Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES) is a nationally representative descriptive study of Early Head Start. It was designed to inform program planning, technical assistance, and research at the national level by:

1. Providing descriptive information about the quality, frequency, and intensity of Early Head Start services
2. Describing the characteristics, qualifications, and professional supports provided to staff working with Early Head Start families
3. Identifying key characteristics, strengths, and needs of families served in Early Head Start
4. Learning how Early Head Start children and families are faring in key areas of child and family well-being
5. Exploring associations between the type and quality of Early Head Start services and child and family well-being

Study Design View help for Study Design

The 2018 Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES) concentrated mostly on the classroom context and explored classroom processes and teacher-child relationships in depth with multiple observation-based measures of classrooms and teachers. The 2018 data collection includes surveys of children's parents, teachers, home visitors, and center and program directors, and classroom observations. In addition, parents and teachers/home visitors completed child reports.

Sample View help for Sample

The 2018 Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES) includes nationally representative samples of Early Head Start (EHS) programs, centers, home visitors, classrooms, teachers, and the families, children, and pregnant women they serve in Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Regions I-X. Before selecting the sample, researchers excluded all Head Start programs serving only preschool-aged children, as well as any Early Head Start programs in Regions XI (American Indian and Alaska Native) and XII (Migrant and Seasonal Head Start). For reasons of cost, programs in Alaska and Hawaii were excluded. Researchers also excluded any programs that are under transitional management, are outside the continental United States, or do not directly provide services to children and families. Researchers did not sample family child care (FCC) providers or families participating in the FCC option. Therefore, the Baby FACES sample is not representative of children/families and staff in the FCC option. Researchers included programs that were EHS-Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) grantees, but did not use EHS-CCP status as a stratification variable in selecting the sample. Ultimately, 52 EHS-CCP grantees participated in Baby FACES 2018. The study's complex sample design incorporated multistage sampling, stratification, and unequal selection probabilities.

The first stage of selection was Early Head Start programs. Using a probability proportional to size method, researchers selected a sample of 308 Early Head Start programs from a sample frame derived from the 2015-2016 Head Start Program Information Report. Of these programs, researchers released 167 for recruitment and data collection and of those, 137 were eligible for the study and agreed to participate.

Within each program, researchers randomly sampled an average of 4 centers and/or 6 home visitors, depending on the types of services the program provides. Within each center, researchers sampled up to 2 classrooms/lead teachers, and up to 3 children within each classroom. Within programs that offer home-based services, researchers subsampled about half of the home visitors (an average of 3 home visitors per program) from which to sample pregnant women and children. Researchers sampled up to 3 families/children from each of these home visitors. In programs that provide center-based services, 468 centers, 871 classrooms and teachers, and 2,204 children and their parents participated in the study. From the sample of programs that provide home-based services, 611 home visitors participated. Within the subsample of 308 participating home visitors from which researchers selected families, 631 children and 33 pregnant women participated in the study. Across all programs, 1,482 staff (teachers or home visitors), 2,835 children and their parents, and 33 pregnant women participated in the study.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Early Head Start programs, centers, home visitors, classrooms, teachers, and the families, children, and pregnant women they serve in Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Regions I-X

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

The first stage of selection yielded a response rate of 84 percent.

In programs that provided center-based services there were participation rates of 100 and 88 percent for classrooms and children, respectively.

Within the subsample of participating home visitors from which researchers selected families there were participation rates of 99, 80, and 55 percent for home visitors, children, and pregnant women, respectively.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

For a detailed list of scales used in the study, please see the user guide Table III.2. (Baby FACES 2018 measures)

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2020-07-01

Version History View help for Version History

Weight View help for Weight

Researchers created a series of weights including those at the program, center, classroom (teacher), home visitor, and child levels. The weights compensate for the differential probabilities of selection at the sampling stage and adjust for nonresponse so that these data are representative of Early Head Start programs, centers, home visitors, classrooms, teachers, and the families, children, and pregnant women in Regions I through X in spring 2018.