DOI: 10.3886/icpsr39111
title: Study of Disability Services Coordinators in Head Start 2022 (DSC Study), United States
title: Archival Version

description: The 2022 Study of Disability Services Coordinators (DSCs) in Head Start was the first nationally representative study of the Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) DSC workforce, their roles, and the activities they support. NORC at the University of Chicago, along with their partners at SRI International and consultant Amanda Schwartz, conducted the study under contract from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The study was developed in close collaboration with the Office of Head Start (OHS), with OHS staff and EHS and HS staff providing review and feedback on the constructs of interest and the developing study measures. The study explored who fulfills the roles and responsibilities of a DSC in HS and EHS programs and how they work with program staff, local education agencies, service providers, and families to support children with disabilities and suspected delays in their programs. Data from this study sought to inform ACF and OHS about how programs were implementing the DSC efforts and topics for technical and training assistance. Further, programs can examine how their current practices compared to national and regional approaches to disability services.
description: The study had seven primary objectives:

Describe the characteristics and work of Disability Services Coordinators (DSCs) and related staff in Early Head Start (EHS)/Head Start (HS) programs; 
Identify how EHS/HS programs serve children with disabilities and their families, including: recruitment and selection; screening and ongoing assessment; referral and evaluation; and the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and Individualized Education Program (IEP) process and implementation;
Identify how EHS/HS programs engage in capacity building with families and provide support services to families as they understand and advocate for their children with potential or identified disabilities, delays, or other issues, such as early childhood mental health concerns or chronic health impairments;
Identify what EHS/HS programs do when services are not available and/or when children do not meet Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) eligibility requirements;
Identify how EHS/HS programs engage with services in the community, including Local Education Agencies (LEAs), IDEA Parts B and C providers, early intervention services, mental health providers, and community programs;
Identify the training teachers receive as well as how they individualize practice and work to fully integrate children with disabilities into the classroom; and
Identify how EHS/HS programs work with children with disabilities and their families when transitioning them to a receiving program, such as another early child education program or kindergarten.
description: The study team collected data from a Program Director Survey, a Disability Services Coordinator (DSC) Survey, and a small sample of semi-structured DSC interviews. First, a link to a web-based Program Director Survey was sent to the universe of Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) grantee and delegate program directors. Next, the study team administered the web-based DSC Survey to all DSCs and staff fulfilling DSC roles. These names were obtained from the Program Director Survey. The final type of data collection included qualitative, semi-structured DSC interviews focused on five different topics (with five separate protocols).
description: DS1 (Director's Survey) collected information on:

The program director's work experience and personal demographics
Number, names, and contact information of all the Disability Services Coordinators (DSCs) (or, in programs without a DSC, staff fulfilling the roles and responsibilities of a DSC) in each director's program
The program, including who they served, when they operated, any request for disability waivers, spending and budget related to supporting children with disabilities and suspected delays, and staffing
Program-level information about the provision of disability services, including program-level approaches to:

Recruiting and screening children with disabilities
DSC staff recruitment and retention
Training and professional development
Collaboration and teaming with families and service providers




DS2 (Disability Services Coordinators (DSCs) Survey) obtained detailed information about the DSC workforce related to the following topics:

The DSC's work experience, including other roles they filled within their programs, years of experience, hours worked and spent traveling between programs, confidence in their work, job satisfaction, and attitudes and beliefs related to inclusion
Personal demographics of DSCs
The DSC's program
DSC roles and responsibilities related to:

Recruitment, screening, referral, evaluation, and ongoing assessment of children with disabilities and suspected delays
Collaboration with families and external partners, such as Part C providers, LEAs, and other community partners
Disability and inclusion-related trainings
Transitions of children with disabilities from DSCs' Early Head Start (EHS)/Head Start (HS) program to other settings




DS3 (Program Information Report (PIR) Data) focused on the race and ethnicity of the children and pregnant women, the primary language of the family spoken at home, the reasons that children referred for an evaluation to determine Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) eligibility did not receive it, developmental screening instruments, assessment tools, and center-based staff-child interaction observation tools.


DS4 (Qualitative Data) focused on five different topics (with five separate protocols). These included:

Partnerships with disability service providers
Teacher training and other professional development
Recruitment and enrollment of children with disabilities and suspected delays
Family collaboration
Transitioning children with disabilities
description: Data from DS1 (Director's Survey) should be weighted using the program-level weight (variable <strong>PROGRAM_WEIGHT</strong>). Once weighted, the Program Director Survey, Regions I-X and XII, data are representative of Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) program directors serving Regions I-X and XII nationally.


Data from DS2 (Disability Services Coordinators (DSCs) Survey) should be weighted with the DSC-level weight (variable <strong>DSC_WEIGHT</strong>). Once weighted, the data are representative of DSCs and staff filling the roles of DSCs, serving Regions I-X and XII nationwide.
description: Response Rates: 
DS1 (Director's Survey): 73.5 percent


DS2 (Disability Services Coordinators (DSCs) Survey): 70.4 percent
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: The study team generated the program director email list using information provided by the Office of Head Start (OHS) in early January 2022 from the Head Start Enterprise System (HSES). The HSES program file included Head Start grant numbers, Head Start program types and program numbers (e.g., Early Head Start (EHS), program number 200), program (agency) name, agency type and category, and contact information. These include all grantees and delegate programs, which were both included in the study's sample. When programs had multiple rows included in the file, the study team collapsed these into a single row. The name(s) and contact information for Disability Services Coordinator(s) (DSCs) were gathered in the Program Director Survey which served as the sampling frame for the DSC Survey. As the final question in the DSC Survey, DSCs were asked to confirm their contact information if they were interested in participating in an interview if selected. From those who agreed, 30 respondents were purposely sampled who met certain program characteristic criteria, ensuring a representative across program type (i.e., EHS only, Head Start (HS) only, EHS/HS combined), program size (i.e., extra-small/small, medium, large/extra-large), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Region, and urbanicity/rurality across five interview topics.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Director's Survey
DS2: Disability Services Coordinators (DSCs) Survey
DS3: Program Information Report (PIR) Data
DS4: Qualitative Data
description: Directors of Head Start programs in the United States and Disability Service Coordinators of Head Start programs in the United States. Smallest Geographic Unit: Head Start Regions
description: telephone interview; web-based surveyThese data are very similar to ICPSR 39415 (Study of Disability Services Coordinators in Head Start, 2022 (DSC Study), National Data, Regions I-XII, [United States]). These data do not include Region XI, whereas ICPSR 39415 does include Region XI.