Analyzing Nonresponse Bias Among Kindergarten Teachers in the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES)

• Activity Number: 255
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 2, 2010 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Barbara Lepidus Carlson*+ and Jerry West
• Companies: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
• Keywords: Nonresponse Bias ; Kindergarten Teachers ; Head Start ; FACES

Abstract

FACES follows children from their first year of Head Start through their kindergarten year. Child-level data are collected via child assessments, parent interviews, and teacher child reports. Teacher surveys are used to obtain information about FACES children's classrooms and teachers in Head Start and in kindergarten. During the one or two years that the sampled children are in a Head Start program, response rates among teachers are high; however, when the sampled children disperse to many kindergartens, response rates are lower. This paper (1) describes methods used to increase response rates, such as using prior information on where children will attend kindergarten and (2) explores whether nonresponse bias exists for the kindergarten teacher survey by examining a set of sociodemographic characteristics of the children and schools associated with responding and nonresponding teachers.