The Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES 2018) (BabyFACES18)

Early Head Start (EHS) Family and Child Experiences Survey - 2018 (Baby FACES 2018) will answer new questions about EHS programs, staff, and families that can guide program technical assistance, management, and policy. It will provide information about EHS programs in the context of the adoption of the new Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework. Baby FACES 2018 will consist of two nationally representative cross-sectional samples of programs, centers, classrooms, home visitors, and children and families. It will include surveys of program directors, center directors, teachers, home visitors, and parents; conduct observations of classrooms and home visits, and ask staff and parents to report on children's development.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Early Head Start Participation

Detailed Description

The overarching purpose of the Baby FACES studies is to provide knowledge about Early Head Start children and families, and the EHS programs and staff who serve them. The ongoing series of Baby FACES data collections is aimed at maintaining up-to-date core information on EHS over time while also focusing on different areas of interest. The Baby FACES studies began with Baby FACES 2009, a longitudinal descriptive study that followed two cohorts of children and families through participation in the program and focused on program services and participation, and child and family wellbeing and outcomes over time. Baby FACES 2018 (and a future round in 2022) have been redesigned to provide cross-sectional descriptive information and a point in time picture of EHS. The present study will focus on understanding the processes in EHS core services (classrooms and home visits) that support infant and toddler development; namely, nurturing and responsive relationships between children and caregivers. With this new focus, Baby FACES 2018 will take a more in depth look at classrooms while a future study, Baby FACES 2022, will take a more in depth look at home visiting.

The Baby FACES team will carry out a descriptive study that includes a nationally representative sample of EHS programs, centers, classrooms, teachers, home visitors, and children and families (including pregnant women) and answers new questions about how EHS programs function. The study is guided by a comprehensive conceptual framework that illustrates how EHS program processes and activities are expected to lead to high quality service delivery and enhanced family and infant/toddler outcomes for the program overall. The overarching research question for Baby FACES 2018 is: How do EHS services support infant/toddler growth and development in the context of nurturing, responsive relationships? The study will address this question through the collection of rich information using interviews, self-administered questionnaires, classroom observations, and administrative data sources. This approach will allow the Administration for Children and Families to capture important information about EHS services, families, and children across all service options (e.g., center-based, home-based, or those providing both service options), as well as in depth information about how EHS classrooms and teacher-child relationships support infant/toddler development.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 6723

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New Jersey
    • Princeton, New Jersey, United States, 08540
      • Mathematica Policy Research

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: No older than 4 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Early Head Start pregnant women and Early Heat Start infants and toddlers (and their families), Early Head Start programs, Early Head Start centers, Early Head Start home visitors, Early Head Start classrooms/teachers

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• The Early Head Start programs participating in Baby FACES 2018 are a probability sample selected from among study-eligible programs on the 2016-2017 Head Start Program Information Report (PIR). To be eligible for the study, a program had to be
• In one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia
• Providing services directly to pregnant women or children up to preschool age.
• Not be in imminent danger of losing its grantee status.

Exclusion Criteria:

• American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs (Region XI) or Migrant and Seasonal Worker Head Start programs (Region XII) were not eligible.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

6

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
children/pregnant women; children/pregnant women (2,310)
parents; parents (2,310)
classrooms/teachers; classrooms/teachers (840)
home visitors; home visitors (630)
center directors; center directors (493)
program directors; program directors (140)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Classroom quality/teacher-child interactions	Indicators of classroom quality were assessed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, Infant version (CLASS-I), depending on the ages of children in the classroom. The CLASS assesses the quality of interactions between teachers and children in classrooms. Please see the Baby FACES User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on scores and technical properties.	One-day observation in March-May 2018
Classroom quality/teacher-child interactions	Indicators of classroom quality were assessed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, Toddler version (CLASS-T), depending on the ages of children in the classroom. The CLASS assesses the quality of interactions between teachers and children in classrooms. Please see the Baby FACES User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on scores and technical properties.	One-day observation in March-May 2018
Classroom quality/teacher-child interactions	Indicators of classroom quality were assessed using the Quality of Caregiver Child Interactions for Infants and Toddlers (Q-CCIIT). The Q-CCIIT assesses the quality of interactions between teachers and children in classrooms. Please see the Baby FACES User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on scores and technical properties.	One-day observation in March-May 2018
Child expressive and receptive vocabulary	Teachers and parents independently reported on words the child understands and says, using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). Please see the Baby FACES User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on scores and technical properties.	1 week
Child social-emotional/behavioral development	Teachers and parents independently reported on children's social competence and problem behaviors using the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment. Please see the Baby FACES User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on scores and technical properties.	1 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Teacher-child relationships	Teachers report on their relationship with children using the Student-Teacher Relationship, Short Form. Please see the Baby FACES 2018 User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on the scores and technical properties.	1 week
Parent-child relationships	Parent-child relationships were assessed with the Child-Parent Relationship Scale, Short Form. Please see the Baby FACES 2018 User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on the scores and technical properties.	1 week
Parent-child relationships	Parent-child relationships were assessed with the Healthy Families Parenting Inventory. Please see the Baby FACES 2018 User's Manual (Cannon et al. 2020) for more information on the scores and technical properties.	1 week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
• Collaborators: Department of Health and Human Services; Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation
• Investigators: Study Director: Cheri Vogel, Ph.D., Mathematica Policy Research; Principal Investigator: Sally Atkins-Burnett, Ph.D., Mathematica Policy Research; Principal Investigator: Yange Xue, Ph.D., Mathematica Policy Research

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): June 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Anticipated): March 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 17, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 20, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): May 24, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 24, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 20, 2021
• Last Verified: May 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: children; parents; child health; child nutrition; relationships; child development; child care; families; parenting skills; Early Head Start; early childhood education; child rearing
• Other Study ID Numbers: 50193

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: In the future, Baby FACES archived data will be available for access
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will become available within 2 years of the completion of each study wave.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Applications for access to restricted-use data file include completing and adhering to a User Agreement.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No