The data in this report are based on the Census Bureau's October 1973 Current Population Survey, and present information on the age, race, type of school, control of school, type of residence, and family income of children enrolled in nursery school and kindergarten.

The tables contained in the report for 1973 are comparable to those published by the Office of Education for prior years.¹ Also included here are selected summary tables for the period from 1964 to 1973.

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¹ Last published as DHEW Publication No. (OE) 73-11411, "Preprimary Enrollment: October 1972" by the National Center for Educational Statistics, Office of Education.

Some highlights of the data presented in this report are:

• The number of 3- to 5-year-old children enrolled in preprimary programs (nursery school and kindergarten) was 4.2 million in 1973, representing about two of every five children in that age group.
• Although the enrollment rate for these children increased from 26 percent to 37 percent between 1964 and 1970, there was no significant change in the enrollment rate between 1972 and 1973.
• Nursery school enrollment has more than doubled during the past decade, from about one-half million in 1964 to 1.3 million in 1973.
• In 1973, about three of every four of the 5-year-old children were enrolled in a preprimary program, compared with about one of three of the 4-year-olds and one of seven of the 3-year-old children.
• Nursery school enrollment continues to be concentrated largely in private programs (70 percent) whereas kindergarten students are predominantly in public programs (84 percent).
• The majority of Negro nursery school students were in public programs (69 percent), but the majority of white nursery school students attended private programs (78 percent).