For over two decades, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) has been an invaluable source of information on the Head Start program and the children and families it serves. FACES 2019 extends a previously conducted data collection to a new sample of Head Start programs, families, and children. Mathematica and its partners, Juárez and Associates, Educational Testing Service, and consultants Margaret Burchinal and Martha Zaslow, developed instruments and data collection procedures to assess the school readiness skills of 2,260 children and survey their parents and Head Start teachers in fall 2019 and spring 2020 and conduct observations in Head Start classrooms and survey Head Start staff in spring 2020 and spring 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, spring 2020 child assessments and classroom observations were canceled while surveys of parents and staff continued. The pandemic and a heightened interest in the Head Start workforce brought a shift in approach and focus to spring 2022 data collection activities. As a result, those activities are not described here and instead are listed under NCT06512740.

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2019, or FACES 2019, is the seventh in a series of national studies of Head Start, with earlier studies conducted in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2014. (FACES 2014 is entered as NCT03705377). It includes nationally representative samples of Head Start programs and centers, classrooms, children and their families. Data from surveys of Head Start program and center directors, classroom teachers, and parents provide descriptive information about program policies and practices, classroom activities, and the background and experiences of Head Start staff and families. Children in the study participate in a direct assessment that provides a rich picture of their school readiness skills at different time points.

FACES 2019 extends a previously conducted data collection to a new sample of Head Start programs, families, and children. As with previous rounds, FACES 2019 collects information from a national probability sample of Head Start programs to learn what progress Head Start has made toward meeting program performance goals.

The goals of FACES 2019 are to describe: (1) the characteristics of Head Start classrooms, programs, and staff for specific program years; (2) the changes or trends in the characteristics of classrooms, programs, and staff over time; (3) the school readiness skills and family characteristics of children who participate in Head Start during specific program years; (4) the changes or trends in children's outcomes and family characteristics over time; and (5) the factors or characteristics at multiple levels that predict differences in children's outcomes. Originally, FACES 2019 also sought to observe Head Start classroom quality but was unable to do so, with classroom observations cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inclusion Criteria: the Head Start programs participating in FACES 2019 were a probability sample selected from among 3,400 study-eligible programs on the 2017-2018 Head Start Program Information Report (PIR). To be eligible for the study, a program had to be:

• In one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia
• Providing services directly to children ages 3 to 5
• The Head Start Program Performance Standards require that children turn 3 by date used to determine eligibility for public school in the community in which the Head Start program is located. Therefore, some study children were 2 years old at the time of sampling if sampling occurred before the date used for public school eligibility.
• Not be in imminent danger of losing its grantee status. Probability samples of centers were selected within each program, classrooms within each center (within those classrooms, eligible classrooms needed to have at least one Head Start child enrolled) and children within each classroom. Teachers associated with selected classrooms were included in the study with certainty, as were parents associated with selected children.

Exclusion Criteria: American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs (Region XI) or Migrant and Seasonal Worker Head Start programs (Region XII) were not eligible. Other ACF studies (AI/AN FACES-NCT040046965 and MSHS-NCT03116243) focus on those programs.

Head Start children (and their families), Head Start programs, Head Start centers, Head Start classrooms/teachers

FACES 2019 archived data are available for access.

Data from 2019 and 2020 are currently available.

Applications for access to restricted-use data file include completing and adhering to a User Agreement.