Family Voices: Piloting a New Qualitative Measure of Family Engagement for Head Start and Early Head Start Staff and Families

The Head Start Family Voices (HSFV) Pilot Study was launched to develop instruments to help the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) better understand family engagement in Head Start and Early Head Start. To meet this aim, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, contracted with Mathematica to develop, pilot test, and review the performance of qualitative interviews with families and the home visiting and family services staff who serve them. We invited ten grantees (half providing Head Start services and the other half providing Early Head Start services) to participate in the pilot activities and conducted qualitative interviews with approximately 130 parents and 30 staff, in person and by telephone.

This report draws on HSFV pilot data collected during the 2012-2013 program year. It describes the purpose of the pilot study, details the research questions and methodology guiding the pilot activities, provides an overview of the performance of the piloted interview protocols, and offers suggestions on the best methods for gathering qualitative information about family engagement experiences from families and staff in future studies. Given the pilot study sought to develop, test, and review the performance of new interview protocols, we focus on summarizing our experiences related to the piloting of the instruments rather than discussing thematic findings. Future research efforts will be an avenue for exploring themes emanating from the instruments.