Page 46 - PROGRAM IMPACT AND SATIFACTION AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF HEAD START PARENTS

More classroom hours was a suggestion made by four parents, one of whom wrote, “More hours so that the children can adapt to a school setting.” Four different parents wrote that the program should not change the teachers, but keep them from the beginning to the end of the school year because it can cause confusion for some kids and parents. Other suggestions included more parking for parents, translating children’s’ goals to Spanish and increasing the number of children per classroom. See Figure 3 in the Appendix for a list of select comments from parents at Chase.
Cohasset
Of the 26 parents from Cohasset Head Start Center, 76.9% provided suggestions for how the program can improve. Nine parents wrote comments in which they indicated that there was nothing they would change about the program. These parents described the Head Start Program at Cohasset as perfect and one parent mentioned, “My child has enjoyed the program.” Parents thanked teachers and staff for attending to their children.
Four parents wrote that more class time, an all-day or full-time program would make Head Start better. Three parents wrote comments related to homework, stating that more frequent homework assignments would make the program better. For example, one parent wrote, “...Assign homework everyday so that the children start becoming responsible for their duties.” The other two parents provided examples of the type of homework they would like children to be assigned, such as projects that support the activities that are being taught in the classroom, coloring, and writing letters and numbers.
Two parents suggested that the program can improve its parent engagement through activities in which the parent participate with the child and offering opportunities for parents to learn ways to support their children academically. Of the two parents one parent provided an example: “One Friday a month have a class where both [parent and child] can participate together [in an activity].” See Figure 4 in the Appendix for a list of comments from parents at Cohasset.
Robert Fulton
Most parents at Robert Fulton Head Start Center (68.8%) wrote comments in which they complimented the program and stated that they had no suggestions to improve the program. Parents described the Head Start program as great with well-trained staff and very supportive and extremely helpful teachers and teaching assistants. Another parents wrote, “Everything was great in terms of teaching and classroom curriculum. I noticed my child knew more [at the end] than at the beginning of the school year.”
Five parents wrote comments related to more teachers, more locations or classrooms, and a curriculum with better topics and more academic work. One parent wrote that the Robert Fulton Head Start program can improve if it continues to offer support to parents and promote Head Start, stating, “Keep supporting parents so that children do not miss school and inform other families [of] the importance of the Head Start program.” See Figure 5 in the Appendix for a select list of comments from parents at Robert Fulton.
CCRC’s Head Start Parents Page | 43 December 2014