Page 9 - PROGRAM IMPACT AND SATIFACTION AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF HEAD START PARENTS

The Survey
Collaborative discussions between CCRC’s Head Start program and the Research Department resulted in a four-page survey that consisted of four sections and 37 questions. The sections included: 1) needs and access to resources (in regards to child care, medical and dental care, and community services), 2) participation in Head Start meetings, trainings, and events, 3) conditions of the neighborhoods and homes in which Head Start families live, and 4) parents’ overall experience in the Head Start program. The 37-question survey included sections in which parents were prompted to “check-off” their response(s), indicated on a Likert scale (i.e. Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree) the response that best described their experience and perception of the Head Start program, and open-ended questions in which parents wrote their responses. Questions regarding parent and family engagement were developed taking the Head Start Parent and Family Engagement Outcomes into consideration.
Respondents
The Head Start program management team was interested in knowing more about who completed the End-of-the-Year Parent Survey. Respondents were asked about their gender and their relationship with the Head Start child. Results showed that respondents of this survey were mostly mothers (87.1%). Fathers (9.4%) and grandmothers (1.3%) also responded to the survey. Other respondents included foster mothers (0.9%), female legal guardians (0.7%) and other types of caregivers (0.5%) such as grandmothers who are also the legal guardians and an uncle. More women (90.3%) than men (9.7%) completed the survey. To ease the reading of this report, respondents will be referred to as parents unless otherwise specified.
Difficulty or Easiness of the Survey
The survey contained a question in which parents were asked to rate on a five-point scale the easiness or difficulty of the survey. Some parents indicated that the survey was difficulty or very difficult (3.5%). Parents from Arthur Avila had the highest percentage (7.9%) of people who indicated that the survey was difficult or very difficult; however, this was not the Head Start Center with the greatest percentage of parents who completed the survey with the help of Head Start staff. While 13.2% of parents from Arthur Avila reported that they received help from Head Start staff to complete the survey, 26.9% of parents from Cohasset indicated that they received assistance from staff. Cohasset was also the Head Start Center with the greatest percentage of parents (96.2%) who indicated that the survey was easy or very easy. This finding suggests that parents who receive assistance in completing the survey may find the survey easier than if they completed it by themselves. Chart 1 presents the percentage of parents at each Head Start Center who indicated whether the survey was difficult to very difficult, moderate, or easy to very easy.
When considering language, half of all English-speaking parents rated the survey to be very easy (50.8%). More Spanish-speaking parents described the survey as easy (46.6%) as opposed to very easy (33.8%). Spanish-speaking parents were also more likely to have completed the survey with the help of a Head Start staff member (11.2%) than English-speaking parents (5.1%).
A total of 77 (8.6%) respondents who completed the survey received help from Head Start staff.
CCRC’s Head Start Parents Page | 6 December 2014