A Year in Head Start: Findings from FACES 2014 on Children’s Progress Toward School Readiness During the 2014-2015 Program Year

The purpose of this brief is to describe child and family characteristics and children’s development and progress during the Head Start program year. By examining differences in children’s cognitive and social skills and health status by program exposure and age among first year children, we can gain insight into possible ways to tailor services to support specific child needs.

• In Spring 2015, two-thirds of children are completing their first year of Head Start and one-third are completing a second year.
• Other than English, Spanish is the most prevalent primary home language. Forty percent of Head Start children live in households where a language other than English is spoken. Twenty-five percent live in households where the primary language spoken to them at home is a language other than English.

• Head Start children (including DLLs) make progress during the program year in receptive and expressive vocabulary, letter-word knowledge, and early math skills.
  • However, in both the fall and spring, children still perform lower on language, literacy, and math skills, on average, than children of the same age nationally.
  • One exception is that DLLs who most often use Spanish at home score above norms in conceptually scored expressive vocabulary in both fall and spring.
• Children in their first program year make more progress from fall to spring toward national norms than children completing their second year on most cognitive skills. Children in their second program year start in the fall performing closer to norms than children in their first year with, perhaps, less capacity for change.
• Children have better social skills, exhibit more positive approaches to learning, and have stronger executive function skills compared to the fall, regardless of their age or length of time in the program.

• On average, parents report children to be in excellent or very good health in the fall and spring with no change.
• About one-third of Head Start children are overweight or obese in both the fall and spring, with no change.

The FACES sample provides information at the national level about Head Start programs, centers, classrooms, and the children and families they serve. We selected a sample of Head Start programs from the 2012—2013 Head Start Program Information Report, with two centers per program and two classrooms per center. Within each classroom, we randomly selected 12 children for the study. In total, 176 programs, 346 centers, 667 classrooms, and 2,206 children (in 60 programs) were study participants in spring 2015.

The sample used for this brief includes 1,921 children who were enrolled in Head Start in fall 2014 and were still enrolled in spring 2015. All findings are weighted to represent this population.

A Year in Head Start: Findings from FACES 2014 on Children’s Progress Toward School Readiness During the 2014-2015 Program Year (PDF)

Kopack Klein, A., N. Aikens, L. Malone, and L. Tarullo. “A Year in Head Start: Findings from FACES 2014 on Children’s Progress Toward School Readiness During the 2014-2015 Program Year.” OPRE Report 2018-80. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018.