Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office 2022 Needs ...

Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office 2022 Needs Assessment Report

For Submission to

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Administration for Children and Families

Office of Head Start

February 2023

Prepared by:

Early Childhood Innovation Center 5306 Holmes, Kansas City, MO 64110 Michael B. Abel, Ph.D., Associate Director Nicholas Bollinger, Research Assistant Satyasree Golla, Senior Research Assistant

This publication was made possible by Grant Number 07CD004080-02 from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Curators of the University of Missouri.

Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office 2022 Needs Assessment Report

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4 Needs Assessment Process ............................................................................................................ 4 Results of the Cognitive Mapping Session ..................................................................................... 5 Results of the Needs Assessment Survey ...................................................................................... 5

Program Characteristics........................................................................................................... 5 Compensation .......................................................................................................................... 6

Minimum Wage ................................................................................................................. 6 Compensation Supports .................................................................................................... 7 State Assistance for Staff Retention and Compensation Activities ................................... 7 Federal Assistance for Staff Retention and Compensation Activities ............................... 8 Staffing Shortages .................................................................................................................... 8 Hiring Challenges ............................................................................................................... 9 Competition ....................................................................................................................... 9 Impact of COVID-19 ......................................................................................................... 10 Classroom Closures .......................................................................................................... 10 Partnerships and Strategic Planning ...................................................................................... 11 Extent of Involvement...................................................................................................... 11 Diversity Strategies .......................................................................................................... 13 Background Information About Head Start Programs in Missouri.............................................. 14 Fiscal Information ............................................................................................................ 14 Geographic Information................................................................................................... 15 Background Information About Missouri's Head Start Workforce ............................................. 15 Size of Missouri's Head Start Workforce ......................................................................... 15 Qualifications of Missouri's Head Start Workforce ......................................................... 15 Missouri's Head Start Workforce Demographics............................................................. 19 Staff Retention in Missouri's Head Start Workforce ....................................................... 20 Discussion..................................................................................................................................... 20 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 21 Appendix A. Cognitive Mapping Session ..................................................................................... 22 Appendix B. Professional Designations of Missouri's Early Childhood Workforce .................... 26

1|Page

Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office 2022 Needs Assessment Report

Table of Tables

Table 1. Table 2. Table 3. Table 4. Table 5. Table 6. Table 7. Table 8. Table 9. Table 10. Table 11. Table 12. Table 13. Table 14. Table 15. Table 16. Table 17. Table 18.

Meeting Minimum Wage Requirements .................................................................. 6 Number of Prospective Employees Lost in the Past 12 Months .............................. 9 Employees Who Have Left Head Start Grantee Agencies ...................................... 10 Impact of Vaccine Mandates on Staffing Levels and School District Partnerships. 10 Classrooms Closed and Reopened in 2022 by Agency ........................................... 10 Extent of Involvement with Workforce and Career Development Resources ...... 11 Persons in Missouri's Head Start Workforce .......................................................... 15 Qualifications of Missouri's Head Start Preschool Teachers .................................. 16 Qualifications of Missouri's Head Start Infant and Toddler Teachers .................... 17 Qualifications of Missouri's Head Start Home Visitors .......................................... 17 Qualifications of Missouri's Head Start Family Services Staff ................................ 17 Qualifications of Missouri's Head Start Education Managers/Coordinators.......... 17 Qualifications of the Head Start Workforce by Professional Designation.............. 18 Demographics of Missouri's Head Start Workforce .............................................. 19 Code Book ? Idea Mapping from Head Start Focus Group Session ........................ 23 Professional Designations for the Early Childhood Education Workforce ............ 26 Professional Designations for the Family Services Workforce .............................. 27 Professional Designations for the Home Visiting Workforce ................................ 28

Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Figure 7. Figure 8.

Table of Figures

Partnerships and Compensation Support ................................................................ 7 State Relief Funding Streams Utilized by Grantees ................................................. 8 Federal Relief Funding Streams Utilized by Grantees .............................................. 8 Total Number of Staff per Agency ............................................................................ 9 Levels of Partnerships ............................................................................................ 12 Strategies Used to Recruit Diverse Staff ................................................................ 13 Centrality of Major Concepts ................................................................................. 24 Centrality of All Concepts ....................................................................................... 25

2|Page

Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office 2022 Needs Assessment Report

Acknowledgments

The authors thank everyone who participated in this needs assessment process, especially those who contributed the information in this report.

We appreciate the guidance of the Region VII Office of Head Start and the Office of Head Start.

We especially thank the directors of Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Missouri who completed the needs assessment survey and those who participated in the mapping session at the 2022 Region VII Head Start

Association Conference. We are grateful to Donna Veatch, Director of Executive Services for the Region VII Head Start Association, for making the mapping session accommodations.

This information will guide the Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office in its role of strengthening collaboration within Missouri on behalf of the Head Start programs and the children and families who they serve.

3|Page

Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office 2022 Needs Assessment Report

Introduction

To fulfill the requirements of the Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, the Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office (MHSSCO) has engaged in various processes to annually assess the needs of Head Start grantees and delegates in Missouri. Results of the needs assessment are used to better address issues faced by young children (birth to school entry) and their families with low income. For the 2022 needs assessment, the MHSSCO chose to continue its focus on Workforce Development and Partnerships within State Systems priority areas. It builds on the information collected in Federal Fiscal Years 2018 through 2021 to address the needs of Missouri Head Start programs.1 MHSSCO will update its five-year strategic plan to guide its role in supporting Missouri Head Start programs based on these findings.

The Needs Assessment Process

A collaborative systematic approach was applied in the development of the 2022 Head Start Needs Assessment and its implementation. The MHSSCO and UMKC-IHD staff worked closely together in the planning and delivery of the process. The 2022 Needs Assessment activities included six steps:

1. Interagency Agreement. MHSSCO contracted with UMKC-IHD to provide technical support in the completion of the Needs Assessment for Fiscal Year 2022, under the leadership of Dr. Michael B. Abel, Associate Director. UMKC-IHD was selected because of its capacity and history in filling numerous roles for technical support, evaluation, applied research, and community service for early childhood initiatives in Missouri.

2. Revision of the Needs Assessment Process. MHSSCO and UMKC-IHD: a) shared a preliminary needs assessment outline with the Missouri Head Start Advisory Committee to solicit its feedback; b) determined an approach to collect quantitative and qualitative data on key areas of focus, and c) finalized the protocol.

3. Cognitive Mapping Session. UMKC-IHD conducted a cognitive mapping session on October 26, 2022, with 14 Missouri Head Start grantee administrators, coordinators, and MHSSO staff to identify current factors for the development of the Needs Assessment Survey. Each participant completed a concept map that identified facilitators and barriers to the stated goal: "Programs have qualified staff for all roles." Data collected from the cognitive mapping session were analyzed using FC Mapper2 to aggregate and interpret the results. Findings were reported to the MHSSCO staff (see Appendix A).

4. Survey Development and Distribution. Using findings from the cognitive mapping session, MHSSCO and UMKC-IHD staff collectively drafted the Needs Assessment Survey on November 29, 2022. UMKC-IHD prepared an online version of the survey to be administered through

1 Throughout this document, "Head Start" includes Early Head Start unless Early Head Start is referenced separately.

2Kosko, B. (1986). Fuzzy cognitive maps. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 24(1), 65?75. 4|Page

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download