Linking Head Start Quality to Child Outcomes:
The FACES Study

• Enhancing children's healthy growth and development
• Strengthening families as the primary nurturers of their children
• Providing children with educational, health and nutritional services
• Linking children and families to needed community services
• Ensuring well-managed programs that involve parents in decision-making.

The FACES study is conducted by a team of researchers including Nicholas Zill and Gary Resnick from Westat, Inc.; David Connell and Janet Swartz from Abt Associates; Ruth Hubbell McKey and Cheryl Clark from Ellsworth Associates; and Robert O'Brien and Mary Ann D'Elio from The CDM Group, Inc.

FACES: Early Findings
     The findings from the FACES research are encouraging: the quality in most Head Start classrooms is good (no classrooms score in the poor range) and, perhaps most important, program quality is related to children's outcomes.

Head Start Classroom Quality is Good

• Trained observers of 403 classrooms using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) found that average quality is in the "good" range.
• No Head Start classrooms score below the "minimal quality" rating, unlike other large studies of center-based preschools.
• Head Start class size and child-to-adult ratios meet or exceed standards.
• More than 68 percent of Head Start lead teachers report some college experience or a college degree.

Head Start Children Are Ready for School

• The typical four-year-old completing Head Start has knowledge and skills in early literacy and numeracy, as well as social skills signifying readiness to learn in kindergarten.
• Head Start four-year-olds perform above the levels expected for children from low-income families who have not attended center-based programs.

Program Quality is Linked to Child Performance

• Children score higher on early literacy measures when they experience richer teacher-child interaction, more language learning opportunities, and a classroom well equipped with learning resources.
• Children who attend two years of Head Start perform better than children who attend only one year.

Head Start Families Are Involved Despite Challenges

• Head Start parents are almost equally likely to be married as single, typically have two or three children, and most have at least a high school diploma or GED.
• Most households have at least one family member employed, but a majority receive some form of public assistance, such as food stamps, welfare, or Medicaid.
• Almost a quarter of Head Start parents speak a primary language other than English.
• A significant minority of Head Start families are facing major challenges, such as lacking employment, living in extreme poverty, or experiencing crime, frequent moves or homelessness.
• Head Start parents are involved with their children at home and in the program; 66 percent read to their child three or more times a week; 70 to 90 percent teach letters, numbers, or songs; and more than 90 percent involve their children in chores or errands, play with them, and talk with them about Head Start.
• Most Head Start parents participate at least once in a Head Start activity during the year, despite work, school, child care, and transportation barriers.
• Parents less likely to participate include single parents, parents who have not graduated from high school, and employed parents, but participation is equal across English-speaking and non-English-speaking families.
• Almost 90 percent of parents are very satisfied with Head Start's program services, safety, and promotion of child growth and development.