2014 school year; VPK data begin with the 2016-2017 school year; SRP data begin with the 2017-2018 school year.
Because ECFE serves children from birth to kindergarten entrance, and ECFE data begins with the 2013-14 school year, ECLDS most fully represents ECFE participation in kindergarten reports beginning with the 2019-20 school year.
Participation by Program
Program level counts are not unique as children may participate in more than one program and therefore are not meant to be totaled.
Participation by Year Prior to Kindergarten
This chart shows the kindergartners who participated in public early care and education programs each year prior to entering kindergarten. Some children participate in a program over multiple years. Some children participate in multiple programs within a year.
With the ECLDS, Minnesota is effectively filling in prekindergarten knowledge gaps by linking data on early care and education participation to kindergarten records and by linking data from these early care and education programs to one another at the child level. In spite of this, gaps remain. Importantly:
- ECLDS does not contain data on children who:
- Participated in private-pay child care and preschool arrangements
- Go on to attend private or parochial K-12 schools
- Participated in programs for which data are not committed and integrated into the ECLDS
- ECLDS has limited information on children who:
- Were not born in Minnesota
- Were born in Minnesota but leave
- Have mobility between Minnesota and another state
Context matters. Whenever possible, users of ECLDS data should have an understanding of the local early childhood context in a given community when querying and using data for that area. Many early learning programs and interventions are undertaken at the local level. These local initiatives likely impact local results and can drive trends that are different from regional or state level trends.
Data is uploaded in the ECLDS twice annually. Programs may request complete reloads of their contributed data for a variety of reasons. ECLDS users should note that counts can and do change in the system. Therefore, users of ECLDS data products found at eclds.mn.gov are encouraged to use the following citation:
[Chart Title], [Year] by [Geographic Level]. Minnesota Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System [Date Printed].