Table of Contents | Previous | Next |
CHILD CARE QUALITY: STRUCTURAL QUALITY
EARLY HEAD START EVALUATION AND TRACKING PRE-K
Measure: Selected “Head Start, preschool, and child care” items from the Parent Interview (Tracking Pre-K sample)
Source
The birth-to-3 phase of the Early Head Start (EHS) evaluation (1996–2001) was funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contractor for the evaluation is Mathematica Policy Research, and the subcontractor is the Center for Children and Families at Columbia University, Teachers College. The Tracking Pre-K (TPK) follow-up phase (2001–2004) is also funded by ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mathematica Policy Research is the contractor. In 1997, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provided funds (through ACYF) to add a major study of the fathers of EHS children.
Population Assessed
The EHS and TPK follow-up was implemented in 17 EHS programs in all regions of the country. Programs offered center-based, home-based, and mixed-approach services. The families and children who participated in the evaluation were diverse. Many of the families were single-parent, were ethnically diverse (including Hispanic, African American, and White), did not speak English as their primary language, had relatively low educational attainment, and were receiving public assistance of some kind (e.g., Medicaid, WIC, food stamps, AFDC or TANF, and SSI benefits). A total of 3,001 families participated in the evaluation, with 1,513 in the treatment group and 1,488 in the control group. Table 1 contains specifics of the families and children participating in the EHS evaluation.
| Sample in All Sites | ||
|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Sample Size | Percent of Families |
| Parent and Family Characteristics | ||
| Mother's Education | ||
| Less than grade 12 | 1,375 | 48 |
| Grade 12 or attained a GED | 822 | 29 |
| Greater than grade 12 | 682 | 24 |
| Missing | 122 | |
| Race and Ethnicity | ||
| White Non-Hispanic | 1,091 | 37 |
| Black Non-Hispanic | 1,014 | 35 |
| Hispanic | 693 | 24 |
| Missing | 68 | |
| Welfare Receipt | ||
| Received welfare | 842 | 35 |
| Did not receive welfare | 1,554 | 65 |
| Missing | 41 | |
| Primary Language | ||
| English | 2,265 | 79 |
| Other | 615 | 21 |
| Missing | 121 | |
| Living Arrangements | ||
| With spouse | 752 | 25 |
| With other adults | 1,157 | 39 |
| Alone | 1,080 | 36 |
| Missing | 12 | |
| Focus Child Characteristics | ||
| Age | ||
| Unborn | 761 | 25 |
| Less than 5 months | 1,063 | 35 |
| 5 months or older | 1,177 | 39 |
| Missing | 0 | |
| Gender | ||
| Male | 1,510 | 51 |
| Female | 1,448 | 49 |
| Missing | 43 | |
| Sample Size | 3,001 | |
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2001, June).
Periodicity
The parent interview was administered when the children were 14-, 24-, and 36-months old.
Subscales/Components
The majority of questions about child care quality (structural) come from the Head Start, preschool, and child care section within the parent interview. This section focuses on questions to find out about the child’s preschool and child care experiences since the last interview or his/her 3rd birthday. Questions address the child’s attendance in formal preschool or child care, the type of program the child participated in, the hours per week the child spent in the arrangement, and the licensing and regulating of the provider.
Procedures for Administration
The parent of the focus child completes the interview in a one-on-one setting; the interviewer asks questions and writes the respondent’s answers. In addition to the interview, the interviewer conducts a child assessment by asking the parent to talk with the child about
something exciting that’s happened recently and videotaping the parent and child playing together. The time needed for the sequence, including the interview, is 1.5 hours.
Psychometrics/Data Quality
Psychometrics and data-quality information is not readily available for the selected items. For the parent interview, primary sources of nonresponse were refusals to participate and inability to locate the families. “For the 24-month PI, 51 percent of the families who did not respond refused to participate, and 44 percent moved or could not be located (the remaining 5 percent included families for whom the interview window closed before the interview was completed). For the 36-month PI, 46 percent of the families who did not respond refused to participate, and 51 percent moved or could not be located (the remaining 3 percent included families for whom the interview window closed before the interview was completed)” (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/ehs_resrch/reports/impacts_vol2/impacts_vol2.pdf). Nonresponse was also because of death of the child (12 children in the control group and 9 in the EHS group) and adoption (3 children were adopted after random assignment). Center-based sites were more successful in completing interviews with EHS families than with control group families.
To be included in the impact analyses, measures had to have adequate psychometric properties (e.g., adequate reliability and validity for children from low-income families and for many racial and ethnic groups). In general, measures were chosen that had an internal consistency reliability (coefficient alpha) or .70 or higher and that had consistent reliability across major race/ethnicity subgroups. Constructed variables also had to have sufficient data at the item level (e.g., not missing more than 25 percent of items), adequate distribution of scores (e.g., check mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis were checked to determine that variables had a normal distribution that was similar to those in other studies using the same measure).
Languages Available
The interview developers do not expressly state availability of the interview in languages other than English.
Items Included
The interviews can be requested by contacting the EHS and TPK Project Director (Dr. John Love, jlove@mathematica-mpr.com) or the ACF Project Officer (Dr. Rachel Cohen, rccohen@acf.hhs.gov).
Head Start, Preschool, and Child Care Items
We are interested in learning about (CHILD)’s preschool and child care experiences since (his/her third birthday/DATE OF LAST TRACKING INTERVIEW).
First, I would like to ask you about formal childcare or preschool programs (CHILD) may have attended since (his/her third birthday/DATE OF LAST TRACKING INTERVIEW). We want to know about child care and preschool programs, including Head Start, rather than less formal child care or babysitting arrangements.
Has (CHILD) attended any formal preschool or child care programs including Head Start since
(his/her last birthday/DATE OF LAST TRACKING INTERVIEW)?
Yes (go to formal child care grid)
No
Don’t know
Refused
Note: Formal child care grid does not contain questions about child care quality
Now, I would like to ask you about regular informal child care or babysitting arrangements that
you use or may have used for (CHILD) since (his/her third birthday/DATE OF LAST
TRACKING INTERVIEW). By regular, we mean any arrangements for at least 10 hours a week
that lasted 2 weeks or more. By informal, we mean any arrangements, licensed or unlicensed, that
are home-based child care or babysitting arrangements.
Has (CHILD) attended any regular informal child care or babysitting arrangements since (his/her
third birthday/DATE OF LAST TRACKING INTERVIEW)?
Yes (go to informal child care grid)
No
Don’t know
Refused
| Most Recent | |
| a. Please tell me the names of all regular informal child care arrangements for (CHILD) since (his/her third birthday/DATE OF LAST TRACKING INTERVIEW). Start with the most recent child care arrangement (CHILD) is in. | |
| b. Is (CHILD) currently in this child care arrangement? | |
| c. What type of child care arrangement (is/was) it? Child's father or stepfather Your partner or boyfriend Child's grandparent or great grandparent Another relative Nonrelative of child Other arrangement (specify) Don't Know Refused |
|
| d. Where (does/did) this child care happen? In your child's home Outside your child's home at a site that is licensed, regulated, or registered Outside your child's home at a site that is NOT licensed, regulated or registered Outside your child's home but you are unsure if the site is licensed, regulated, or registered Don't know Refused |
|
| e. About how many hours per week (does/did) (PROVIDER) take care of child? | |
| f. Would you say (CHILD) typically (spends/spent) less than 2 hours a week, between 2 and 5 hours a week, between 5 and 20 hours a week, between 20 and 40 hours a week, or more than 40 hours a week in this arrangement? | |
| g. About how many weeks (does/did) (CHILD) usually participate in this program? |
References and Source Documents
The interviews can be requested by contacting the EHS and TPK Project Director (Dr. John Love, jlove@mathematica-mpr.com) or the ACF Project Officer (Dr. Rachel Cohen, rccohen@acf.hhs.gov).
A number of reports are available on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/ehs_resrch/index.html
The reports include the following:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, December). Pathways to quality and full implementation in Early Head Start Programs. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Executive summary. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Volume I: Final technical report. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Volume II: Final technical report appendixes. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Volume III: Local contributions to understanding programs and their impacts. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001, June). Building their futures: How Early Head Start programs are enhancing the lives of infants and toddlers in low-income families. Volume I: Technical report. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001, June). Building their futures: How Early Head Start Programs are enhancing the lives of infants and toddlers in low-income families. Volume II: Technical report, appendixes. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001, June). Building their futures: How Early Head Start programs are enhancing the lives of infants and toddlers in low-income families. Summary report. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Volume I: Cross-site perspectives. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Volume II: Program profiles. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Volume III: Program implementation. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Executive summary, Volumes I, II, and III. Washington, DC: Author.
For other papers, please refer to the Early Head Start Collection of Consortium-Written Research Articles and Reports at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/ehs_resrch/index.html
| Table of Contents | Previous | Next |