
Introduction
AI/AN FACES 2015 is the first national study of Region XI AI/AN Head Start children and their families, classrooms, and programs. This set of tables presents data on the demographic backgrounds and developmental outcomes of children enrolled in Region XI AI/AN Head Start programs during the 2015—16 Head Start year. The tables also detail aspects of their home environment and family life. Data on children’s classrooms, teachers, centers, and programs, including aspects of classroom quality and practice, teacher and director characteristics, and characteristics of the center and program environments, provide context for children’s experiences. We also provide information on the AI/AN FACES 2015 study methodology and collaborative design process, sample, and measures.
The study design, implementation, and dissemination has been informed by extensive collaboration with a workgroup comprised of Region XI Head Start directors, early childhood researchers with experience working with tribal communities, Mathematica researchers, and federal government officials from the Office of Head Start and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation. The AI/AN FACES 2015 child sample was selected to represent all children enrolled in Region XI Head Start in fall 2015, drawing on participants from 21 randomly selected Region XI programs from across the country. AI/AN FACES 2015 includes a battery of child assessments across many developmental domains; surveys of children’s parents, teachers, and program managers; and classroom observations.
The study is conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and its partner—Educational Testing Service—under contract to the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Purpose
The purpose of this report is two-fold: (1) to provide information about the AI/AN FACES 2015 study, including the background, design, methodology, measures, and analytic methods, and (2) to report detailed descriptive statistics in a series of tables on children, their families, and their classrooms, centers, and programs. The data provide descriptive information from parent surveys, direct child assessments, teacher child reports, teacher surveys, classroom observations, and center and program director surveys.
Key Findings and Highlights
The data tables provide descriptive information on Region XI Head Start children, their families, classrooms, centers, and programs.
For children’s characteristics, family demographics, and home environment, the tables show:
- Demographic characteristics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, home language environment, household composition)
- Parent education, employment status, household income as a percentage of the federal poverty threshold, household financial strain, and food security
- Parent’s tribal language use and parent cultural connections and identity
- Community activities with the child in the past month
- Home learning activities, joint book reading, and storytelling frequency
- Child’s health care home use
- Parent health behaviors and depressive symptoms
- Parent neighborhood characteristics and neighborhood problems
For children’s cognitive, social-emotional, and health and physical development, the tables show:
- Reliability of assessments of child cognitive and social emotional measures
- Language, literacy, and math skills of children
- Children’s executive function, social skills, problem behaviors, and approaches to learning
- Parent-reported child health status, and children’s height, weight, and body mass index
For children’s classroom, center, and program cultural and language environment, the tables show:
- Children’s classroom AI/AN composition and race/ethnicity of children’s classroom staff
- Staff’s connection to community in children’s classrooms
- Children’s classroom exposure to cultural items and practices
- Culture and tribal language exposure, and cultural curricula and assessment tools in children’s classrooms and centers
For children’s classroom, teacher, center, and program characteristics, the tables show:
- The quality of Region XI Head Start children’s classrooms
- Curricula and assessment tools used and frequency of reading, language, and math activities in children’s classrooms
- Mentoring and training received by children’s teachers
- Children’s lead teachers’ background characteristics, depressive symptoms, attitudes, and job satisfaction
- Structural characteristics of children’s Region XI Head Start programs (such as enrollment, agency type, source of revenue) and centers (staffing and turnover)
- Children’s center and program director background characteristics
- Training and technical assistance efforts in children’s programs (including professional development offered to staff)
The tables provide this information for all Region XI Head Start children. For some tables, information is also provided for only Region XI Head Start children who are American Indian or Alaska Native.
Methods
The AI/AN FACES 2015 sample provides information about Region XI Head Start children, their families, classrooms, centers, and programs. We selected a sample of Region XI Head Start programs from the 2012-2013 Head Start Program Information Report, selecting one to two centers per program and two to four classrooms per center. Within each classroom, all children were selected for the study. Twenty-one programs, 36 centers, 73 classrooms, and 1,049 children participated in the study.
The statistics in these tables are estimates of key characteristics of the population of Region XI Head Start children and their families in fall 2015 and spring 2016 and of children’s classrooms, centers, and programs in spring 2016. The data used to report on fall 2015 characteristics are weighted to represent all children enrolled in Region XI programs in fall 2015. The data used to report on spring 2016 characteristics and on fall-spring change are weighted to represent all children enrolled in Region XI programs in fall 2015 and who were still enrolled in spring 2016.
Citation
S. Bernstein, L. Malone, A. Kopack Klein, C. Bush, K. Feeney, M. Reid, S. Lukashanets, and N. Aikens. (2018). Descriptive Data on Region XI Head Start Children and: AI/AN FACES Fall 2015-Spring 2016 Data Tables and Study Design. OPRE Report 2018-26. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- AI/AN FACES 2015:
- American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2015