Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Study

The MSHS Study is a nationally representative study commissioned by the U.S. Office of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families that will describe the characteristics and experiences of the children and families who enroll in MSHS and the practices and services of the MSHS programs that serve them. The MSHS Study draws heavily on the Design for MSHS Survey Report (2011) and is informed by the current context of key policy and programmatic issues and broader issues impacting the lives of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families. The MSHS Study has two components: a Program/Center component and a Classroom, Family, Child component that are based on distinct samples. The first component is off-site and consists of mailed surveys that will be sent to the universe of MSHS program directors and a representative subset of center directors to provide information on program and center operations. The second component consists of onsite data collection - including classroom observations, surveys with teachers and assistant teachers, parent interviews, teacher and parent child reports, and direct child assessments - with a nationally-representative sample of centers, classrooms, families and children. Once data are collected, the study will address a set of research questions that can be summarized into three broad categories: (1) What are the characteristics of MSHS programs, families, and children? (2) What services do MSHS programs provide, what instructional and language practices are used, and what is the quality of MSHS classrooms? and (3) What are the associations between MSHS characteristics and child/family well-being?