Introduction
This report includes information on the design and methodology of the 2021—2022 Study of Family and Staff Well-Being in Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey Programs (the 2021—2022 Study) and presents key findings from the study’s spring 2022 data collection with Head Start program directors, center directors, and teachers.
Purpose
This report (1) provides information about the 2021—2022 Study, including the background, design, methodology, assessments, and analytic methods, and (2) describes the characteristics, experiences, well-being, and needs of:
Programs and program directors
Centers and center directors
Classrooms and teacher
Key Findings and Highlights
For program and program director characteristics (Section A), the tables show:
Programs’ structures, such as metropolitan status, census region, agency type, and program size
Sources of programs’ revenue
Staff compensation in programs
State licensing requirements for programs’ centers
Programs’ participation in quality rating and improvement systems
Programs’ emergency management and disaster preparedness
Programs’ data management
Programs’ need for additional support
Program directors’ professional development
Mentoring and coaching
Programs’ well-being supports
Substance use and related problems in program communities and supports available to staff
Children’s kindergarten transition
Program director race/ethnicity
Program directors’ education, credentials, and years of experience
Program directors’ salaries
Program directors’ mental health and job-related stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic
For center and center director characteristics (Section B), the tables show:
State licensing requirements for centers
Centers’ participation in quality rating and improvement systems
Centers’ need for additional support
Professional development activities, trainings, and support
Teacher turnover and related challenges
Centers’ curricula implementation
Language environment of centers
Center director race/ethnicity
Center directors’ education, credentials, and years of experience
Center directors’ salaries
Center directors’ mental health and job-related stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Centers’ staff wellness and overall well-being supports
For classroom and teacher characteristics (Section C), the tables show:
Classroom practices, curricula and assessment tools
Mentoring and training that teachers received
Staff wellness and overall well-being supports provided by programs
Teacher experience, credentials, and education
Teachers’ salaries
Teacher demographic characteristics (for example, sex, age, and race/ethnicity)
Teacher’s mental health and physical health
Teachers’ beliefs about teaching and job satisfaction
Likelihood of teachers continuing to teach Head Start
Teachers’ job-related stress and job-related stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Methods
The 2021—2022 Study gathered data from three sources in spring 2022 that are presented in this report:
A program director survey
A center director survey
A teacher survey
Staff completed surveys that included questions about their program, center, or classroom, and about themselves.
In spring 2022, 180 programs were sampled and 176 agreed to participate in the study. Within those programs, 340 centers and 631 teachers agreed to participate in the study. From those, we received 132 completed program director surveys, 237 completed center director surveys, and 358 completed teacher surveys (with marginal response rates of 75 percent, 70 percent, and 57 percent, respectively).
Spring 2022 data collection for the 2021—2022 Study occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and participation and response rates were low. The data in this report provide a window into the experiences of a sample of Head Start program directors, center directors, and teachers who were able to participate in spring 2022 data collection between April and July 2022. Readers should not assume the data are nationally representative of all Head Start programs, centers, classrooms, or staff. These data provide a snapshot of the experiences of Head Start programs, centers, classrooms, and staff during this difficult time and describe them in spring 2022 as COVID-19 continued to impact the country.
Appendix
Appendix
| File Type | File Name | File Size | Staff Experiences in Head Start FACES Programs, Centers, and Classrooms in Spring 2022 from the 2021—2022 Study: Standard Error Tables Appendix | 4,067.43 KB |
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Citation
Reid, Natalie, Xinwei Li, Will Ratner, Victoria Sims, Charlotte Cabili, Tutrang Nguyen, Judy Cannon, Jeani Choe, Xiaofan Sun, Addison Larson, Chidinma Nwankwo, Jeff Harrington, Barbara Carlson, Elizabeth Doran, and Sara Bernstein (2024). “Staff Experiences in Head Start FACES Programs, Centers, and Classrooms in Spring 2022: The 2021—2022 Study.” OPRE Report #2024-188, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.