American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (AIAN FACES 2019)

American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (AIAN FACES 2019)

The American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (AIAN FACES) 2019 builds on AIAN FACES 2015 (NCT03842111), which was the first national study children and families participating in Region XI Head Start. In consultation with the AIAN FACES Workgroup, Mathematica developed instruments and data collection procedures to assess the school readiness skills of 720 children and survey their parents and Region XI Head Start teachers in fall 2019 and spring 2020; conduct observations in those children's Region XI Head Start classrooms; and survey Region XI Head Start staff in spring 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, spring 2020 child assessments and classroom observations were canceled after two weeks, while surveys of parents and staff continued.

The design and execution of AIAN FACES has been informed by close collaboration with members of the AIAN FACES Workgroup which includes Region XI Head Start program directors, researchers with experience working with AIAN communities, Mathematica study staff, and federal officials from the Office of Head Start and the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.

Building on AIAN FACES 2015 as the foundation, members of the AIAN FACES Workgroup have shared insights and information on the kinds of information needed about children and families served by Region XI AIAN Head Start programs. Members also provided input on recruitment practices and study methods that are responsive to the unique cultural and self-governing contexts of tribal Head Start programs. They also consulted on priorities for dissemination and drafts of dissemination products.

AIAN FACES 2019 provides the mechanism for collecting data on a nationally representative probability sample in Region XI to provide valid and reliable information to federal, local, and tribal community stakeholders. AIAN FACES 2019 focuses on children and families to describe the school readiness skills, family characteristics, and Head Start experiences of these children, with a focus on Native culture and language. The investigators collected information on programs and classrooms to provide context for children's experiences. Data collection with Region XI children, families, classrooms, and programs took place in the Fall of 2019 and the Spring of 2020. Originally, AIAN FACES 2019 also sought to describe classroom quality for children in Region XI, but was unable to do so, with classroom observations cancelled after two weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inclusion Criteria: the Region XI Head Start programs participating in AIAN FACES 2019 were a probability sample selected from among 146 study-eligible programs on the 2017-2018 Head Start Program Information Report (PIR). To be eligible for the study, a program had to be:

• 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: Head Start programs in Regions I through X and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (Region XII) were not eligible for AIAN FACES. Other ACF studies (FACES-NCT03971435 and MSHS-NCT03116243) focus on those programs.