More than Meets the Eye: Head Start Programs, Participants, Families, and Staff in 2005

This is the eighth brief in a series of Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) analyses of Head Start Program Information Report data. All Head Start programs are required to complete the Program Information Report (PIR) on an annual basis. Based on information reported through the PIR, this policy brief describes the characteristics of Head Start children and families and the services provided to them during the 2004-2005 program year. The data covers 3- and 4-year-old served in the Head Start preschool program; children under age 3 and pregnant women who are served in Early Head Start; children birth to age 5 served in the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program; and children served by the American Indian and Alaskan Native Head Start programs. There are several changes to the PIR this year. Racial categories were rearranged to reflect that "Hispanic" is an ethnicity rather than a race. In addition, Head Start programs can now mark "unspecified" when they do not know the participant's home language or when the parent declined to report it. Also, for the first time in 2005, the programs could report the number of child development staff members with an associate's degree who are pursuing a bachelor's degree.