1-046 - National Studies of Child Development and Care Including Special Populations: Lessons Learned and Future Directions

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

During this roundtable four teams will reflect on their experiences conducting national studies that yield important information about child development and child care contexts, particularly for children from underrepresented and minority populations. The roundtable will be moderated by Dr. Meryl Barofsky, a Senior Social Science Research Analyst at the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families. The four national studies include: (1) The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES); (2) The Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) Study; (3) American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey; and, (4) The National Survey or Early Care and Education (NSECE). Two of these national studies focus on special populations (MSHS and AI/AN Head Start), whereas the other two include many different special populations (FACES and NSECE). Furthermore, three of these studies (FACES, MSHS, and AI/AN) are focused on low-income Head Start recipients, whereas the NSECE is focused more broadly on a variety of care types. This assortment of national studies will allow panelists to identify similarities and differences in how they prioritized decisions related to child assessments, questions and topics related to child development and child care, data sources, analyses and dissemination strategies. Panelists will discuss specific topics such as: prioritizing culturally and linguistically responsive direct child assessments, sampling enough individuals for sub-group analysis, strategizing culturally appropriate data collection methods for children and families, and identifying low burden but reliable indicators of special populations or proxies/predictors of classroom quality.

Sub Unit

• Social Policy

Moderator

• Meryl Barofsky, Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families

Panelists

• Erin Bumgarner, Abt Associates

• Lizabeth Malone, Mathematica Policy Research

• Rupa Datta, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Jessica Barnes-Najor, Michigan State University