This brief provides historical context to explain what motivated the development and fielding of the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education (2012 NSECE). We identify four sets of key factors that made gathering nationally representative data on the supply of and demand for child care and early education (CCEE) in recent years extremely important: (1) policy developments; (2) demographic changes; (3) emerging research findings and new research questions; and (4) the identification of needed methodological improvements. (author abstract)