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I. INTRODUCTION

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), first launched in 1997 as a periodic, longitudinal study of program performance, is Head Start's ongoing flagship research initiative. Successive samples of Head Start children, their families, and programs provide descriptive information on the characteristics and experiences of the population served; staff qualifications, credentials, and opinions; Head Start classroom practices and quality; and child and family outcomes. FACES includes a battery of child assessments across multiple developmental domains; interviews with children's parents, teachers, and program managers; and observations of classroom quality. In 2005, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funded Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) and its partners - Educational Testing Service, Juarez and Associates, and General Support Services - to design and conduct FACES 2006.

This summary highlights basic features of the FACES 2006 study design for those interested in learning more about the study and for those who may be interested in using the data for future analyses. It describes the sample and sampling design as well as the study components, including the composition of the child assessment; classroom observation; and the parent, teacher and Head Start staff interviews. It then outlines features of the FACES 2006 study and design that differ from previous cohorts. Finally, it offers an overview of the dissemination plans for the FACES data and study findings.

A. FACES 2006 STUDY DESIGN

FACES has been, first and foremost, a performance measurement tool for the Head Start program at the national level.  In accordance with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62) and the 1994 reauthorization of Head Start [Head Start Act, as amended, May 18, 1994, Section 649 (d)], the FACES study collects data on successive nationally representative samples of Head Start programs and classrooms and of the children and families served by Head Start.  FACES also seeks to examine the developmental progress of children and their families during and following Head Start participation. Interviews, observations, and assessments carried out on a recurring basis provide the means for assessing how the program is performing, currently and over time, in response to changing demographics and policy mandates.

FACES 2006 is the fourth in a series of national cohort studies; previous cohorts were initiated in 1997, 2000, and 2003.  The FACES child sample is selected to represent 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds as they are entering their first year of the program.  The study includes four rounds of data collection—fall and spring of children’s first Head Start year, spring of the second Head Start year for children who were 3 years old at the time the sample was selected, and spring of the children’s kindergarten year (See Table 1).  A total of 4,051 children and families will be selected to participate in FACES 2006 from about 350 classrooms in 60 Head Start programs.  We expect that about 3,500 of these children and their families will actually participate in FACES 2006.

TABLE 1. SUMMARY OF DATA COLLECTION FOR 3- AND 4-YEAR OLD COHORTS, BY WAVE
Cohort Fall 2006 Spring 2007 Spring 2008 Spring 2009
3-Year-Old Cohort check check check check
4-Year-Old Cohort check check check  

B. USE OF FACES DATA

For nearly a decade, the Office of Head Start, ACF, other federal agencies, local programs, and the public have depended on FACES for valid and reliable national information about the skills and abilities of Head Start children, how they compare with preschool-age children in the United States as a whole, and their readiness for and subsequent performance in school.

FACES data also have been useful in response to additional program requirements.  The data and experiences from FACES assisted the 1999 Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation as it deliberated the design of the congressionally mandated National Head Start Impact Study (NHSIS).  President George W. Bush’s announcement in April 2002 of the “Good Start, Grow Smart” early childhood initiative directed the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop the Head Start National Reporting System (HSNRS) to monitor child progress in early literacy, language, and numeracy skills. Selection of the child assessment measures for the HSNRS built on ACF’s experiences with direct assessment of Head Start children in prior FACES cohorts.  In addition, data from FACES have been widely disseminated within the Head Start community to guide efforts to improve training and technical assistance and continuous program improvement.

C. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

Successive samples of Head Start children, their families, and programs provide a rich source of ongoing information on the children and families served by Head Start and on the programs and staff who provide these services.  Based on a comprehensive “whole-child” view of school readiness, FACES uses multiple methods to collect data on child characteristics and skills from several sources.  FACES 2006 provides updated information to document status and change in a number of key areas:

  • Demographic characteristics of children and families enrolled in Head Start

  • Child and family outcomes as conceptualized under the Head Start Performance Measures and the Child Outcomes Framework

  • Quality of observed classroom practice

  • Self-reported goals, strengths, needs, and attitudes of participant families, and their expectations for participation in the Head Start program

  • Head Start parents’ perceptions of the strengths and problems of their larger communities

  • Activities and experiences of families while their child is enrolled in Head Start

  • Head Start programs’ approaches related to family involvement and support

  • Responsibilities, training, credentials, and opinions of Head Start staff

  • Barriers to and facilitators of the provision of needed services as perceived by families and program staff

  • Use of curricula and assessment in Head Start classrooms

  • Provision of support for professional development through training, mentoring, and supervision

D. CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND FRAMEWORK

The conceptual framework for FACES 2006 illustrates the complex interrelationships that help shape the developmental trajectories of children in Head Start (see Figure 1).  The child’s place is primary and constitutes the central core of the relationships depicted; fostering his or her progress toward school readiness, broadly construed, is Head Start’s ultimate goal.  The family context—health, economic, and educational resources as well as cultural factors—forms the first ring of influences surrounding the child.  Membership in the Head Start community is reflected in the child’s classroom and teachers and the wider Head Start program, all of which influence the quality of the early childhood learning experience. Factors affecting the child’s development and well-being also include teacher credentials, classroom quality, and program management.  Finally, community, state, and national policy decisions, depicted in the outer ring, also affect the life of a Head Start child. These multidimensional contexts guide all aspects of the FACES study, from the selection of measures to the multilevel analyses that are needed to fully address the program and policy issues in today’s Head Start program.

FIGURE 1. CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR FACES 2006
[D]

The Head Start experience is designed to promote immediate short-term and long-term goals for children and families.  For children, the experience includes preschool education, health screenings and examinations, nutritionally adequate meals, and opportunities to develop social-emotional skills that support school readiness.  For parents, the experience involves opportunities to participate in policy and program decisions.  The program provides parents with chances to participate in the classroom and strives to encourage their active involvement in the education and development of their children.  Head Start seeks to promote adult literacy and further parent education, where needed and appropriate, and to provide opportunities for careers and training in early childhood education.  The program also seeks to promote family self-sufficiency through provision of case management, assessment, referral, and crisis-intervention services.  Head Start acts as an advocate for necessary family-focused social services through interagency coordination and agreements.  Measurement of these child and family goals both during the program years and through followup at the end of kindergarten allows fuller understanding of how well Head Start prepares children and their parents for participation in school.

E. POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The FACES study is designed to enable researchers to answer a wide range of research questions that are crucial for aiding program managers and policymakers:

  1. What are the cognitive and social skills of Head Start children at the beginning and end of their first year in the program?  Has Head Start program performance improved over time? Do children in the program show larger gains in cognitive and social skills over the course of the program year than they did in the 1997, 2000, and 2003 cohorts? Do they show greater declines in problem behavior, such as hyperactivity and aggression?

  2. Do the gains in cognitive and social skills that Head Start children achieve carry over into kindergarten? Do larger gains (or greater declines in problem behavior) translate into higher achievement at the end of kindergarten?

  3. What are Head Start programs using for a comprehensive curriculum? Do they use a specialized curriculum or curricular approaches targeted at literacy or mathematics?  How has this practice changed over time?  Do programs that use certain types of curricula show greater gains in children’s cognitive or social skills than others do? 

  4. What are Head Start programs using for their assessments of children in the program?  Have these assessment practices changed over time?  How do they use the data obtained from the assessments?

  5. What are the qualifications of Head Start teachers in terms of education, experience, and credentials?  Are average teacher education levels rising in Head Start?  Do programs that employ high proportions of teachers with bachelor’s degrees or associate’s degrees show greater gains in children’s cognitive and social skills than programs whose teachers have lower levels of education? 

  6. What are Head Start programs doing in terms of professional development activities for education staff?  How much are they using the resources of the training and technical assistance network and other available resources?  Have these program practices changed over time?

  7. What is the observed quality of classroom practice relative to benchmarks from other studies and over time?  What program- and classroom-level factors are related to observed classroom quality?  How is observed quality related to children’s cognitive and social outcomes?

  8. What are the demographic characteristics of the population of children and families served by Head Start? How has this population changed? How are programs handling the challenges associated with assisting large numbers of children and families whose primary language is not English?

  9. What are the characteristics of children who demonstrate gains that are greater than average?  Smaller than average?  Are any classroom, teacher, or program characteristics associated with children’s making greater or lesser gains in cognitive or social skills?



 

 

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