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Head Start is a national program that helps young children from families with low income get ready to succeed in school. It does this by working to promote their early learning and health and their families' well-being. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) provides national information about Head Start programs and participants. This report includes information on the FACES 2019 study design, and presents key findings from the study's spring 2020 data collection. The purpose of this report is to (1) provide information about the FACES 2019 study, including the background, design, methodology (including the impact of COVID-19 on data collection), assessments, and analytic methods; and (2) report detailed descriptive statistics (averages, response ranges, and percentages) and related standard errors (the estimate of the standard deviation of each statistic; see accompanying technical appendix for standard errors) in a series of tables. In total, 165 programs, 318 centers, and 590 classrooms participated in the study in spring 2020. The tables provide information from separate surveys of program directors, center directors, and teachers.

Since 1997, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) has been a major source of information on the Head Start program and the preschool children ages 3 to 5 who attend the program. As part of its management of Head Start, the federal government divides Head Start programs into 12 regions. Regions XI and XII are not based on geography; instead, Head Start defines the regions by the populations they serve. Region XI serves children and families in programs operated by federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. In 2015, a new study--the American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (AIAN FACES 2015)--focused on the children and families in Region XI. AIAN FACES 2019 is the second round of this national study in Region XI Head Start. Mathematica and its partner, Educational Testing Service, conducted the study for the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The tables in this report describe the children enrolled in Region XI Head Start programs in fall 2019 who were still enrolled in spring 2020; their families' backgrounds and home environments; and the characteristics of their classrooms, centers, and programs. In addition, the report provides information on the AIAN FACES 2019 study methodology, sample, and analytic methods. The study design is the same one used for AIAN FACES 2015. The purpose of this report is to: (1) provide information about the AIAN FACES study, including the background, design, methodology (including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection), and analytic methods; and (2) report detailed descriptive statistics (averages, response ranges, and percentages) in a series of tables containing information on children, their families, their classrooms, and their programs. Specific topics examined include: (1) Children's characteristics, families' backgrounds, and home environment; (2) Children's social-emotional skills; (3) Children's physical health and disability status; (4) Children's classroom, center, and program cultural and language environment; (5) Children's classroom and teacher characteristics; (6) Children's center and program characteristics; and (7) Children's center and program response to COVID-19. [For the Fall 2019 report, see ED617157.]

Since 1997, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) has been a major source of information on the Head Start program and the preschool children ages 3 to 5 who attend the program. As part of its management of Head Start, the federal government divides Head Start programs into 12 regions. Regions XI and XII are not based on geography; instead, Head Start defines the regions by the populations they serve. Region XI serves children and families in programs operated by federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. In 2015, a new study--the American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (AIAN FACES 2015)--focused on the children and families in Region XI. AIAN FACES 2019 is the second round of this national study in Region XI Head Start. Mathematica and its partner, Educational Testing Service, conducted the study for the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The tables in this report describe the children enrolled in Region XI Head Start programs in fall 2019, their family backgrounds and home environments. In addition, the report provides information on the AIAN FACES 2019 study methodology, sample, and analytic methods. The study design is the same as the design for AIAN FACES 2015. The purpose of this report is to: (1) provide information about the AIAN FACES study, including the background, design, methodology, assessments, and analytic methods; and (2) report detailed descriptive statistics (averages, response ranges, and percentages) in a series of tables on children and their families. Specific topics examined include: (1) Children's characteristics, family background, and home environment; (2) Children's cognitive skills; (3) Children's social-emotional skills; and (4) Children's physical health and disability status. [For the Fall 2015-Spring 2016 report, see ED617161.]

Head Start is a national program that helps young children from families with low income get ready to succeed in school. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is the premier source of national information about Head Start programs and participants. For more than two decades, FACES has been advancing the knowledge base about what matters in providing quality early care and education (ECE). Mathematica and its partners--Educational Testing Service and Juárez and Associates--conducted the study under contract to the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Data from the study respond to current policy questions and support programs and practitioners working with Head Start families. This report includes key information on the FACES 2019 study design. The tables in this report describe the children enrolled in Head Start programs in fall 2019 and their family backgrounds and home environments. The purpose of this report is to (1) provide information about the FACES study, including the background, design, methodology, assessments, and analytic methods; and (2) report detailed descriptive statistics (averages, response ranges, and percentages) and related standard errors (the estimate of the standard deviation of each statistic) in a series of tables on children and their families.

Using data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2014), this research brief describes the family background and developmental progress of Head Start children as they complete a program year (from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015). This brief highlights descriptive information from the FACES 2014-2015 Data Tables and Study Design report (Aikens et al. 2017a). Other FACES 2014 products describe characteristics of Head Start children at the beginning of the program year (Aikens et al. 2017c; Tarullo et al. 2017). This research brief addresses the following research questions: (1) What are the demographic characteristics of children and families who are completing a program year? (2) What are the cognitive and social skills of Head Start children as they complete a program year? How do these compare to their skills at the beginning of the program year? (3) What is the physical health status of children as they complete a program year? How does this compare to their status at the beginning of the program year? (4) Do children's cognitive and social skills and health status at the end of the program year vary by their program exposure and age? Does children's progress in their skills or health status vary across the program year? and (5) What are the cognitive and social skills and health status of dual language learners (DLLs) as they complete a program year? How do these compare to their skills or health status at the beginning of the program year?

To date, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) has been a major source of descriptive information on Head Start and preschool children ages 3 to 5 years old who attend the program. There are 12 regions for federal management of Head Start. FACES gathers data on Head Start programs, staff, children, and families from Regions I through X, which are the 10 geographically based Head Start regions nationwide. Regions XI and XII are not geographically based and instead are defined by the populations served. In 2015, a new study--the American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (AI/AN FACES 2015)--focused on Region XI, which comprises programs operated by federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. 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. Information on the AI/AN FACES 2015 study methodology and collaborative design process, sample, and measures are also provided. 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. 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.

This research brief provides a national portrait of the characteristics, development, and well-being of children and families at the beginning of the Head Start program year, using recent data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2014). This brief highlights descriptive information from the Fall 2014 Data Tables and Study Design report (Aikens et al. 2017c). The authors address the following research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of children and families in Head Start?; (2) How are families doing at the beginning of the Head Start year?; and (3) How are children doing at the beginning of the Head Start year? How does this vary by Head Start exposure (that is, newly entering children compared with those returning for a second year), the age of newly enrolled children, and race/ethnicity? To address the first question, the authors explore the characteristics of children and families participating in Head Start, such as the age of the children, children's racial/ethnic background, home language, and household structure. They examine child and family characteristics to provide a national portrait of the participants the Head Start program serves. Indicators of family well-being during the fall of the Head Start program year are examined to address the second question. To address the third question, the authors describe children's cognitive skills (language, literacy, and mathematics), body mass index (BMI), social skills, problem behaviors, and executive function at the beginning of the program year.

This brief focuses on Head Start children's developmental progress and kindergarten experiences, drawing on data from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2009). The focal population is children who entered Head Start for the first time in fall 2009, completed one or two years of the program, and were attending kindergarten in spring 2011 or 2012. Head Start children still participating in the study during kindergarten are a diverse group. At program entry, 39 percent of the children are Hispanic/Latino, 32 percent are African American, and 21 percent are white. Thirty percent of them live in households where a language other than English is the primary language spoken to them. Spanish is by far the most prevalent non-English language, spoken as the primary home language to 27 percent of the children. Families of many Head Start children face a number of socioeconomic risks. At program entry, 47 percent of children live in single-parent households, 37 percent live with mothers who have less than a high school education, and 64 percent live in households whose total income is below the federal poverty threshold. This brief addresses two central research questions: (1) What are Head Start children's cognitive, social-emotional, and health and physical outcomes from Head Start entry to the spring of kindergarten? and (2) What are the characteristics of the schools and classrooms Head Start children attend during kindergarten? Relevant methodological information is summarized at the end of this brief.