Telephone script and recruitment information collection for on-site coordinators, Region XI

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THE American indian and alaska native HEAD START FAMILY AND CHILD EXPERIENCES SURVEY 2019

Telephone script for ON-SITE COORDINATORS (REGION XI)

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

INTRODUCTION

My name is ___________________________. I am calling from Mathematica Policy Research to speak with you about your program’s participation in the American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, which we refer to as AI/AN FACES 2019. We received authorization from [PROGRAM DIRECTOR] to contact you, and I recently sent you a letter and fact sheet about this study. 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.]

Is this a good time to talk? I want to answer any questions you may have about AI/AN 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 AI/AN 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.

• For nearly two decades, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) has provided the Office of Head Start and the Administration for Children and Families with a wealth of information about the children and families served by Regions I through X. However, children and families in Region XI had not been a part of that study until the 2015–2016 program year when AI/AN FACES 2015 was first conducted.

• AI/AN FACES 2015 filled an important information gap and allowed Head Start to better serve the needs of Region XI programs, children, and families. That is why we are excited to be implementing a second round of AI/AN FACES in the 2019–2020 program year. The purpose of AI/AN FACES 2019 is to provide descriptive information about Region XI Head Start children and families and their Head Start classroom practices and quality.

• 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 Region XI staff and observe selected classrooms.

• 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 Region XI Head Start serves.

• The design of AI/AN FACES 2019 grew out of a collaborative process involving Region XI Head Start directors, Region XI Office of Head Start leaders, representatives of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, and tribal child development researchers. These individuals made up the AI/AN FACES Workgroup. Planning for AI/AN FACES 2019 has been underway since 2017, building on several years of planning for AI/AN FACES 2015. The AI/AN FACES Workgroup is committed to ensuring that the study is responsive to the unique characteristics of Region XI. It is also committed to ensuring that tribal voices are at the forefront in determining how the study will be designed and carried out and deciding how the information from the study will be presented. The AI/AN FACES Workgroup will continue to guide the study as it moves from design to data collection and, later, to analysis and reporting.

DATA COLLECTION

To give you a little more information on what is involved, in fall 2019, a representative sample of about 800 3- and 4-year-old Head Start children and their families in Region XI will be invited to participate in AI/AN FACES 2019. Your program has been randomly selected as one of the 22 Region XI programs asked to participate by providing information about the characteristics, experiences, and outcomes of children and families served by Region XI. We will use a variety of data-gathering approaches to ensure the efficient collection of high quality data (for example, person­al interviews and surveys). We will use methods that are sensitive to and respectful of cultural differences.

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

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

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

• In fall 2019 and spring 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 AI/AN FACES 2019, will administer the assessment. Children will be offered a book worth $10. Central to the effort of the AI/AN FACES Workgroup is a shared commitment to addressing cultural differences by selecting appropriate measures that assess the growth and develop­ment of children served by Region XI Head Start programs.

• In addition, in fall and spring, we will ask the 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 the fall and spring, will be a survey of parents of the children who participate in the study. As with the first round of AI/AN FACES data collection, we expect to provide parents with a gift card after they complete the survey.

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

• We will need your help as we prepare for data collection. It is important that we establish a close working partnership—you are the [person/people (IF MORE THAN ONE ON-SITE COORDINATOR/COORDINATORS)] 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, and we will be respectful of staff, families, children, and the community. Together, we will develop the data collection plan, and then we will submit a copy to your program director.

I’d now like to say a few words about privacy. All information collected during the course of AI/AN 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, and tribal communities 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 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 will provide you with 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 for all of the 22 Region XI Head Start programs that participate. 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 IN THE AI/AN 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.]

• 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 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, e.g., XLTE, 4gLTE, 3g, or 1x?

• If no Verizon cellular network, which provider provides cellular coverage at the center?

• Does the center have a WiFi system set up?

• If yes, would our staff be able to connect to the WiFi system while at the center, if needed?

• If no WiFi system, 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 WiFi system so that we would need only one physical connection.)

• If we can’t attach our own wireless router, can 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 data collection in spring 2020. 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 normal duties. You will be responsible for:

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

• Helping navigate the tribal approval process

Finally, I would like to explain 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/four [LATTER IF ONE CENTER PROGRAM, FOUR OR MORE CLASSES] classrooms in each center. If a center has [two/four] or fewer classrooms, we will include all of them. A Mathematica field enrollment specialist (FES) will visit your program about three weeks before our fall 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 visitor caseloads in each center.

• 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. We will select approximately 13 children per classroom and will invite these children and their families to participate in the study.

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].

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? I am happy to discuss the study with you at any time; please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. [CONFIRM THAT THIS PERSON IS THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE YOUR REGULAR CONTACT].

• I want to find out about your availability to follow-up on approval and craft the data collection plan for your program just prior to data collection next fall. When is the best time to reach you? Do you have any dates that you will not be available?

I now want to discuss tribal approval. [REFER TO TRIBAL REQUIREMENTS MENTIONED BY PROGRAM DIRECTOR IN INITIAL PHONE CALL.] In terms of next steps, what would you recommend to ensure that we are able to meet tribal requirements before the start of data collection in fall 2019?

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