"Strengthening families as the primary nurturers of their children" is the second of Head Start's performance objectives. Head Start engages parents (or primary caregivers) in classroom and program support activities, program governance, parent education, and family assessments and goal setting. This chapter provides a description of Head Start family and child characteristics and the environments in which the children are raised.

A. Introduction to the Parent Interview

Face-to-face interviews were completed with the primary caregivers for 3,156 (8) children in Fall 1997 and 2,688 in Spring 1998. Nearly all the respondents (94 percent) were the parents of children enrolled in Head Start, and most interviews (88 percent) were conducted with the mothers of the Head Start children. The information presented in this chapter is drawn from these interviews, except where noted that the findings are drawn from the embedded case study. Interviews were generally conducted at the local Head Start centers (80 percent) or in the children's home (14 percent). Over 17 percent of the interviews were conducted in Spanish (16.9 percent) or another non-English language (0.5 percent).

Typical interviews lasted about one hour, with Spanish language interviews taking about 15-30 minutes longer. The FACES Parent Interview was designed to collect basic descriptive information about the respondent, the child, and each child's household. Data about the family's perspective about their local Head Start program were also collected. In addition to basic demographic data, the categories of information on which data were collected are listed in Table 3.1.

The nature of the FACES interview allows it to identify changes in household and family characteristics that can assist in understanding factors among this population that might correlate with child development outcomes. However, it does not allow for an assessment of Head Start's impact on families.

B. Family and Household Description

Head Start children. The representative sample of Head Start children presents a picture of a very diverse national group. Approximately 40 percent of the children represented in the sample were 3-years-old at the time of the Fall 1997 interview, while the remainder were four or five years of age at that time. Just over 50 percent of the children were males, and over 98 percent of the children were born in the United States (including Puerto Rico). Among the children, 37 percent were African American, 28 percent were White, and 24 percent were Hispanic.

Over 16 percent of the children were reported by their primary caregiver to have one or more disabilities. Twelve percent of the overall sample were identified as having a speech or language impairment, by far the largest category of disabilities. The other main categories included children who were reported to have emotional/behavioral disorders (2 percent) and learning disabilities (1 percent each). The frequencies based on caregiver reports are, in general, slightly higher than the reports for the program as a whole, which are taken from the Program Information Report (PIR), the annual report of local program data for all Head Start programs. PIR data include only children who have been determined by a multidisciplinary team to have one or more disabilities. Detailed information on the identification of disabilities and services provided to children with disabilities is provided in Chapter IV, Highlight on Head Start's Services to Children With Disabilities and Health Problems: A Special Case of Head Start Quality.

Primary caregivers. The respondents, required to be primary caregivers, were mostly mothers (88 percent). Most respondents were in their twenties (59 percent), with an additional 29 percent in their thirties. About 9 percent were 40 or older (most of these were grandparents or foster parents) and a small group (2 percent) was under 20 at the time of the interview. On average, Head Start households consisted of approximately 4.6 individuals, with a range of 2 to 15. Just over 51 percent of the primary caregivers were married, including 9 percent who were separated at the time of the interview (Figure 3.1). About 36 percent of caregivers were single, never married, while an additional 11 percent were divorced.

Household structures. Household configurations are another example of variation among Head Start families. One or both parents were present in about 96 percent of households, but both parents were present in only 43 percent (Figure 3.2). Mothers were the sole adults in the household for one-third of Head Start children; in 2 percent of households, fathers were present but the mother was not.

A large percentage of Head Start children lived in homes in which close family members left or moved into the home over the year. While in some cases these changes were due to the birth of a new sibling, most frequently it was the arrival or departure of a father or a father-figure. For the 2,515 households reporting in both Fall 1997 and Spring 1998, about 43 percent of the households reported some change in household composition. Twenty-eight percent experienced someone leaving the home, while 32 percent experienced someone joining the household. In about 19 percent of households, fathers or father-surrogates (male partners, stepfathers, foster fathers) joined (11 percent) or departed (8 percent) from the family (Figure 3.3). In contrast, only 2.5 percent of mothers or mother-surrogates (female partners, stepmothers, foster mothers) entered (1.5 percent) or left (1 percent). Head Start children gained brothers (6.5 percent) and sisters (6 percent) at about the same rate (mostly newborns), but a significant number of children had brothers (3.5 percent) or sisters (over 4 percent) leave the household as well. Finally, households were more likely to lose grandparents, particularly grandmothers, than gain them. Significant increases in monthly income occurred when fathers, stepfathers, or grandparents joined a household, while the household income decreased significantly when a female non-relative left the household.

Family Financial Resources

Income and employment. The household income as collected by FACES includes income sources that are not accounted for in the Head Start eligibility criteria. About 42 percent of households reported that during the month prior to the Fall 1997 interview, they had less than $1,000 income from all sources, including Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) (Figure 3.4). An additional 41 percent of the households were reported to have between $1,000 and $2,000 as their income during the previous month. Over 85 percent of households reported supplemental sources of income from such sources as Medicaid, WIC, food stamps, child support SSI/SSDI, energy assistance and social security retirement funds. Over the Head Start year, monthly family income increased significantly from $1,242 in the fall to $1,339 in the spring.

Consistent with recent national trends, 27.2 percent of primary caregivers reported receiving TANF in Fall 1997, but only 23.5 percent were recipients in Spring 1998. This change represents a 14 percent decline of receipt of welfare assistance by Head Start parents. More than 53 percent of the primary caregivers were employed in Fall 1997 (full or part-time/seasonal), and that percentage increased to 55 percent by Spring 1998. This increase was entirely accounted for by primary caregivers entering full-time work (Figure 3.5).

Education. About 72 percent of primary caregivers reported having at least a high school diploma or GED (Figure 3.6). Across the entire sample, about 35 percent had attended some college, including almost 9 percent who had achieved an Associate's degree (6 percent) or a more advanced degree. Further, 9 percent of primary caregivers reported having obtained a license, certificate, or degree between Fall 1997 and Spring 1998. Focusing on the parents of the Head Start children, 70 percent of the mothers had at least a high school diploma or GED, while 63 percent of the fathers had at least a high school diploma or GED.

Family Emotional Resources

Families need outside sources of support in raising a family with young children. By Spring 1998, over 94 percent of primary caregivers reported that Head Start was helpful (27 percent) or very helpful (67 percent) as a source of support for raising their child (Figure 3.7). Overall, Head Start was considered slightly more helpful than relatives, and much more helpful than friends, other parents, co-workers, people from religious/social groups, professional helpgivers, or child care staff. Even at the beginning of the 1997-98 program year, local Head Start program staff were most often rated as a helpful or very helpful (91 percent) source of support.

The status of parental mental health is an issue of concern to Head Start because of its relevance to parental well-being and to parents' interactions with their children. Therefore, two psychosocial measures were administered to the primary caregivers as part of the interview-the Pearlin Mastery Scale and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). The Pearlin Mastery Scale (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) measures the degree to which parents feel they have control over their own lives and their self-confidence in their abilities to solve life's problems. Analysis of the weighted means showed that primary caregivers reported a slight but statistically significant greater sense of control over their lives in the spring (15.58) compared to the start of the Head Start program year in the fall of 1997 (15.04).

Depression is a frequent phenomenon in low-income families with young children such as those families in the Head Start population. Women are more likely to be depressed than men, and mothers of young children are especially vulnerable (Belle,1982; Weissman & Klerman, 1977; Radloff, 1975). The CES-D Depression Scale (Radloff, 1975) measured levels of depression among primary caregivers. Overall, primary caregivers in FACES had a mean score of 7.37 in the fall, which is in the mildly depressed range. From fall to spring, there was a small decline in weighted mean depression scores (spring score of 6.94), but the difference was not statistically significant.

C. Family Environmental Description

Community Context of Head Start Families (Embedded Case Study)

Based on the Spring 1998 home visits conducted as part of the embedded case study (see Chapter I), content analyses of primary caregivers' open-ended descriptions of their neighborhoods indicate that most caregivers seemed to use the same set of criteria in judging whether their neighborhood was a good or bad place to raise their children. These criteria included: 1) safety, particularly the presence of crime and/or drugs in their neighborhood; 2) the quality of interactions with their neighbors or whether they can trust their neighbors; and 3) the presence of social and physical indicators in their neighborhoods, such as abandoned or vandalized buildings and groups of people loitering (Vaden-Kiernan, D'Elio, & Sprague, 1999).

Primary caregivers' assessments of their neighborhoods as a place to raise children. When primary caregivers were asked how they would describe their neighborhood in terms of the kind of place it is to raise a child, most (75 percent) responded that it was a good place to raise a child or that it had several strengths. Of these caregivers, 66 percent mentioned good neighbors and positive interactions as a positive feature, 62 percent said the neighborhood was quiet or peaceful, and 53 percent reported that the neighborhood was safe and free of crime and drugs. Less than half (42 percent) mentioned they liked the physical aspects of their neighborhood, 28 percent mentioned using neighborhood resources and 25 percent liked the social and cultural makeup of the neighborhood.

However, 25 percent of primary caregivers said that their neighborhood was not a good place to raise a child or reported several problems or weaknesses. Of these caregivers, 68 percent mentioned safety, crime, or drugs as a concern, 52 percent mentioned bad neighbors or negative interactions, 24 percent disliked the social and cultural makeup of the neighborhood, 20 percent mentioned a lack of neighborhood resources and activities and 20 percent disliked the physical aspects of their neighborhood.

Things primary caregivers really like about their neighborhoods. When asked about some of the things they really like about their neighborhood, primary caregivers' most frequent response was their neighbors (53 percent). Nearly one-third (32 percent) liked the quiet and peacefulness of their neighborhood; 24 percent liked the neighborhood resources and activities; 20 percent liked the convenience or proximity to schools, businesses and transportation; and 15 percent liked the safety and lack of crime and drugs. Other positive attributes mentioned included physical aspects of the neighborhood (13 percent) and neighborhood demographics (9 percent). Ten percent of respondents felt that there were no or very few good things about their neighborhood.

Things primary caregivers would change about their neighborhoods . Primary caregivers also were asked to identify three things they would change about their neighborhood. Nearly half answered that they would improve the physical aspects of their neighborhood. One-third would change their neighbors or their interactions with their neighbors and 27 percent would improve the availability and access to neighborhood resources and activities. Twenty percent felt that safety should be improved and crime and drugs decreased, while 11 percent would change the social and cultural makeup of the neighborhood. Twenty-two percent would not change anything or very little about their neighborhood.

Neighborhood resources. Figure 3.8 presents the percent of primary caregivers who indicated that they had certain resources in their neighborhoods. Less than half of the primary caregivers reported they had a neighborhood watch program, a neighborhood organization, or a public library. More than half of the caregivers indicated they had access to public transportation, a recreation center, park, doctor's office and day care center as well as commercial businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies. More than three-quarters of respondents indicated that they had a convenience store and a church in their neighborhood.

Social and physical neighborhood quality indicators. Primary caregivers were also asked about the presence of several social and physical quality indicators in their neighborhood (Figure 3.9). Less than half of all respondents indicated that they had abandoned or boarded up buildings or adolescents loitering in their neighborhood. Less than one-third of all caregivers reported graffiti, vandalism, or abandoned vehicles in their neighborhood. Primary caregivers who indicated that their neighborhood was not a good place to raise a child were more than twice as likely to report the presence of these indicators.

Context as Assessed by the Parent Interview

While the case study reports provide insights into perceptions of the individual neighborhoods, the full sample of primary caregivers reported on additional aspects of their homes and neighborhoods that impact the daily functioning of the family.

Neighborhood/home violence. Focusing on the stressors Head Start families face every day, primary caregivers reported on the violence they know has occurred in their own neighborhood, with additional questions about their own personal exposure to violence. Covering the year the child was in Head Start, 28 percent of the primary caregivers reported seeing nonviolent crime in their neighborhood, while 32 percent reported seeing a violent crime in the same area (Figure 3.10). Almost one-quarter of the respondents knew someone who was the victim of a violent crime in their neighborhood, bringing the reality of violence very close to a large segment of the sample. Victimization was reported by about 6 percent of the respondents, for either home or neighborhood settings.

As for the children, about one-fifth were reported to have been exposed to some form of violence in their lives. Seventeen percent of the children were reported to have witnessed a crime or domestic violence prior to Head Start. In the Spring 1998 interview, it was reported that 7 percent of the children had witnessed domestic violence in the past year, while 4 percent had witnessed violent crime during the same year. In Fall 1997, it was reported that 3 percent of the children had actually been victims of domestic violence or violent crime. In the year prior to the Spring 1998 interview, less than 1 percent of the children had been victims of domestic violence or victims of violent crime.

Housing. While the styles of individual housing varied greatly, 87 percent of the families lived in a house, apartment, or trailer of their own. This does not necessarily mean that they owned their own housing, only that they were not sharing living space with another family. Subsidies toward their housing costs were received by 22 percent of the families. Sometimes, financial situations or logistical concerns require that families share housing with another family or with a non-family member. This was the case for 12 percent of the families, who shared a house, apartment, or trailer. Only 1 percent of the families reported that they were living in transitional housing, and one family reported living in a shelter. In Fall 1997, it was reported that 7 percent of the children had been homeless at some point in their lives, prior to enrolling in Head Start.

Child care. While Head Start was not established to be a child care program, the need for and use of child care by families is critical in determining future policies for Head Start. The use of regular child care (defined as 10 or more hours a week) prior to entry into Head Start was reported for 49 percent of the children. Once enrolled in Head Start, this number dropped to 28 percent of the children in child care.

For the children who were in care in addition to Head Start, 69 percent were in a setting where they were cared for by a friend or a relative. Only 14 percent of the children receiving care were placed in a child care center, 9 percent were in family day care, and 8 percent received care at the Head Start center, separate from the regular Head Start activities. Children receiving care did so for a mean of 19.2 hours per week, beyond their hours spent in Head Start. Of the respondents reporting that their child was receiving care, 85 percent also reported in the same interview that they were employed.

Home environment. For many families, the primary language spoken in the home was not English. In fact, 30 percent of the respondents noted that their families spoke a language other than English in the home. Of these families, 85 percent spoke Spanish.

One way to assess the nature of the home learning environment is to ask respondents what books or magazines the child has access to in the home. In Fall 1997, the most common pieces of reading material were children's books (98 percent), religious books (87 percent), and newspapers (79 percent). Many homes were reported to have catalogs (70 percent), dictionaries and encyclopedias (63 percent), children's magazines (59 percent), and magazines for adults (59 percent). The least reported piece of reading material was comic books (37 percent).

In order to assess how primary caregivers managed safety issues in the home environment, respondents were asked in Fall 1997 if they followed each of nine different safety practices. Of these nine possible safety practices, the respondents followed a mean of seven or a median of eight behaviors. There was a strong ceiling effect, in that 82 percent of the respondents reported that they followed at least seven of the nine behaviors. Use of the individual behaviors ranged from 69 percent for having first aid kits at home to 99 percent for supervising the child in the street.

Given there was such a high set of scores for the baseline data collection, the scale was changed for the Spring 1998 interview. Now responding on a four-point scale, respondents had a mean of 7 behaviors that they reported doing "all the time," and 8 behaviors they reported doing at least "most of the time." Not having a smoke detector (11 percent), not having a first aid kit (20 percent), and not having the poison control number by the phone (20 percent) were the only behaviors not engaged in at all by 5 percent or more of the respondents.

 

D. Families' Involvement With Their Children

Reading to children at home . As noted in Chapter II, almost all children were read to at least once or twice during the week prior to the interview. In Spring 1998, about one-third of the children (34 percent) were reported to have been read to every day, and more than two-thirds (68 percent) were read to three or more times during that week. Mothers were the family members most likely to read to their children, with 75 percent having done so in the week prior to the interview. Other household family members (30 percent), often siblings or grandparents, and fathers (23 percent) were the next most cited family members to have read to the Head Start children in that week.

Family activities with children. Primary caregivers were also asked to report on two levels of activities undertaken with the children. The activities are listed as part of Figure 3.11. First, respondents indicated which activities from a set of seven common, routine activities were undertaken by the family with the child during the previous week. Mean scores showed that families engaged in 4.1 activities out of seven. As noted in Figure 3.11, most of these activities were done with mothers. Similarly, respondents also indicated which activities from a list of less routine activities were done with the child during the month prior to the interview. This time, families were reported to engage in a mean of 1.9 activities with the child, and again, as noted in Figure 3.11, mothers were far more likely to engage in these activities than other family members. Interviews with teachers in the FACES classrooms (Barnes, Guevara, Garcia, Levin, & Connell, 1999) suggest that program and classroom environments, along with educational emphases, are related to parent-reported increases in activities with children at home as well as parent involvement and satisfaction with the Head Start program.

Separate analyses examined the weekly and monthly parent activities as intellectually or socially stimulating. The intellectually stimulating category included activities such as telling a story; teaching letters, words or numbers; or going to a museum. Socially stimulating activities included activities such as doing household chores, running errands, or attending a sporting event. Head Start parents showed significant increases in the participation of both types of activities. Parents reported increases in both weekly (from 3.88 in the fall to 4.05 in the spring) and monthly (5.01 fall to 5.23 spring) intellectually stimulating activities. A similar pattern of growth was found in socially stimulating activities. Weekly socially stimulating activities increased from.66 in the fall to.80 in the spring, and monthly activities increased from 3.14 in the fall to 3.31 in the spring.

Changes in family-child activities. The frequencies of weekly activities were combined to create a composite scale that ranged from 0 to 33. (9) A standardized change score in weekly activities was computed to investigate how the frequency of these activities increased or decreased from fall to spring of the Head Start year. On average, parent activities at home with children showed a small increase over the course of the year. Parents' activities with children increased more in centers in urban areas, in classrooms in which teachers reported more frequent academic activities with children and in classrooms in which teachers reported greater numbers of in-service training hours in child development. However, no measure of family demographics and characteristics (i.e., parents' education, family income, number of parents present in the home) was significantly related to the standardized change score.

A composite score was also calculated for monthly activities as the sum of "yes" responses. (10) As with the weekly activities, a standardized change in monthly activities was computed as spring score/standard deviation minus fall score/standard deviation. These family activities with children increased more in centers where teachers reported more frequent academic activities with children in the classroom. Family characteristics were not related to a change in the frequency of these activities with children.

Fathers' involvement with their children. An issue of increasing interest to Head Start is that of father involvement in the lives of children (O'Brien, D'Elio, Connell, Hailey, & Swartz, 1999). Less than half of Head Start children (45 percent) lived with their biological fathers. For the children living without their father in the home, 61 percent were reported to have a father figure available to them, most often the mother's spouse or partner (50 percent) or a relative (39 percent). As shown in Figure 3.12, 42 percent of the non-household fathers never or rarely saw their children, while almost 30 percent saw their children at least several times a week. Of the children without a father in their household, 8 percent (or 5 percent of the overall sample) had no reported father figures and never or rarely saw their biological fathers.

In a comparison of fathers who lived in- and out-of-home, a greater percentage of fathers living in the household were reported to be working (83 percent to 74 percent) and have at least a high school diploma or GED (68 percent to 45 percent). In families where a father was present, mothers were less likely to work (48 percent to 56 percent) and monthly household incomes were greater by almost $400. Respondents (typically mothers) reported that 45 percent of the non-household fathers contributed to the financial support of their children, and that 55 percent lived within an hour's drive of their children.

Fathers' residential status was also related to their children's level of exposure to violence. In households where fathers were not present, primary caregivers were more likely to have seen violent and non-violent crimes in the neighborhood, and to have been the victim of violent crime in their home. Of the 518 children who were witness to a violent crime or domestic violence prior to the Fall 1997 interview, 73 percent did not have a father present in their home. Similarly, of the 87 children who were reported victims of a violent crime or domestic violence as of the Fall 1997 interview, 82 percent did not have their father living in their home. It is unlikely that FACES will be able to determine if the fathers' absence was a likely cause of the exposure to violence, or if the violence was in fact a factor related to the father leaving the home. In either case, the picture for this subset of Head Start children is unsettling.

Findings also reveal that the level of involvement of both resident and nonresident fathers was related to children's behavior ratings. Regardless of whether fathers were present in the home, when mothers rated the fathers as more supportive in raising their children, the children had significantly higher positive social behavior ratings and lower problem behavior ratings, including aggression and hyperactive behavior (Figure 3.13).

Household rules and discipline. Primary caregivers' interactions with their children at home set the stage for socializing children as they prepare for school. One measure of family socialization practices is the rules or routines that primary caregivers establish for their children. Using a list of five rules/routines, respondents reported that they used a mean of 3.9 rules/routines. The most frequently reported rules or routines were having a set bedtime (91 percent) and limiting what their children could watch on television (86 percent). Most caregivers responded that their children were involved with household chores (76 percent), were restricted on what types of foods they could eat (65 percent), and were restricted on how much television they were allowed to watch (63 percent).

In terms of how primary caregivers discipline their children, primary caregivers were asked about their use of spanking and time out with their children. In Fall 1997, using weighted means, 46 percent of the respondents reported having spanked their children during the previous week, a figure that dipped slightly to 43 percent in the Spring 1998 interview. Although small, this was a statistically significant difference(p<.05) in the percent who spanked their children. Time outs were reportedly used in the week prior to the interview by 69 percent of the respondents in Fall 1997 and 71 percent in Spring 1998.

Primary caregivers have the opportunity to learn parenting skills as part of the Head Start program. In Spring 1998, 41 percent reported that Head Start taught them a new way to discipline during the year. Methods they reported learning include time out (22 percent), talking with their child (17 percent), and positive reinforcement (5 percent).

Content analyses of primary caregivers' hopes and goals for their children indicate that they generally held optimistic expectations for their child's early schooling experiences and future educational attainment. Most primary caregivers' hopes and goals for their child were focused on general education goals, such as learning basic skills and doing well in school. Most respondents had specific long-term educational goals for their child, such as graduating from high school and also attending college.

Short-term general education goals. Three-quarters of the primary caregivers reported hopes and goals related to general educational goals. Caregivers hoped their children completed age appropriate tasks or were developmentally on target (34 percent), hoped their child did well in school and received a good education (29 percent), or hoped their child had a positive attitude toward school and school personnel (20 percent).

Goals related to the qualities of the child. Nearly half of the primary caregivers (47 percent) reported hopes and goals related to qualities of the child. They hoped their child had positive qualities or positive social interactions (36 percent) or hoped their child lacked negative qualities and/or would be able to overcome potentially negative social situations (10 percent).

Long-term educational attainment goals. When asked, 65 percent of primary caregivers reported specific long-term educational attainment goals for their children. Nearly half (49 percent) hoped their child would continue their education after high school and attend or graduate from college while slightly more than one-quarter (26 percent) hoped their child would graduate from high school. Four percent of respondents had no specific educational goals for their child.

Other hopes for the future. When asked if they had other hopes for their child's future, primary caregivers reported a range of aspirations. Half wanted their child to do his or her best and have a "good life" or be happy, including the pursuit of their own goals. Slightly less (45 percent) had specific career aspirations for their child, and 14 percent of the primary caregivers felt that family involvement was important to their child's success, while 9 percent wanted their child to do as well as or better than the child's parents had done in life. Figure 3.14 summarizes primary caregivers' hopes and goals for their children.

E. Families' Experiences With the Local Head Start Program

Primary caregivers' satisfaction with Head Start. The FACES parent interview included eight questions about parents' satisfaction with the Head Start program on issues such as helping their child grow and develop, preparing the child for kindergarten, and supporting the family's culture and background. A composite score of these items was created, with an internal consistency of.84, suggesting a high degree of reliability.

Parents participating in FACES reported very high levels of satisfaction with the program's performance in each of eight areas. Responses were given on a 5-point scale, ranging from "very dissatisfied" to "very satisfied." As indicated in Figure 3.15, over 96 percent of parents were satisfied with their child's preparation for kindergarten (86 percent were "very satisfied"), and over 97 percent were satisfied with the program's "being open to their ideas and participation" (78.1 percent were "very satisfied"). Other areas where Head Start parents reported a high degree of satisfaction were "helping their child grow and develop" (98 percent satisfied; 85.7 percent very satisfied), "supporting and respecting the family's culture and background" (98 percent satisfied; 87.5 percent very satisfied), "identifying and providing services for the child-health screenings, help with speech and language development" (96 percent satisfied; 87.6 percent very satisfied), and "maintaining a safe program" (98 percent satisfied; 88.9 percent very satisfied). Percentages of satisfied parents, while slightly lower, were still quite high for "identifying and helping to provide services to help the families" (84 percent satisfied; 74.5 percent very satisfied) and helping parents "become more involved in groups that are active in the community" (87 percent satisfied; 67 percent very satisfied).

Additional questions from the FACES parent interview gave a very positive picture of parent attitudes toward their child's and their own experiences with Head Start. For example, 96 percent of parents reported that their child "has been happy in the program" often or always; over 97 percent reported that their child "is treated with respect by teachers;" and nearly 96 percent noted that the teacher was supportive of them as parents.

These findings confirm those reported in the 1999 American Customer Satisfaction Index, in which Head Start parents gave the program the highest rating of any government program. For example, parents in both studies demonstrate a high degree of satisfaction with Head Start's support of their child's growth and development, preparation for kindergarten, and provision of health and other services. They also indicate Head Start's openness to the parents' cultural backgrounds, ideas, and participation, as well as fostering their role in the wider community. Taken together, the findings of these two studies amply demonstrate that Head Start's customers are highly satisfied with the quality of the program they receive, and support the continued provision of these important benefits to children and families.

Parent satisfaction in the spring of the Head Start year was related to one parent characteristic: less educated parents were more satisfied with the program. After controlling for parent education, greater satisfaction with the Head Start program was reported by parents in centers where teachers reported more parent contacts that went beyond scheduled meetings, home visits, or informal chats when the child was coming or going from the center. These higher order contacts included meetings with parents at parent/family activities, sending written notes home, exploring parent skills that may be shared with other families, and encouraging continuing families to orient newer families to the center activities.

Primary caregivers' involvement in Head Start. Given that parent involvement is a cornerstone of the program, it is important to understand what ways primary caregivers feel they are involved in the program. Figure 3.16 shows the different areas of involvement respondents reported. Most common among these were visiting with Head Start staff in the home at least once (a required activity; 82 percent), attending parent-teacher conferences at least once (81 percent) and observing in the classroom (79 percent). More active involvement, such as volunteering in the classroom, preparing food, and fundraising, were all below 70 percent. Fifty-four percent of the primary caregivers reported attending a parent education meeting.

A composite parent involvement score (11) was created from the 13 questions on the FACES parent interview, such as volunteering in the classroom, helping with field trips and attending parent meetings. Parent involvement was greater when the children had been enrolled in Head Start for a longer period, among parents who were more educated, among parents not currently employed, and for White and other ethnic groups in comparison to African American and Hispanic families.

After controlling for these family characteristics, higher levels of involvement in Head Start activities were reported in centers where teachers reported receiving more in-service training hours in family services and case management and when a larger proportion of teachers had preschool or elementary education teaching certificates.

Implications of Parent Involvement

One Head Start performance objective is to strengthen families as the primary nurturers of their children. Thus, the educational and interactive activities that family members do at home with their children are key to supporting children's school readiness. The results from the FACES data suggest that in centers where teachers have more in-service training in child development and more academic activities for children while at Head Start, parents increase the variety of educational and recreational activities that they do with their children at home. These results suggest that when parents visiting Head Start classrooms observe more academically-oriented activities, they may be learning about activities to do at home with their children, including the types of activities that children are capable of and enjoy. Teachers who have more training in child development also may stress the value of these activities in their interactions with parents. In addition, centers that involve parents in a greater variety of teacher-parent contacts lead to higher levels of parent satisfaction with the program.

Parent involvement is a cornerstone of the Head Start program. The results from the interviews with Head Start staff indicate that, while many teaching and administrative staff have some college education and teaching credentials and a good deal of in-service training experiences at Head Start, there is significant variability across centers in these experiences. More importantly, staff in-service training and teacher certification were positively correlated with higher parent involvement in the program, controlling for parent education, ethnicity, employment status, and prior experience with Head Start. These results suggest that keeping parents involved in the program at high levels requires skill, and that teachers who have had more education specific to classroom teaching, culminating in teacher certification, may be more adept at working with parents. Similarly, in-staff training appears to be an important ingredient in increasing or reinforcing this skill.

It is important to note that these relationships are correlational and exploratory. Thus, increasing parent-teacher contacts would not necessarily result in greater parent satisfaction. It is possible that other factors that have not been measured are contributing to these correlations. For example, teachers who seek out ways to connect with parents may have other characteristics that also relate to parents' satisfaction. Nevertheless, these relationships suggest that variables amenable to policy change (e.g., teacher in-service, requirements of teacher certification, wider range of parent contacts) may have implications for further research on program improvement.

F. Conclusions

Head Start serves a diverse array of families. Primary caregivers were equally likely to be married as single. The typical caregiver was young (between 20 and 30 years of age), had at least a high school diploma or GED, and was employed. On average, Head Start households consisted of approximately 4.6 individuals. About 43 percent of the households reported some change in household composition over the course of the program year. Despite the high proportion of caregivers in the workforce, 85 percent of Head Start households received supplemental sources of income.

At the end of the program year, Head Start parents demonstrated higher levels of mental well-being. They reported more control over their lives; however, levels of maternal depression remained stable. Parents rated Head Start highly as a source of social support. In terms of economic well-being, parents showed progress toward their employment goals. More parents had full-time jobs and fewer were on welfare. Nine percent of parents obtained a license, certificate or degree. Overall, Head Start families made several positive changes in their lives, although it is not possible through data collected by FACES to determine Head Start's impact on these changes.

Findings from the case study reveal that 75 percent of parents thought their neighborhood was a good place to raise a child. Of those who thought their neighborhood was not a good place to raise a child, 68 percent mentioned safety or reducing crime or drugs as a concern. Data from the parent interview indicate that 32 percent of the primary caregivers witnessed a violent crime in their neighborhood. About one-fifth of Head Start children were exposed to some form of violence in their lives.

Head Start parents involve their children in a wide range of activities. Nearly all Head Start children were read to at home at least once or twice a week, with about one-third of children read to every day. Family members (usually the mother) engaged in 4.1 common routine, weekly activities (out of seven) with the Head Start child, and 1.9 monthly activities. In centers where teachers had more in-service training in child development and more academic activities for children while at Head Start, parents had more variety in educational and recreational activities that they did with their children at home. Most primary caregivers' hopes and goals for their children indicated that they generally held optimistic expectations for their child's early schooling experiences and future educational attainment.

Less than half of Head Start children (45 percent) lived with their biological fathers. For the children living without their father in the home, 61 percent were reported to have a father figure available to them, most often the mother's spouse or partner (50 percent) or a relative (39 percent). When fathers were not in the household, families experienced lower financial resources and greater exposure to violence. Regardless of residential status, when mothers rated fathers as more supportive in raising their children, children's social behavior ratings were higher and problem behavior ratings were lower.

Most parents were active in their Head Start program, and had participated by visiting with Head Start staff in their home, attending a parent-teacher conference, and observing in the classroom. Over 85 percent of parents were very satisfied with the services their child received, including the services to help their child grow and develop, prepare their child for kindergarten, and identify and provide services for their child.

Links were also found between teacher background and parent involvement and satisfaction. Centers that involved parents in a greater variety of teacher-parent contacts had higher levels of parent satisfaction with the program. Staff in-service training and teacher certification were found to be linked with parent involvement in the program, controlling for parent education, ethnicity, employment status, and prior experience with Head Start, suggesting that keeping parents involved in the program at high levels requires skill.

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See also:
     The complete report Head Start FACES 2000: A Whole-Child Perspective on Program Performance