Family Household Survey

In December of 2022 we launched the latest statewide Family Household Survey. This survey is part of our Strengths and Needs Assessment research funded by the Preschool Development Grant. It was developed in partnership with our contracted research partners at Portland State University’s Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services (PSU CCF) and OSLC Developments Inc. (ODI).

Key details:

• We invited all parents/caregivers of children age birth to five years in Oregon to participate in this survey
• It was a 15-minute survey about families’ experiences with and needs for early learning and care services
• Surveys were available in 6 languages: Chinese, English, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese
• PSU CCF and ODI worked with community-based organizations to connect with families across Oregon
• The survey was open from December 1, 2022– January 31, 2023
• Parents/caregivers received a $20 gift card to thank them for completing the survey (1 per household)

The survey is now closed. We thank all who participated.

PDG COVID Provider Report

The COVID-19 pandemic brought widespread disruptions, closures, and chaos to early learning and care services and systems designed to support family well-being. Across the United States and in Oregon, there remains a critical shortage of child care, as programs have failed to reopen as pandemic-era health restrictions have lifted.

To understand how state and local agencies could better support Oregon-based child care programs and help them remain open during public health emergencies or other situations that create pressure for closures, our team of researchers at Portland State University (PSU) Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services (CCF) and OSLC Developments, Inc. (ODI) was engaged to conduct a study.

The goal of this study was to learn from home-based child care providers who made the decision to close permanently during the COVID-19 pandemic and understand why they closed, and what, if any, supports might have enabled them to stay open and continue to serve families with young children.

Home-based providers represent an important component of the child care system and provide much-needed care for many of Oregon’s families who identify as Black, Indigenous, and Other Persons of Color; these home-based providers also are a vital source of care to many rural Oregonians.

Further, home-based providers may be less likely than center-based programs to have cash reserves and other resources that might help them stay in business during emergencies such as that posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To learn more, read the executive summary or the entire report:

In 2019, the Early Learning Division received a one-year Preschool Development Grant Birth through 5 (PDG B-5) from the Administration for Children and Families, in coordination with the Department of Education.

While the PDG B-5 grant supports several state-level planning activities, the primary focus is on a statewide needs assessment to determine the current strengths and challenges of services and supports for families with children from birth through five years. This report is guided by the five-year statewide vision and system goals outlined in Raise Up Oregon, and this data will help inform planning for expansion and improvement of Oregon’s early learning system.

The Early Learning Division contracted with Portland State University’s Center for the Improvement of Child and Family Services and OSLC Developments, Inc. (ODI) to conduct the Oregon PDG B-5 Strengths Needs Assessment. Below is a summary of phase 1 and phase 2 activities.

Phase 1:

Phase 1 of the project provided a county- and state-level collection of 53 key indicators related to understanding the early learning system, including service provided, child care access and availability, early childhood workforce characteristics, and community, family, and child-level risk and resiliency factors. For more information, see “Oregon Preschool Development Grant Strengths & Needs Assessment.”

Phase 2:

A key goal of phase 2 of the PDG B-5 Strengths & Needs Assessment was to better understand the early care and education system experiences, challenges, and hopes of Oregon families with young children. In particular, the project aimed to determine family identified barriers to and gaps in access to high-quality, affordable, and culturally responsive early childhood care and education opportunities.

• PDG B-5 Household Survey: This survey by phone or the web collected information from a statewide representation sample of Oregonians with children ages 0 to 5. The purpose of the survey was to gather information on:

1. 1. Current experiences in early childhood care and education. The types, frequencies, and hours of early childhood care and education services utilized by families in the past year.
   2. Satisfaction and challenges with finding and using early childhood care and education. Families’ satisfaction and challenges with finding early childhood care and education services for their child as well as whether the services obtained were culturally responsive to the family’s background and/or home language.
   3. Rates of suspension and expulsions from early childhood care experienced by families and reasons for these experiences.
   4. Developmental supports for children at home. The frequency and types of learning activities that families engaged in at home with the children aged 0 to 5 years.

• Family Listening Sessions: Using a community-based participatory research approach, the PDG research team provided resources to 13 different community-based organizations to help design and conduct family listening sessions, and to help interpret and share findings. Twenty listening sessions and/or interviews were conducted, including 151 families.
• Early Learning Map of Oregon (ELMO): Data from phase 1 of the PDG B-5 Strengths & Needs Assessment was used for the creation of the Early Learning Map of Oregon (ELMO), an interactive planning tool. This map aims to support Oregon’s early learning partners in their work on planning and improving early care and education in their region. See “Early Learning Map of Oregon (ELMO)” tab to view the tool and for more information.

For more information, see documents in the “Reports” tab.

Reports

Individual Family Listening Session Reports

The Early Learning Division would like to recognize the significant and valuable work by the PDG research team at Portland State University’s Center for the Improvement of Child and Family Services (PSU) and OSLC Developments, Inc. (ODI). We thank (in alphabetical order): Mackenzie Burton (PSU), Beth Green (PSU), Nicole Lauzus (PSU), Alicia Miao (ODI), Lindsey Patterson (PSU), Katherine Pears (ODI), Deena Scheidt (ODI), Elizabeth Tremaine (PSU), and the interviewer teams at ODI and PSU.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the families who participated in the surveys, focus groups, and listening sessions.

We are also grateful to the staff from the community-based organizations who worked with the PDG research team to shape the research questions, connect with families, and ensure that families’ perspectives were accurately reflected in final reports.

2019-2020: We thank Bienestar, Bridging Communities, Community Action of Washington County and Coffee Creek Head Start and Early Head Start, Coos Health & Wellness and the CaCoon Program, Doulas Latina, Frontier Early Learning Hub, Humanitarian Assistance with Kindness & Interculturalism (HAKI), Latino Netowrk, Northwest Regional Early Learning Hub, Oregon Community Development Coalition (Chiloquin, Gresham, and Madras), Seaside Head Start and the Lower Columbia Hispanic Council, and South Central Early Learning Hub.

2020-2021: We thank AB Cultural Drivers, Bridging Communities, Burns Paiute Tribe & Tuwakii Nobi, The CaCoon Program, Coos Bay School District Title VI, Coos Health and Wellness, Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, Doulas Lintinas Internation, Frientier Early Learning Hub, Klamath Tribe and Klamath School District Title VI, The native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), and Self Enhancement Inc.

Special thanks to agency and organizational partners that graciously provided reports and data for this work: The Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Early Learning Division, Oregon Department of Human Services, the Oregon Health Authority, NPC Research, Oregon Housing and Community Services, the Oregon Association of Relief Nurseries, Oregon State University, Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative, Oregon Pediatric Improvement Partnership, the Butler Institute for Families, WIC, 211info, Healthy Families Oregon, and Oregon Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting. We are also grateful for the input and advice shared with us by members of the Early Learning Council, Raise Up Oregon Agency Implementation Coordination Team (ROUAICT), 2019-2020 PDG B-5 Strengths & Needs Assessment Advisory Committee (SNAAC), 2019-2020 Agency Workgroup, and 2019-2020 Family Voices Workgroup.

We would also like to thank research partners and subcontractors, AB Cultural Drivers (Nelda Reyes, evaluation contractor), Alissa Beddow (graphic design); Michaella Sektnan and Megan Pratt (Oregon State University); and Katie Winters (research consultant).

Finally, our deepest appreciation to the members of Oregon’s early learning community without whom much of this information would not be available—the Early Learning Hubs, Child Care Resource & Referral Networks, Head Start/OPK program directors and staff, Preschool Promise directors and staff, and all of the other child care programs and providers.