Case Study: Conducting a Head Start Needs Assessment for the CT Office of Early Childhood
The Connecticut Head Start Collaboration Office (HSCO), within the Office of Early Childhood, facilitates partnerships between Head Start agencies and other state and local entities to improve policies and practices that benefit low-income children and their families. One of the responsibilities of the HSCO, as specified in the federal Head Start Act, is to conduct a needs assessment of all Head Start agencies in the state, and to use the results of this assessment to inform their strategic plan.
In the summer of 2023, the CT HSCO contracted with CTData to conduct this needs assessment, including creating the survey, analyzing the responses, and compiling a report of the results.
The CT HSCO shared the findings from this needs assessment with the CT Head Start Association and has used them to guide their 5-year strategic plan for supporting Connecticut’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs and the low-income children and families they serve.
Developing the Needs Assessment
We worked in close collaboration with Karen Pascale, Director of the CT HSCO, to develop the survey items. While many items were adapted from Head Start needs assessments that the office had conducted in the past, we:
clarified and simplified item wording,
suggested effective response scales and formats, and
developed new items on areas of current concern.
We also created a user-friendly online survey interface using the Qualtrics survey platform.
Results
Twenty-two of the state’s 23 Head Start or Early Head Start grant recipients completed the needs assessment in August of 2023, an exceptional 96% response rate. The survey provided valuable information on the strengths and needs of CT’s Head Start agencies in a variety of areas, including their partnerships with other organizations, operational and staffing challenges, social-emotional supports for children, child screening practices, family services, staff professional development, and use of data.
The survey generated a file with 291 columns of data, which we analyzed using the open-source statistical computing software R.
Our full report of the needs assessment results can be viewed on OEC’s website.
We share some highlights below:
1) Supporting the mental health and well-being of children and families was the top priority area for the HSCO according to Head Start and Early Head Start program directors, followed by staff mental health and well-being, and workforce development. The figure below shows the full range of responses to each priority area.
2) Ninety-one percent of Head Start or Early Head Start program directors said that their program had “moderate” or “high” need for more professional development on behavior management, and 86% expressed “moderate” or “high” need for professional development on mental and behavioral health.
3) Eighty-two percent of Head Start or Early Head Start program directors agreed that it is challenging to run their program because it is hard to hire and retain qualified staff.
4) Across Connecticut, as of August 2023 there were a total of 113 classroom teacher vacancies in Head Start and Early Head Start programs. There were also 548 children on wait-lists for Head Start slots and 701 children on wait-lists for Early Head Start slots.
5) 100% of Head Start or Early Head Start program directors agreed that it has been challenging to hire new staff because applicants did not have the required training or credentials.
For More Information
For more results from the CT Head Start Needs Assessment, view our full report here.
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