Telephone script and recruitment information collection for on-site coordinators, Regions I–X

attachment 3

HEAD START FAMILY AND CHILD EXPERIENCES SURVEY 2019

Telephone script for ON-SITE COORDINATORS (Regions I–X)

This page has been left blank for double-sided copying.

INTRODUCTION

My name is ___________________________. I am calling from [Mathematica Policy Research/Juarez and Associates] to speak with you about your program’s participation in the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, which we refer to as FACES 2019. We received authorization from [PROGRAM DIRECTOR] to contact you, and I recently sent you a letter and fact sheet about this research project. The Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is sponsoring the study. Did you receive the letter and fact sheet? Have you had a chance to review them? [HAVE LETTER AVAILABLE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION IF PERSON IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE STUDY. IF CALLING FROM JUAREZ, EXPLAIN MATHEMATICA’S ROLE IN THE STUDY].

Is this a good time to talk? I want to answer any questions you may have about FACES 2019, and discuss logistics and your role as the on-site coordinator so we can begin planning the visit to your program. In addition, I want to explain more about how we will select the centers and study participants for the study. This call should take no more than 45 minutes. IF ASKED FOR TYPICAL DURATION, SAY AT LEAST 30 MINUTES BUT UP TO 45 MINUTES].

[ALLOW TIME FOR QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES, OR DEFER QUESTIONS UNTIL LATER IN THE CALL WHEN THE TOPIC IS PRESENTED.]

Your participation today is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond, to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this information collection is 0970-0151, and it expires on xx/xx/xxxx.

SITE VISIT PURPOSE AND BASIC ACTIVITIES

I want to briefly review some of the details about the purpose and design of FACES 2019 that we included in the letter. I also want to review some of the activities that will take place when we visit Head Start centers in your program. Please stop me at any time if you have questions.

• The purpose of FACES 2019 is to provide descriptive information about Head Start children and families, and about Head Start classroom practices and quality.

[PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CHILD-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION]

• We will administer a battery of child assessments to children who participate in the study and will survey their parents as well. We will also survey Head Start staff and observe selected classrooms.

[PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CLASSROOM-ONLY DATA COLLECTION]

• We will survey Head Start staff and observe selected classrooms.

[ALL]

• We will use the information that emerges from FACES 2019 to identify strategies for improving the effectiveness of the program. In addition, the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Head Start will use the information to determine the characteristics and experiences of, and outcomes for, children and families who Head Start serves.

DATA COLLECTION

[PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CHILD-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION]

The FACES 2019 study team will visit your program’s centers on three occasions: fall 2019, spring 2020, and spring 2022.

• During each visit, a team of five or six people will spend about one week at your program, dividing their time between the two centers selected for the FACES study.

• We will work with you to limit any disruption that our visit might cause.

• In the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, we will administer a child assessment battery to the children in the study. The assessment will measure a range of areas covered by Head Start’s Early Learning Outcomes Framework. Members of our staff, who have been specially trained to assess children for FACES 2019, will administer the assessment. Children will be offered a book worth $10.

• In addition, in fall 2019 and spring 2020, we will ask teachers from each selected class to supplement the child assessment battery by completing a brief questionnaire about the social and emotional development of each participating child. The questionnaire will be available both on the web and on paper. Teachers are expected to complete the questionnaires on their own time and will receive $10 for each completed questionnaire.

• Another component of the data collection that will take place in fall 2019 and spring 2020 will be a survey of parents of the children who participate in the study. As with past rounds of FACES data collection, we expect to provide parents with a gift card after they complete the survey.

• In spring 2020, we will observe the selected classrooms and ask the program director, the center directors, and the teachers of the selected classrooms to complete surveys.

• In spring 2022, we will select a new sample of classrooms in your program’s selected centers and conduct classroom observations and staff surveys.

[PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CLASSROOM-ONLY DATA COLLECTION]

The FACES 2019 study team will visit your program’s centers on two occasions: spring 2020 and spring 2022.

• In spring 2020, we will observe the selected classrooms and ask the program director, the center directors, and teachers of the selected classrooms to complete surveys.

• In spring 2022, we will select a new sample of classrooms in your program’s selected centers and conduct classroom observations and staff surveys.

• We will need your help as we prepare for our data collection. It is important that we establish a close working partnership—you are the [person/people (IF MORE THAN ONE OSC)] who will ensure that our data collection plan conforms to your local requirements. We will work with you to minimize the burden on your program. Together, we will develop the plan, and then we will submit a copy to your program director.

[ALL]

I’d now like to say a few words about privacy. All information collected during the course of FACES 2019 will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. We will not share the information we collect with anyone outside the study team, including your program staff or parents. We will never identify programs, Head Start staff, children, or families by name in any data files or reports of the study’s findings. However, we may be required by law to report information regarding child abuse or neglect. The study will obtain a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institute of Health to assure participants that the information will be kept private to the fullest extent the law permits.

We also take safety very seriously. To ensure the safety of our field staff and participants, Mathematica hiring policy requires all newly hired and rehired field staff to pass a criminal background check. Sterling Testing Systems will conduct the background checks, which will include a Social Security trace, criminal conviction search, sex offender database search, and a department of motor vehicles report. For more information on Sterling Testing Systems, visit its website http://www.sterlingtestingsystems.com/. We can provide you documentation of field staff clearances if you request them.

As we stated in the letter, the information we collect during the visit is not for accountability or monitoring purposes. We want to assure you that information will be reported in aggregate form with information aggregated from all of the 180 Head Start programs that participate in the study. Federal staff will not receive information about specific programs, only for the entire group of programs together. It will not be reported by program, center, or child.

Do you have any questions so far?

Next, I want to confirm and collect some basic information about the centers in your program. [CONFIRM AND/OR UPDATE THE FOLLOWING INTO THE FACES Sample Accrual System OR ON A DATA SHEET FOR LATER DATA ENTRY]:

• CONTACT INFORMATION. Please confirm the following information: On-site coordinator’s full name, address, phone/fax, email address; center directors’ names, physical and mailing addresses, phone/fax numbers, and emails for their centers.

• OPERATING SCHEDULE. What days of the week do you operate the children’s classrooms? Is it five days a week, four, or some other schedule? Does it vary by center? [NOTE: SOME PROGRAMS DO NOT HOLD CLASSES ON MONDAYS OR FRIDAYS].

• What is the start and end date for each center for the 2019–2020 program year? [RECORD THIS INFORMATION IN THE CENTER NOTES FIELD]

[PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CHILD-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION]

• Because our field staff will need access to the Internet during the field visits, I will ask you some questions about Internet connectivity at your program. [RECORD INFORMATION FOR EACH SELECTED CENTER]

• How do you connect to the Internet at the center? (Verizon FIOS, cable, satellite, cellular wireless, dial-up phone, other?)

• Can the Verizon cellular network be accessed at the center?

• If yes, do you know the normal connection level: that is, XLTE, 4gLTE, 3g or 1x?

• If not, which provider provides cellular coverage at the center?

• Does the center have a Wi-Fi system set up?

• If yes, would our staff be able to connect to the Wi-Fi while at the center if needed?

• If no Wi-Fi, would we be able to connect to a wired network at the center?

  • If we can connect to a wired network can we connect a wireless router to it? (This would allow us to set up a Wi-Fi system so we would need only one physical connection.)

  • If we cannot attach our own wireless router, may we connect each laptop to a wired network?

• [ASK IF APPLICABLE] May we use your dial-up connection to connect to the Internet?

[IF AN HONORARIUM IS ALLOWED FOR ON-SITE COORDINATOR(S)] We will provide you with $500 per program for the fall 2019 round of data collection in appreciation for your help. You will receive an additional $250 for each subsequent round of data collection at the Head Start centers (spring 2020 and spring 2022). The honorarium for this help will be in the form of a check. If you wish, we can give this honorarium directly to the program.

We assume that most of your work can be completed outside regular work hours and therefore will not interfere with your normal duties. You will be responsible for:

• Coordinating the field enrollment specialist’s visit that will take place three weeks before the fall data collection

• Helping the field enrollment specialist in drawing the study sample

• Gathering consent forms for the children in the sample and tracking receipt of consent forms

• Helping coordinate the on-site data collection visit to each center

• Scheduling times and locations for the child assessments and classroom observations

[PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CLASSROOM-ONLY DATA COLLECTION]

[IF OSC IS ALLOWED AN HONORARIUM] We will provide you with $250 per program for the spring 2020 round of data collection for your help. You will receive an additional $250 for the subsequent round of data collection at the Head Start centers in 2022. This honorarium for your help will be in the form of a check. If you wish, we can give this honorarium directly to your program.

We assume that most of your work can be completed outside of regular work hours and therefore will not interfere with your normal duties. You will be responsible for:

• Giving lists of all Head Start class sessions to our study staff

• Helping coordinate the visit to each center

• Scheduling the classroom observations

[CLASSROOM AND CHILD SELECTION FOR PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CHILD-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION]

Finally, I would like to explain to you the method we are using to choose the classrooms and children we will ask to participate in the study.

• CLASSROOM SELECTION. We will randomly select approximately two classrooms in each center. If a center has only one or two classrooms, we will include all of them. A Mathematica field enrollment specialist (FES) will visit your program about three weeks before our fall 2019 data collection begins. The FES’s visit will last approximately two days at each center. During the FES’s visit in fall 2019, the FES will ask for a list of all classrooms and home visitors in each center. We will select classrooms again before the spring 2022 data collection, though this will be done remotely, in collaboration with your FACES liaison. There will be no on-site FES visit in 2022.

• CHILD SELECTION. After we have chosen classrooms for the sample, we will randomly select children to participate in the study. The FES will ask for a list of the names, dates of birth, and enrollment date into preschool Head Start for all children in the selected classrooms or home visitor caseloads. We will select approximately 12 children per classroom and will invite these children and their families to participate in the study.

[PROGRAMS SELECTED FOR CLASSROOM-ONLY DATA COLLECTION]

Finally, I would like to explain to you the way that we will choose the classrooms for data collection. We will randomly select two classrooms in each center. If a center has only one or two classrooms, we will include all classrooms.

[ALL]

• Now that we have laid the groundwork for the tasks ahead, please tell me which is the easiest way to reach you—by phone or email? [CONFIRM THAT THIS PERSON IS THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE YOUR REGULAR CONTACT].

• I want to find out about your availability so we can begin crafting the data collection plan for your program. When is the best time to reach you? Do you have any dates that you will not be available?

• Do you have any questions at this point? If questions or concerns do come up, please feel free to contact me at [LIAISON PHONE] or [EMAIL].

Thank you for participating in this important study. We appreciate your assistance, and I look forward to working with you and your program.