A Qualitative Assessment of Homeless Families’

Experiences in Pursuit of Preschool Enrollment

Chuck Kieffer, Ph.D.Cloudburst Consulting Group

National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth

Kansas City, MO -- October 28, 2014

Session Objectives

1. Review of HUD-funded Small Research Grant on Homeless Families, Preschool Enrollment, and Housing Stability

2. Exploration of key themes / findings from research

3. Discussion of practice and policy implications

Research Context

This study was one of several small research grants supported by HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research, directly linked to its major national study on Family Housing Options

Family Options Study: The Impact of Housing and Services Interventions on Homeless Families -- Over 2,200 homeless families in 12 communities randomly assigned to one of four housing treatment options (voucher, TH, rapid rehousing, “usual care”)

Research Motivation

Over 127,000 children under age 6 counted in homeless shelters in 2012 (AHAR)

Extensive prior research has established importance of early childhood education for later success/achievement

Only 16% of preschool-aged children in homeless families are enrolled in early educational settings National policies have not yet helped remove barriers that

homeless families face in enrolling children in early education programs

Research Significance

Little prior examination of the issues and challenges associated with increasing participation of children from homeless, recently homeless, or at-risk families in preschool opportunities

Results may help inform efforts to provide the diverse social, emotional, and instrumental supports needed to enhance preschool participation for homeless, recently re-housed, and/or at-risk families

Results may help in advancing systems practice and policy that more effectively promotes both preschool participation and housing stability

How do homeless families describe their experience in pursuit of preschool enrollment?

What challenges and experiences do recently homeless families face in accessing early childhood education for preschool-aged children?

What can we learn from parental reflections on facilitative factors and/or barriers that, as practitioners and policy leaders, we can apply to support increasing success in preschool participation?

Research

Objectives

Research Design -- Targeted Participants and Recruitment

• Households currently enrolled in the national Family Options Study with preschool- aged children at the time of study

• 2 geographic sites (Atlanta, GA & New Haven/Bridgeport, Connecticut)

Participant Criteria

• Round 1 – Multiple mailings to eligible participants by Family Options Study lead entity

• Round 2 – Active follow up phone calls, emails, and mailings by research team

• Provision of gift certificates for local food/ department stores as incentive, at time of interview

Participant Recruitment

Research Design -- Data Collection

• Round 1: Focus groups and individual interviews

• Round 2: In-depth individual follow-up interviews

• Environmental scan and assessment• Analysis of Family Options Study

baseline data

Procedures

• Open ended discussion framework • Semi-structured focus group and

interview guides• Semi-structured follow-up interview

guides

Data Collection Methods

and Measures

Research Design -- Data Analysis and Reporting

• Modified “Grounded Theory” Approach

• Iterative Coding / Analysis of Key Themes

Data Analysis Methods

• Non-quantitative reporting on key themes

• Inclusion of illustrative excerpts

Data Reporting

Where We Are Now in the Research Process

Literature Review and Study Design

Data Collection: Round 1

Initial Data Analysis: Round 1

and Environmental

Scan

Data Collection: Round 2Full Data Analysis

Report-Writing and

Dissemination

Demographic Variable Frequency

Percentage

GenderFemaleMale

RaceAfrican American Caucasian American Indian Unknown

Age20-2930-3940-4950-59

Marital StatusMarriedSingle-Never MarriedSeparated or Divorced

Highest Education CompletedLess than grade 12 High school diploma or GED Some college, Associate Degree, Technical Certificate Bachelor Degree

Housing Status (immediately prior to entering shelter and enrolling in Family Options Study)

Staying in a house or apartment paying rentStaying with a friend or relative and not paying rentTransitional housing programPaying to stay in a hotelDomestic violence shelterEmergency ShelterLiving in a vehicle

Financial InformationReceived Food StampsEnrolled in WICEnrolled in MedicaidEnrolled in the state children’s health insurance program

 

 271 22231 15661 1198 14581  16512121 28202214 

 96%04% 79%07%10%04% 54%21%21%04% 04%68%28% 50%18%28%04%  56%18%04%07%04%07%04% 100%71%79%50% 

Demographic Descriptors of Study Participants

Results: Major Themes Emerging from Parental Reflections and Dialogue

Parental Perspectives on Early Learning

and the Preschool

Environment

Parental Views on Preschool

Attributes and Other Motivating

Factors

Impact of Housing Stability

on Preschool Enrollment

Barriers to Preschool

Enrollment and Participation

Factors that Facilitate Access

to Preschool

Role of Homeless

Programs in Support of

Preschool Search and Selection

Parental Perspectives on Early Learning and the Preschool Environment Over 60% of parents had enrolled children in a preschool or

Head Start program

Most were relatively happy with children’s preschool settings “I need to make sure that my kids were learning. I want them to

be exposed to the field trips, which they do two a month at Head Start . . . The learning process is in itself - them learning, like me being able to witness and see through the work that they sent home, that he was writing spelling words, and learning words and knowing how to add, subtract.” (Camara, age 35)

“What I liked most about it was (the) teacher, herself, because I could trust her . . . she would just let me know when (my son) needed to get back on track and when he needed some extra discipline at home”. (Madison, age 41)

Parental Perspectives on Early Learning and the Preschool Environment Parents reflected a notably high level of

investment in the quality of learning in the preschool environment “I liked how they took care of their students. And

there was really a lot of one on one with the kids...I [liked] how the teachers interacted with the kids.” (Riley, age 26)

“Make sure that they have a record of actually doing something with the kids. …look at the education. What do they teach them? What’s their curriculum for the day?” (Naomi, age 23)

“I just want [my kids] to...know that education's important.” (Aria, age 42)

Parental Perspectives on Early Learning and the Preschool Environment Participants widely felt that preschool was

important in assisting their children in achieving positive transitions to kindergarten and later learning

“I really do see a big part of it playing in my kids' lives, because I do it here and then they go to school and learn the same things that I'm teaching them…so I see a difference with kids that don't go to Pre-K and kids that do go to Pre-K.” (Brooklyn, age 27)

“She’s never been to preschool. She just – she was put in kindergarten… [which] she had to repeat because she didn’t have that preschool experience. So this is her second year in kindergarten, hopefully not her third.” (Zoe, age 23)

Parental Perspectives on Early Learning and the Preschool Environment Parental reports of dissatisfaction with

preschool choice were, in several cases, linked to visible absence of emphasis on learning “I felt like she was getting more over the weekends

here at home as opposed to five days there. I didn't feel like -- like I would ask her what did you do today? Oh, ‘We played, and we painted, and we took a nap, and we ate lunch, and we came home’ . . . I don't see how any of the kids took away a lot from last year in the Pre-K with them. (Addison, age 26).

Parental Perspectives on Early Learning and the Preschool Environment

Parental reports of satisfaction with preschool choice linked to experience of support from preschool staff “It felt like they needed to be around other people

to maybe get something they weren't getting from me . . . And with the daycare that I'm at now, I really feel I get that. They supported me for Thanksgiving. They've supported me for Christmas. They've just been a stand-by-me team from [the time I was] moving into the shelter [providing me with social support and resources]. (Brooklyn, age 27)

Preschool Attributes and Other Motivating Factors in Preschool Choice

Parental priorities when selecting preschool included: Location and Proximity to Home Availability/Accessibility of Transportation Educational Quality of Settings Costs and Availability of Subsidy Sense of Safety and Security Availability of Extended Hours Location and Proximity to Work

Preschool Attributes and Other Motivating Factors in Preschool Choice

Importance of support for participation in workforce “So really it was just I needed her to be

somewhere so I could look for work and get things done. So that's really why I put her in preschool” (Tiffany, age 23).

“I wanted her to be in school because I knew I had to get a job” (Riley, age 26)

Impact of Housing Stability on Preschool Enrollment For many parents, frequent moves meant switching preschools and

having to go through the search and enrollment process again

Some parents made an effort to keep their child[ren] in the same school throughout residential moves – even if traveling long distances

Only a few parents made housing choices based on availability of preschool “ I found out about the school before I found out about the house. . .

Wherever they started that’s where I wanted to keep him. So I wanted to keep him in that school. . . I wanted to live in an area that’s very close [to that school] and that I wouldn’t have to drive a long ways.” (Khloe, age 40)

Most parents – understandably -- made locating housing their priority and focused on preschool after that had been accomplished “Being in between shelters and everything else . . . I wasn’t really thinking

about preschool. I was thinking about finding a house . . . A home for us” (Zoe, age 23)

Parent-Identified Barriers to Preschool Enrollment

Long waiting lists delayed opportunity

Complicated processes for enrolling and/or accessing open slots (e.g., lotteries, waiting lists, etc.) “They keep you on the waiting list up until they do

the lottery over, and then once they do it over, even if you’re like number two and you didn’t get in, you have to reapply all over again” (Tiffany, Age 23)

Transience complicated challenges of timing of program entry

Parent-Identified Barriers to Preschool Enrollment Insufficient numbers of available subsidized slots –

complicated by issues of location of settings where slots were available or desired “[My daughter] loved the school. She came home

excited every time. I liked, you know, the teachers were very nice. I liked the way they teach them. How everything went, it was just really nice. So the only thing was, it was very far. So it was just me having to catch a bus and then still walk down a long hill and around the corner just to get her to school every day. But I really wanted her to go there. (Naomi, age 23)

Need for access to transportation for sites with available slots

Parent-Identified Barriers to Preschool Enrollment

Absence of quality of information shared and/or outreach by early education providers “They [elementary school] have Pre-K slots but you

have to [know about them] . . . And the only way you would know is if you call the school, because of course they don’t send no information home.” (Kaylee, Age 29)

Preschool programs unresponsive or inaccessible to contact “Basically either the information was outdated, or it

wasn’t for a particular area, or you didn’t meet a qualification for this or that. Everything was a runaround” (Tracy, age 26)

Parent-Identified Barriers to Preschool Enrollment

Participants reported receiving little support from homeless service providers and shelters -- needing to locate preschool on their own

Lack of support from extended family networks little help with logistics of transportation and/or access

to service

Facilitative Factors Assisting in Preschool Enrollment

Personal qualities of persistence and strength of personal commitment to identifying high quality educational programming “It's all about what you do. You got all your paperwork, and

right there you talk to the people...so you go in. You try and do business. You got all your documentation, as far as birth certificates, social security, income tax, lease—all that—they're gonna get you in that day. They would rather work with people that got their stuff together than half of it.” (Camara, age 35)

When asked what advice they would provide to others in a similar situation, participants responded with a consistent theme -- be persistent, do the research, pull your own documentation together, visit schools before enrolling, and don’t give up.

Facilitative Factors Assisting in Preschool Enrollment Geographic proximity of the school of choice to home location,

and subsequent absence of difficulty with transportation

Co-location of Pre-K (either with daycare for younger children or with primary school for older children) “They were in daycare, but that daycare was, kind of, transitional.

So by them having a Georgia Lotto Program already in that particular daycare [site] that I was sending them to, as [my child] turned three – they just bumped him right into it.” (Tracy, age 23)

Access to accurate/updated resources directories

Access to centralized waiting lists and referral systems “It…shows you what’s available . . . They tell you, like, what

schools are available . . . They help you with Care for Kids. They help you with a lot of things” (Avery, age 21)

Role of Homeless Programs and Services in Supporting Preschool Pursuit

Few parents reported receiving any meaningful support from homeless programs or service providers regarding preschool placement opportunities for their children Homeless Service Providers that did provide

information on preschool often provided information on programs in the immediate vicinity of the shelter

Only one participant reported that accessing preschool was discussed as part of their case management plan

Role of Homeless Programs and Services in Supporting Preschool Pursuit

Striking absence of reference to Head Start outreach by study participants Few parents could articulate the differences

between Head Start and Pre-K

Virtually no outreach regarding early childhood education attributed to McKinney-Vento Education Liaisons

Virtually no outreach by other early childhood programs

Implications for Policy and Practice Integrate more thoughtful attention to

preschool access in shelter case management protocols

Increase shelter in-reach and /or consumer outreach focused on early childhood opportunities:

Head Start and other early childhood providers McKinney-Vento liaisons

Cultivate use of peer-to-peer supports in information sharing

Implications for Policy and Practice

Increase investment in building consumer knowledge/ awareness of preschool options, opportunities, and requirements for enrollment

Increase systems’ knowledge of consumer need via expanded data development and data sharing strategies

Implications for Policy and Practice Increase collaborative partnerships between

homeless service providers and educators Mobilize cross-systems strategies for minimizing barriers to

preschool enrollment

Address systemic barriers to preschool enrollment (e.g., increase transportation support, access to subsidies, and preferences/set-asides for limited slots) Increase use of homeless preferences in state and federally

funded early childhood initiatives (e.g., CCDF slots, Preschool Development slots, IDEA Part C, MIECHV)

Develop and provide technical assistance /training for early childhood providers on needs of homeless families and importance of increasing accessibility of systemic supports and resources

Implications for Policy and Practice Develop strategies that help reduce the impact of

housing mobility Porting of subsidy slots Post-shelter follow-up Provide information on resources in “new” housing

locations

Include early childhood providers as participants in community-wide coordinated assessment and intake strategies

Increase participation of early childhood providers as partners in community planning

Discussion and Questions

Audience Reflections on Results

Audience Reflections on Recommendations for Response

Contact Information

Chuck Kieffer Cloudburst Consulting Group

8400 Corporate Drive -- Suite 550Landover, MD 20785chuck.kieffer@cloudburstgroup.com

Please Note: The study reported on in this presentation was supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research (Grant # H-21616RG)