The results show a snapshot of the parents’ and guardians’ opinions and experiences in the SETA-Operated Head Start Program (Spring 2023). The Child Care Results (CCR) Family Outcomes Survey was designed to measure parents’ opinions on how much they and their families have benefited from Head Start. The survey is fully aligned with “The Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework”. That framework identifies seven Family Engagement Outcomes.
The CCR Family Outcomes Survey measures Head Start’s impact in each of these Outcome Areas by parents’ responses of “Did Not Need Help”, “Not Helpful”, “Somewhat Helpful”, or “Very Helpful”:
57% of SETA-Operated sites participated
985 Respondents (80% English, 20% Spanish)
Overall, 91% or more parents in the center-based program found the program very helpful.
Overall, how much did the program help you?
Overall, how much did the program help your child?
Overall, how much did the program help your family?
Among center-based survey participants, Families as Lifelong Educators (80% rated Very Helpful) and Family Engagement in Transitions (77% rated Very Helpful) emerged as two Family Outcomes, with the highest percentages of families rating the program as most helpful. Included in these are:
219 Respondents (85% English, 15% Spanish)
Overall, 82% or more parents in a home-based program found the program very helpful.
Overall, how much did the program help you?
Overall, how much did the program help your child?
Overall, how much did the program help your family?
Among home-based survey participants, Parent-Child Relationships (80% rated Very Helpful) and Family as Learners (70% rated Very Helpful) emerged as two Family Outcomes, with the highest percentages of families rating the program as most helpful. Included in these are:
It allowed me to see my children's strengths and know where they need help.
I learned to be a better parent and spend time playing and teaching the kids.
We love our teacher she is great!
The program has given us child socializations with other families, parenting information and advice on education and school.
Our child is speech delayed so our teacher helped her. She is getting better and talking more. Thank you!
My family was able to understand the stages of our child and readiness for Kindergarten.
We have been able to learn the ages and stages of our son.
Both my children have learned and evolved from the program.
Now we have a teacher that provides us with age appropriate activities.
I have gained a lot of knowledge about children and can get along with children better.
Since 2018, Head Start Sacramento has implemented Ready Rosie as its research-based parenting curriculum to support family engagement. Families use online learning games and videos to help them with in-home teaching activities and to provide guidance in dealing with specific parenting experiences. Videos in the resource library are aligned with the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) and the Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP) assessment tools to support current lesson plans.
% - Ready Rosie Average Utilization Rate Countywide
Videos viewed by families
Opportunities to learn about language and litteracy
Opportunities to learn about math
Opportunities to learn about social/emotional
Opportunities to learn about health and well-being
By engaging in the videos, families had 996 opportunities to learn about Family Well-being, 2,982 about Positive Parent-Child Relationships, 2,987 about Families as Lifelong Educators, 2,969 about Families as Learners, 116 about family engagement in Transition, and 218 opportunities in Family Connections to Peers and Communities.
The program hosted one practice Café and invited staff to participate to gain familiarity with the curriculum, build enthusiasm, and understand how Cafés could benefit the families served. The Parent Café program is a nationally recognized peer-to-peer learning process that parent leaders developed from Strengthening Families Illinois as a way to bring families and caregivers together for support in a structured format. Two virtual Cafés were offered to families but with little success. The implementation team re-evaluated the advertisement for the Cafés. The implementation team created a short video explaining the benefits of attending the Parent Cafés and inviting families to join future Cafes. The team also developed multiple paper invitations to distribute to families. The group plans to focus on site-specific Cafés before offering Cafés agency-wide.
In 2022-23, Head Start Sacramento has participated in multiple in-person recruitment and community outreach efforts. Staff hosted recruitment booths at various family and child-centered events in Sacramento County, such as International Kids Day, Halloween Festival, Spring Festivals, Rio Linda County Fair, Juneteenth Festival, WIC Breast Feeding Celebration, National Night Out, diaper distributions, library events, and community baby showers.
Staff also participated in community health and resource fairs such as Healthy Day Sacramento, Celebrando Nuestra Salud, community resource fairs, and job fairs.
Every month in the 2022-23 program year, Sacramento Head Start was represented in the city’s Network Café, where over 70 representatives from local health-services organizations were gathered to learn about services, collaborate on issues, generate solutions to serve their respective communities and neighborhoods, build partnerships and share updates about their community. Staff also presented at various community organizations to inform about the Head Start Program and how to refer families to the program. Staff distributed program flyers to community organizations, including the public libraries, Sacramento Crisis Nursery, My Sister’s House, WEAVE, and pediatric doctors’ offices. Program inquiries were generated at these community events and connections, and Head Start community awareness was raised.
In addition to the monthly Policy Council and committee meetings, parents on the boards engage in many training, educational, and bonding activities for team building and leadership development. These events include PAC and PC Orientation, Parent Bonding Activity, and End-of-Year Parent Recognition.
Photos above were taken during the Parent Bonding Activity held on July 13, 2023, at SeaQuest in Folsom, CA. Parents reported that spending quality time with their peers outside of meetings allowed them to get to know each other better and build lifelong friendships.
