Migrant and Seasonal Head Start
Conditions
Keywords
migrant and seasonal head start, early childhood education, head start
Brief summary
The MSHS Study is a nationally representative study commissioned by the U.S. Office of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families that will describe the characteristics and experiences of the children and families who enroll in MSHS and the practices and services of the MSHS programs that serve them. The MSHS Study draws heavily on the Design for MSHS Survey Report (2011) and is informed by the current context of key policy and programmatic issues and broader issues impacting the lives of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families. The MSHS Study has two components: a Program/Center component and a Classroom, Family, Child component that are based on distinct samples. The first component is off-site and consists of mailed surveys that will be sent to the universe of MSHS program directors and a representative subset of center directors to provide information on program and center operations. The second component consists of onsite data collection - including classroom observations, surveys with teachers and assistant teachers, parent interviews, teacher and parent child reports, and direct child assessments - with a nationally-representative sample of centers, classrooms, families and children. Once data are collected, the study will address a set of research questions that can be summarized into three broad categories: (1) What are the characteristics of MSHS programs, families, and children? (2) What services do MSHS programs provide, what instructional and language practices are used, and what is the quality of MSHS classrooms? and (3) What are the associations between MSHS characteristics and child/family well-being?
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
The Catholic University of America
Westat
Abt Associates
Study design
Observational model
OTHER
Time perspective
CROSS_SECTIONAL
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in participating Migrant and Seasonal Head Start centers/classrooms across the U.S. and their teachers and parents. Also includes center directors and program directors.
Exclusion criteria
\-
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Language Literacy | 1 year | Indicators of language literacy will be assessed during week-long site visits using Letter-Word Identification & Identificación de letras y palabras in the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey. |
| Emergent Literacy | 1 year | Indicators of emergent literacy will be assessed during week-long site visits using the Spanish Version (or English version for children who are not Spanish speakers) of the PLS-5 Auditory Comprehension subscale. |
| Emotional Skills | 1 year | Indicators of emotional skills will be assessed during week-long site visits using the Cognitive/ Social and Emotional/Regulations Scales from the Leiter-Third Edition Examiner Rating Scales. |
| Classroom Quality | 1 year | Classroom quality will be assessed during the week-long site visits using the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) Tool and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System™ (CLASS™). |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed