Introduction
This report includes information on the design and methodology of the 2021—2022 Study of Family and Staff Well-Being in Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey Programs (the 2021—2022 Study) and presents key findings from the study’s spring 2022 data collection on Head Start children and families.
Purpose
This report (1) provides information about the 2021—2022 Study, including the background, design, methodology, assessments, and analytic methods; and (2) reports detailed findings on:
- Children’s characteristics, family background, and home environment in spring 2022, and any changes from fall 2021 to spring 2022
- Children’s social-emotional and learning skills in spring 2022, and any changes from fall 2021 to spring 2022
- Children’s disability status and physical health status in spring 2022, and any changes from fall 2021 to spring 2022
Key Findings and Highlights
For children’s characteristics, family background, and home environment (Section A), the tables show:
- Demographic characteristics (for example, age, race/ethnicity, gender, language(s) spoken in the home, child’s primary caregiver(s), who lives in the household) in spring 2022
- Parents’ level of completed education and employment status in spring 2022
- Family economic well-being (for example, total household income and household income as a percentage of federal poverty threshold) in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Family housing status, stability, and quality in spring 2022
- Parents’ mental health (for example, depressive symptoms scores, anxiety symptoms scores, parenting behaviors and stress) in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Parents’ overall health status in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Household routines (for example, reading to the child and bedtime and family dinner routines) in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Parents’ report of relationship with the child in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Parents’ child care plans for next year as of spring 2022
- Strategies parents use to meet child care needs outside of their regular child care arrangements in spring 2022
- Parents’ participation in and satisfaction in Head Start activities in spring 2022
- Parents’ report of program staff’s culturally responsive practices in spring 2022
- Reasons parents decided to enroll their child in Head Start in spring 2022
- Parents’ report of children’s participation in virtual learning activities in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Parents’ report of preferences for mode of participation in Head Start activities in Spring 2022
- Social and community supports available to and useful for parents in spring 2022
For children’s social-emotional and learning skills (Section B), the tables show:
- Reliability of and scores for teacher-reported items that measure children’s social skills, problem behaviors, approaches to learning, and literacy skills scores in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Reliability of and scores for parent-reported approaches to learning in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Teacher-reported early literacy skills in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
- Teacher-reported math knowledge and skills in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
For children’s disability status and physical health status (Section C), the tables show:
- Teacher’s report of child’s disability status and type and Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) status in spring 2022
- Parent’s report of child’s health status in spring 2022 and fall 2021 to spring 2022 change
Methods
This report includes data gathered from two sources in spring 2022 that are presented in this report:
- A survey of children’s parents, in which children’s primary caregivers answered questions about their children in Head Start FACES programs and their households.
- A teacher child report (TCR) survey, in which teachers answer questions about the development of specific children in their classrooms.
In spring 2022, a total of 1,837 children were eligible and consented. Nine hundred twenty-eight children’s parents completed the parent survey (51 percent of consented children’s parents) and teachers completed TCRs for 1,250 children (68 percent of children whose parents gave consent for them to participate).
Spring 2022 data collection for the 2021-2022 Study occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and participation and response rates were low. The data in this report provide a window into the experiences of a sample of Head Start children and families who were able to participate in spring 2022 data collection between April and July 2022. Readers should not assume the data are nationally representative of all Head Start children and their families. These data provide a snapshot of the experiences of Head Start children and their families during this difficult time and describe them in spring 2022 as COVID-19 continued to impact the country.
Citation
Nguyen, Tutrang, Davis Straske, Natalie Reid, Elizabeth Doran, Charlotte Cabili, Carla Chavez, Aden Bhagwat, Jeffrey Harrington, Addison Larson, Judy Cannon, Victoria Sims, Barbara Carlson, Ashley Kopack Klein, and Sara Bernstein (2024). Child and Family Experiences in Head Start FACES Programs in Spring 2022: The 2021-2022 Study, OPRE Report #2024-198, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.