Childcare Landscape Study - Flipbook - Page 20
Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study Results
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Data Sources
The Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study relied primarily on the following data sources.
Tennessee Child Care Licensing Data
TDHS collects detailed information on all licensed child care providers within the state,
including those overseen by either TDHS or TDOE.11 We used TDHS’ child care Web
Provider List, pulled on February 28, 2025, for two purposes: 1) we used the full list of
programs and their characteristics to develop the population of child care programs eligible to
participate in the study; and 2) we used the publicly available program characteristics from the
Web Provider List throughout the analysis.
The 2025 Davidson County Child Care Provider Experience Survey
The Policy Impact Center conducted the Child Care Provider Survey online between June and
August 2025. We distributed the survey to 275 center- and home-based child care program
directors located across greater Davidson County. The Child Care Provider Survey asked about:
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Child care enrollment and open slots
Staffing, workforce characteristics, and educator wages
Child care program director experiences and challenges
The Child Care Provider Survey was offered in both English and Spanish.
Survey participants received a $50 Amazon gift card as a thank you for their time.
American Community Survey Population Characteristics
The US Census Bureau annually conducts the American Community Survey (ACS) to estimate
demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the US population. We used 5-year estimates
of population counts, employment, poverty, and race/ethnicity from the 2023 ACS for this study.12
We aggregated county-level estimates to understand the population of the greater Davidson
County region and used ZCTA-level population characteristics to improve our predictions
of the size of the child care workforce and the overall child care supply in child care centers.
Child Care Workgroup
The Child Care Workgroup is a group of local child care community partners and experts
that the Policy Impact Center convened to tailor the cost estimation model to the local
realities of greater Davidson County.
Prenatal to 5 Fiscal Strategies 50-State Child Care Cost Model
Prenatal-to-5 Fiscal Services (P5FS) maintains a generalized, nationwide cost estimation model
for center-based and home-based child care. We used the P5FS tool’s expenses list as a baseline
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center 2025
www.pn3policy.org
