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American Indian-Alaska Native Research Agenda
Since its inception, Head Start has benefited from systematic research. Findings from studies have been used to improve services for children, their families, and communities. American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs rarely have been part of this research enterprise. This project was designed to have American Indian and Alaska Native communities identify research topics of importance to them and to make suggestions on how the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) could best support that research. After review of the literature and discussions with a consultant panel, Macro visited AI-AN Head Start programs of varying sizes and types, in differing settings and regions of the country. Through interviews and focus groups with tribal leaders, elders, staff, parents, and community representatives, the site visit teams learned about research priorities and needs; important issues to consider in conducting research; and the extent to which culturally appropriate instruments, measures, and procedures are available to address child outcomes. Recommendations to ACF supported the need for a new research agenda for basic and applied research, the importance of cultural appropriateness, and the importance of sharing findings with AI-AN communities.
Welfare Outcomes
Macro provided technical assistance to the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in coordinating the work of States that were conducting Welfare Outcomes Surveys. We organized two grantee meetings that enabled researchers to discuss critical issues, common problems, and dissemination of their studies. In addition, ASPE required the grantees to produce a restricted-access data set for each of their surveys to be used by qualified researchers. Macro planned and convened a series of work group sessions to assist these States in developing a set of common practices for creating these data sets. In addition, Macro also developed a “toolkit” and a template for the grantee States to use in documenting their data sets. After the grantee States had created their data sets, Macro reviewed them to ensure their suitability for release as restricted-access data sets.
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