Understanding Home and Classroom Support for Head Start Children's Development

• In Event: Data for Decisions: Family and Child Experiences Survey as a Model of Policy-Driven and Policy-Guiding Research

Abstract

Head Start actively supports parents as children’s first teachers and sets standards for high quality classrooms. Children with supportive home learning environments demonstrate higher cognitive and social-emotional skills (Bradley et al. 2001, Fantuzzo et al. 2004). Further, child care quality relates to positive child development (Zaslow et al. 2010). Less is known about how these environments interact to support a successful transition to school. Classroom quality may serve as a buffer for homes with fewer resources (Bryant et al. 1994) or provide additional support, as children with richer home environments may experience greater benefits from high quality classrooms (Bulotsky-Shearer et al. 2012).

Guided by the Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework, this study explores the relationship between the Office of Head Start’s programmatic goals and current research on Head Start children and families. The PFCE outcomes, which aim to make parent and family engagement activities systematic and integrated across programs, are expected to lead to positive child outcomes and improved school readiness. We demonstrate how research—the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2009—helps to inform programmatic interests. We address three questions:

(1) What is the prevalence of parent and family engagement indicators?

(2) How does the Head Start classroom environment align with or support engagement in the home learning environment?

(3) Are the home and classroom learning environments during Head Start associated with children’s developmental outcomes in the spring of their kindergarten year?

We focus on about 1,300 children who entered Head Start in fall 2009, attended one or two years of Head Start, and participated in the spring kindergarten data collection. Parent interviews gathered information on home activities and resources in the fall and each spring of Head Start. Head Start teachers reported on classroom activities in the fall and each spring, and classrooms were observed each spring. Children’s language, literacy, mathematics, and executive functioning were directly assessed. Teachers reported on children’s approaches to learning.

Most children experience a variety of activities (Figure 1), demonstrating a supportive home learning environment mapping to the PFCE Framework (Table 1). Considering support across home and classroom during Head Start, most children experience middle- to high-level exposure (half or more of the measured activities). However, the level of classroom exposure and observed quality does not differ by home learning exposure. We conducted regression analyses exploring the association of home and classroom experiences with children’s spring kindergarten outcomes, controlling for entry cognitive ability and child, family, Head Start, and kindergarten characteristics. Home literacy and observed quality predict language and literacy outcomes; however, classroom and home learning exposure does not interact to indicate any added support.

The current paper shows how data from the most recent national sample of Head Start children and families relates to targeted family engagement outcomes from the PFCE Framework. Understanding the role of children’s home and classroom environments supports policy and programmatic decisions about how practices foster children’s school readiness. In this way, FACES may inform home-program alignment, family initiatives, and quality improvement.

Author

• Lizabeth M. Malone, Mathematica Policy Research