Head Start Performance Measures Center, Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2000)

This report presents 2000 data from the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), a study of 2,800 children and their families in 43 different Head Start programs across the nation. FACES 2000 features four phases of data collection (i.e., the direct child assessment, parent interview, teacher and staff interviews, and classroom observations), and follows 3- and 4-year-old children from program entry, through one or two years of program experience, with follow-up in the spring of kindergarten. FACES data provide information about the knowledge and skills that children have when they enter Head Start and the gains they make during the Head Start year and the first year of elementary school. It describes the quality of Head Start classrooms, and factors that help explain variations in quality across Head Start classrooms. FACES 2000 data provide insight into the relationship of program and classroom characteristics to children’s outcomes, as well as the relationship of family and parental characteristics to children’s outcomes. Program- and classroom-level variables provide unique and significant contributions to the prediction of children’s assessment scores at Head Start entry and graduation, as well as gains from entry to graduation. Analysis of data from FACES 2000 shows that children’s cognitive gains in Head Start were significantly related to use of the High/Scope curriculum, higher teacher salaries, teachers’ educational credentials, and provision of preschool services for a longer period each day.