The 2021-2022 Study of Family and Staff Well-Being in Head Start AIAN FACES Programs

The 2021-2022 Study of Family and Staff Experiences in American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey Programs (the 2021-2022 Study) builds on AIAN FACES 2019, a national study of children and families participating in Head Start programs funded through grants to federally recognized tribes and consortia. In the year following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a need to understand how children, families, and Head Start staff were faring. The 2021-2022 Study explores this with some of the programs that participated in AIAN FACES 2019.

The American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (AIAN FACES) provides information about children and families enrolled in Head Start programs operated by federally recognized tribes (known as Region XI AIAN Head Start). Nationally representative studies were conducted in the 2015-2016 and 2019-2020 program years (entered as NCT03842111 and NCT04046965, respectively).

The motivation and goals of the 2021-2022 Study of Family and Staff Experiences in AIAN FACES Programs came from a need to learn about children's, families', and teachers' experiences as the COVID-19 pandemic continued affecting Region XI Head Start families' and staff's lives into another program year-and from recognizing the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on AIAN communities. The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, funded Mathematica to conduct a new data collection effort, the 2021-2022 Study, for the fall and spring of the 2021-2022 program year. The goals were to provide data on the characteristics and needs of Region XI children, families, and staff starting 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide information to help better understand staff retention and turnover.

The 2021-2022 Study includes data from a multistage sample of Region XI Head Start programs (based on the AIAN FACES 2019 sample), centers, teachers, and families from across the United States. Data from the 2021-2022 Study provide a window into the experiences of a small number of Region XI children, their families, and staff who were able to participate in data collection between October 2021 and July 2022. The data do not represent all Region XI Head Start children, their families, and staff nationally. They provide a snapshot of the experiences of children in Region XI Head Start children, their families, and staff during this difficult time.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria: The Head Start programs participating in the 2021-2022 Study were a probability sample selected from among 146 study-eligible programs on the 2016-2017 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

  o 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, teachers within each center, and children within each teacher. Further, the programs that participated in the 2019-2020 study had to have participated in AIAN FACES 2019-2020.

Exclusion Criteria: Head Start programs in Regions I through X and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (Region XII) were not eligible for the 2021-2022 Study. Programs that did not participate in AIAN FACES 2019-2020 were also not eligible for this study.