Descriptive Data on Head Start Children and Families from FACES 2014: Fall 2014 Data Tables and Study Design

Key Findings:

Examples of key findings related to children’s characteristics, family demographics, and home environment include the following:

• Sixty-six percent of children are entering Head Start for the first time, whereas 34 percent are returning for a second year.
• Thirty-nine percent of Head Start children live in households where a language other than English is spoken, and 24 percent live in households where a language other than English is primarily spoken to them.
• Forty-seven percent of Head Start children live with both of their biological or adoptive parents.
• More than three-quarters (79 percent) of Head Start children were read to at least three times in the past week by a family member.

Examples of key findings related to child cognitive, social-emotional, and health and physical development include the following:

• On average, Head Start children assessed or primarily assessed in English lag behind other children of the same age in language, literacy, and math skills at the beginning of the program year.
• Children respond correctly on the pencil tapping executive function task 46 percent of the time, on average.
• About 14 percent of all children in Head Start are reported by their teachers to have a disability at the beginning of the program year.
• Using criteria set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 19 percent of children in Head Start are overweight, and 33 percent are overweight or obese.

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