Appendix 23. FAQs for Teachers and Assistant Teachers

APPENDIX 23

FAQS FOR TEACHERS AND ASSISTANT TEACHERS

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for
Teachers and Assistant Teachers

This document has answers to some questions that teachers and assistant teachers might have about the MSHS Study.

Q. What is the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Study?

A. The Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) Study will collect information from MSHS programs, centers and families from all over the United States. The MSHS Study will describe the characteristics of MSHS services and the families that receive these services. This information will help MSHS programs to improve their services.

Q. Who is conducting the MSHS Study?

A. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, sponsors the study. This is the government agency that oversees MSHS. The study is being conducted by Abt Associates and its partners, The Catholic University of America and Westat. Abt Associates is working with MSHS directors, Office of Head Start leadership, and child development and MSHS experts to make sure that the study meets the needs of MSHS programs.

Q. Who will collect data for the study?

A. Sometime between spring 2017 and spring 2018, a small study team will visit your MSHS center for a few days in order to do assessments with children who were randomly selected to be part of the study and whose parents have given permission for them to be in the study. The team will also conduct interviews with parents, conduct surveys with teachers and assistant teachers, and observe classrooms.

Q. What will you ask teachers and assistant teachers to do?

A. We will invite teachers to complete a survey and some reports about the children in your classroom. The survey will ask about yourself and your experiences with MSHS. We will also ask teachers to complete reports about what children know and do, for up to eight children in your classroom. Teachers will receive a $30 check for their time completing this survey and $5 for each teacher child report. We will also observe classrooms to help us learn about the classroom setting. These observations will take a few hours, and for each classroom that we observe, the teacher will receive a $25 check.

We are asking assistant teachers to complete only a brief survey. This survey will ask about yourself, and your experiences with MSHS. Assistant teachers will receive a $15 check for their time completing this survey.

Q. How long will this take?

A. For teachers, the survey will take about 40 minutes, and each child report will take about 10 minutes. For assistant teachers, the survey will take about 20 minutes.

Q. How did you pick classrooms and children for the study?

A. Classrooms were randomly selected from all classrooms in this MSHS center. Some children in those classrooms were then randomly selected. These children and their parents were invited to be in the study. Only children whose parents give permission will be included in the study.

Q. When will the study take place?

A. The study begins in spring 2017 and ends in spring 2018.

Q. Do I have to participate in the study?

A. No, you do not have to participate in the study. We hope you will be part of the MSHS Study, but if you decide not to participate it will not affect you or your child’s MSHS services.

Q. Will personal information and survey responses be shared with MSHS staff?

A. No, your personal information and survey responses will not be shared with other MSHS staff in your program. Your survey responses will be shared with ACF, and will be stored in a data warehouse for other authorized researchers to access, but only after we remove information that can be used to identify you. The information collected by the MSHS study team will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. To protect the privacy of respondents, we have applied for a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health. We can use this to refuse by law to give information that may identify participants.

Q. Who do I contact if I have questions about the MSHS Study?

A. Please contact [ONSITE COORDINATOR NAME] with any questions you have about the study. You can also send questions to the MSHS study team by emailing XXX@XXX, or calling XXX-XXX-XXXX toll free. If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a study participant, please call the Abt Institutional Review Board toll-free at 1-877-520-6835.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: The referenced collection of information 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 collection is xxxx-xxxx and it expires XX/XX/XXXX. If you have comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: Abt Associates, 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge MA 02138 Attention: Linda Caswell.