Nov 20 -- The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeks approval to collect information to explore the role of Head Start in the early care and education (ECE) financing landscape, as well as how the use of multiple funding sources within a single Head Start program may be associated with the provision of Head Start's comprehensive services and with state-level differences in ECE funding. Survey data will be collected from Head Start program directors and state government administrators. Comments are invited to OMB by December 21, 2023.
The proposed data collection seeks to better understand Head Start's participation in or use of coordinated funding, defined as the piecing together or combining of multiple funding sources. The data collection effort will consist of two surveys: (1) a census survey of Head Start program directors (of any grant recipient with a Head Start grant, Early Head Start grant, or both, or one of their delegate programs), and (2) a census survey of three state government administrative positions in each of the 50 states and Washington, DC (the Head Start Collaboration Office Director, the administrator of state pre-kindergarten funds, and the administrator of the federal Child Care and Development Fund [CCDF]). The surveys will identify the most common approaches to coordinated funding; examine how these approaches relate to the provision of high-quality, comprehensive ECE services in Head Start programs; understand policy levers and conditions that influence Head Start programs' decisions around and ability to coordinate funding; and document how participation in coordinated funding relates to Head Start's engagement with other ECE programs and system efforts. The resulting insights will inform ACF about the prevalence of coordinated funding in Head Start, facilitators and challenges of coordinated funding for Head Start programs, and potential associations with program quality. They will also inform future case studies.
Respondents: Head Start Program Directors, state-based Head Start Collaboration Office Directors, state administrators of state pre-kindergarten funds, and state-based administrators of federal CCDF.
Head Start Services:
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs/about/head-start
ACF submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202311-0970-007 Click IC List for information collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-25607
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806
