Fall 2021 special telephone script and recruitment information collection for on-site coordinators, Region XI

Attachment 26

Fall 2021 Special Telephone Script and Recruitment Information Collection for On-Site Coordinators, Region XI

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Fall 2021 Special Telephone Script And Recruitment Information Collection For on-site coordinators, Region xi

Introduction

My name is ___________________________. I am calling from Mathematica Policy Research to speak with you about your program’s participation in the American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, which we refer to as AIAN FACES. We received authorization from [PROGRAM DIRECTOR] to contact you, and I recently sent you a letter and fact sheet about this study. The Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is sponsoring the study. Did you receive the letter and fact sheet? Have you had a chance to review them? [HAVE LETTER AVAILABLE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION IF PERSON IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE STUDY.]

Your program participated in AIAN FACES in the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020. When we last communicated with you last spring, we did not plan on additional study activities. However, the Office of Head Start is interested in learning about how Head Start families are faring during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we have added data collection in fall 2021 and spring 2022 to focus on family and teacher well-being. This data collection will be completely remote; study staff will not visit your program. Surveys will be conducted on the web or by telephone.

Is this a good time to talk? I want to answer any questions you may have about the fall or spring data collection, and discuss logistics and your role as the on-site coordinator so we can begin planning the data collection. In addition, I want to explain more about how we will select the centers and study participants for the study. This call should take no more than an hour [IF ASKED FOR TYPICAL DURATION, SAY AT LEAST 45 MINUTES BUT UP TO 60 MINUTES.]

[ALLOW TIME FOR QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES, OR DEFER QUESTIONS UNTIL LATER IN THE CALL WHEN THE TOPIC IS PRESENTED.]

While your programs has agreed to continue participating in the study, your participation today in this information gathering is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this information collection is 0970-0151, and it expires on XX/XX/XXXX.

Study Purpose and Basic Activities

I want to briefly review some of the details about the purpose and design of AIAN FACES that we included in the letter. I also want to review some of the activities that will take place in the fall and spring. Please stop me at any time if you have questions.

• AIAN FACES 2015 filled an important information gap and allowed Head Start to better serve the needs of Region XI programs, children, and families. We have decided to continue AIAN FACES to help OHS understand children’s and families’ needs in the 2021-2022 program year, over a year and a half after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The design of the current AIAN FACES grew out of a collaborative process involving Region XI Head Start directors, Region XI Office of Head Start leaders, representatives of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, and tribal child development researchers. These individuals make up the AIAN FACES Workgroup. The AIAN FACES Workgroup is committed to ensuring that the study is responsive to the unique characteristics of Region XI. It is also committed to ensuring that tribal voices are at the forefront in determining how the study will be designed and carried out and deciding how the information from the study will be presented. The AIAN FACES Workgroup will continue to guide the study as it moves from design to data collection and, later, to analysis and reporting.

Data Collection

To give you a little more information on what is involved, in fall 2021, a representative sample of about 800 3- and 4-year-old Head Start children and their families in Region XI will be invited to participate in the AIAN FACES fall 2021 data collection. Your program was randomly selected as one of the 22 Region XI programs asked to participate by providing information about the characteristics, experiences, and outcomes of children and families served by Region XI. We will use a variety of data-gathering approaches to ensure the efficient collection of high quality data (for example, person­al interviews and surveys). We will use methods that are sensitive to and respectful of cultural differences.

• First I’ll describe what will happen this fall.

• All study activities will be conducted remotely.

• As in 2019 and 2020, in each selected center, we will select two teachers for participation. Then, we will select approximately 13 children per teacher and will invite their families to participate.

• We will ask each of the selected teachers to complete a brief questionnaire about the social and emotional development of each AIAN FACES child. This questionnaire, known as the teacher-child report or TCR, will be available both on the web and on paper. Teachers are expected to complete the questionnaires on their own time and will be offered $10 for each completed questionnaire. We will also ask teachers to complete a brief survey about their well-being in the context of the pandemic.

• We will conduct a survey of parents of children participating in the study. As with past rounds of AIAN FACES data collection, we will offer parents a $30 gift card after they complete the survey.

• In spring 2022, we will repeat the parent surveys and TCRs, and also ask the program director, the center directors, and the selected teachers to complete surveys.

• We will need your help as we prepare for data collection. It is important that we establish a close working partnership—you are the [person/people (IF MORE THAN ONE ON-SITE COORDINATOR/COORDINATORS)] who will ensure that our data collection plan conforms to your local requirements. We will work with you to minimize the burden on your program, and we will be respectful of staff, families, children, and the community. Together, we will develop the data collection plan, and then we will submit a copy to your program director.

I’d now like to say a few words about privacy. All information collected during the course of AIAN FACES will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. We will not share the information we collect with anyone outside the study team, including your program staff or parents. We will never identify programs, Head Start staff, children or families, and tribal communities in any data files or reports of the study’s findings. The parent survey includes a few open-ended questions. We may quote responses parents provide to those open-ended questions in order to illustrate a point, but any specific names or places (or any other information that could identify an individual, program, or community) mentioned will be omitted from study reports. Additionally, we may be required by law to report information regarding child abuse or neglect. The study will obtain a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institute of Health to assure participants that the information will be kept private to the fullest extent the law permits.

As we stated in the letter, the information we collect is not for accountability or monitoring purposes. We want to assure you that information will be reported in aggregate form for all of the 22 Region XI Head Start programs that participate. Federal staff will not receive information about specific programs, only for the entire group of programs together. It will not be reported by program, center, or child.

Do you have any questions so far?

Next, I want to confirm and collect some basic information about the centers in your program. [CONFIRM AND/OR UPDATE THE FOLLOWING IN THE AIAN FACES Sample Accrual System OR ON A DATA SHEET FOR LATER DATA ENTRY.]

• CONTACT INFORMATION: Please confirm the following information: On-site coordinator’s full name, address, phone, email address; center directors’ names, physical and mailing addresses, phone numbers, and emails for their centers.

• What is the start and end date for each center for the 2021–2022 program year? [RECORD THIS INFORMATION IN THE CENTER NOTES FIELD.]

[IF AN HONORARIUM IS ALLOWED FOR ON-SITE COORDINATOR(S)] In recognition of this effort, if your program director agrees, you will receive an honorarium in the amount of [IF ONE OSC: $500/ IF 2 OSCs: $250] for the fall 2021 wave of data collection. We expect to offer another, smaller honorarium for helping us in spring 2022. The honorarium for this help will be in the form of a check.

We assume that most of your work can be completed outside regular work hours and therefore will not interfere with your normal duties. You will be responsible for:

• Working with me to identify eligible teachers and children to be sampled for the study.

• Helping us obtain parental consent and track the receipt of consent forms.

• Helping navigate the continuations of the tribal approval process

Finally, I would like to explain the method we are using to choose the teachers and children we will ask to participate in the study.

• Unlike in the fall of 2019, this fall we will conduct the teacher and child sampling remotely. We will need to collect a lot of information from you about classrooms, teachers, center staff, and families. Since it is a lot of information and some of it is private, we ask you to use a secure file sharing website called Box to share this information with us. Will you have access to a computer and internet so that you can share this information with us securely? If necessary, this information could be provided over the phone.

• TEACHER SELECTION: We will randomly select approximately two/four [LATTER IF ONE CENTER PROGRAM, FOUR OR MORE CLASSES] teachers in each center. If a center has [two/four] or fewer classrooms, we will include all of them. I will ask for a list of all teachers and home visitor caseloads associated with each center. If you have children receiving services but no instruction, we will need to know that as well.

• CHILD SELECTION: After we have chosen teachers for the sample, we will randomly select children to participate in the study. I will ask for a list of the names, dates of birth, enrollment date into preschool Head Start, whether the child participated in Early Head Start, funding source(s), and mode of instruction received for all children assigned to the selected teacher or home visitor caseloads. We will select approximately 13 children per teacher or home visitor and will invite these children and their families to participate in the study. The nonselected children may be used as backups if the parental consent rates fall short of targets.

Consent Gathering

Once we select the teachers and children for the study, we will need to distribute consent materials to families.

• How do you currently communicate with families?

• How do you share forms and other hardcopy materials with families?

• We will generate a packet of information, including a consent form, for each selected family. What do you think it the best way for us to get these materials to the families?

• We want to make sure parents are able to ask questions and talk about AIAN FACES with a study team member. If we were to set up a virtual information session to explain the study to selected families, would you be able to share the link with the families? If families in your program do not have access to the internet, we’d be happy to conduct this information session over the phone. This would allow time with parents and allow us to directly answer any questions they may have. About what percentage of your families have access to the internet?

Communication with Teachers

We will have a packet of information to share with the selected teachers. We will also ask those teachers to complete a questionnaire about each AIAN FACES child in their class or classes, as well as one brief survey in the fall. Teachers will be able to complete both surveys either on paper or via the web.

• Are the teachers at your program working remotely? If so, how frequently (if ever) do they visit their center?

• What is the best way for us to communicate with teachers?

• Do the teachers at your program have program email addresses?

• Are you able to provide teacher email addresses to us so that we can communicate with them directly?

Do you have any questions at this point? If questions or concerns do come up, please feel free to contact me at [LIAISON PHONE] or [EMAIL].

Now that we have laid the groundwork for the tasks ahead, please tell me which is the easiest way to reach you—by phone or email? I am happy to discuss the study with you at any time; please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. [CONFIRM THAT THIS PERSON IS THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE YOUR REGULAR CONTACT].

• I want to find out about your availability to follow-up on approval and craft the data collection plan for your program just prior to data collection next fall. When is the best time to reach you? Do you have any dates that you will not be available?

I now want to discuss tribal approval. [REFER TO TRIBAL REQUIREMENTS MENTIONED BY PROGRAM DIRECTOR IN INITIAL PHONE CALL.] In terms of next steps, what would you recommend to ensure that we are able to meet tribal requirements before the start of data collection in fall 2021?

Thank you for participating in this important study. We appreciate your assistance, and I look forward to continuing to work with you and your program.