CBPR with Tribal Communities on a National Scale: Planning for the First-Ever National Study of American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Programs

Nationally, about 35,575 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and their families are served by Head Start, a program designed to improve school readiness and child development. Just over half of the AI/AN children and families are served by 146 Tribally run Head Start programs. While we have a wealth of information about Head Start children and families in general, we have only very limited information about those who attend Tribal Head Start programs, which includes both Native and non-Native children. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is the premier source of information on Head Start programs and the children and families they serve.  The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and Families has conducted FACES every three years since 1997 and uses these national data to inform critical decisions about Head Start policy and practice.  However, to date, Tribal Head Start programs have not been included in FACES because of concerns that the measures and methods used in FACES may not be appropriate for Tribal Head Start programs, children, and families, and because of the logistical challenges of sampling this culturally diverse population of politically sovereign nations.  As a result, we have almost no data to document the needs of the AI/AN children and families served by these programs, nor to inform policies and practices for addressing those needs. 

Tribal Head Start leaders have argued that by being left out of this flagship Head Start research enterprise, the needs of their programs, children, and families remain invisible.  Without representative data, Tribal leaders are in a weak position to advocate for the policies and practices necessary to serve their children and families, and for the resources needed to implement those policies and practices.  In the current paper, we will discuss the intensive collaborative planning process that has put Tribal Head Start leaders, researchers, and federal staff at the same table to design the first national study of AI/AN Tribal Head Start programs in the lower 48 United States and Alaska.  This session will outline the participatory research process on national scale with AI/AN tribal communities – the successes, challenges, and solutions.