Research and Evaluation for Florida HIPPY Programs
Research
Florida HIPPY Longitudinal Study
All HIPPY programs in Florida are expected to participate in the Florida HIPPY Longitudinal study. Families who enroll in the longitudinal study complete an informed consent form which outlines the goal and scope of the study. Informed consent forms are provided to parents when they enroll their children in HIPPY. Home visitors explain the study to parents and parents are given an opportunity to read through the consent form at their own pace, and encouraged to review the form with other family members or friends if they would like, and ask questions. Consent forms are provided in English and Spanish.
Although all Florida HIPPY programs are required to inform all HIPPY participants about the Florida HIPPY longitudinal study, participation in the study itself is completely voluntary. Parents’ participation or non-participation in the study has no impact on the HIPPY services they receive and there is no compensation for participating in the study.
As evidence of parents ‘consent to enroll their child in the longitudinal study, sites must provide the Florida HIPPY Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) Center with the original, signed informed consent form for each child enrolled in the study. Sites are also expected to report the number of parents who enroll their children in the longitudinal study each month in the coordinator monthly reports. All original informed consent forms are kept by the T&TA research team in locked cabinets.
Parents’ signed informed consents provide the T&TA Center permission to track their child’s academic progress from kindergarten through third grade. Specifically, the study will obtain the following information from the Florida Department of Education:
1) State mandated standardized kindergarten readiness test scores
2) State mandated standardized performance measures for kindergarten through third grade
3) Grade promotion status for kindergarten through third grade
4) Attendance information for kindergarten through third grade
Parents only have to complete the informed consent forms once because the first time an informed consent is signed that consent is valid for the entire time families are in the HIPPY program. Parents can enroll in the study at a future date if they choose to. They can also withdraw from the study at any time.
All requests for academic information are made to the Department of Education Data Warehouse and data received back from the Department of Education Data warehouse are password protected to ensure child information is transmitted securely. Analyses of data are conducted and reports or articles may be written up based on findings from these analyses. No names will be mentioned or identified in any written reports, articles, or presentations to protect the identity of all study participants.
Other Research Activities
Florida HIPPY programs may engage in different research activities such as focus groups with parents and staff and sites will be invited to participate in such activities. Participation in these research activities will be voluntary. 2
Evaluation
All Florida HIPPY programs are required to participate in TA&T Center yearly evaluation. This involves the following activities:
1) Conducting Pre Bracken assessments on HIPPY children upon enrollment in HIPPY prior to any HIPPY curriculum packets being delivered or at the beginning of a new HIPPY curriculum year.
2) Conduct Post Bracken assessment on HIPPY children at Week 25 before HIPPY curriculum packet week 25 is delivered.
3) Pre Parent Involvement Questionnaire (Pre Parent Questionnaire) prior to any HIPPY packets being delivered or at the beginning of a new HIPPY curriculum year.
4) Post Parent Involvement Questionnaire (Post Parent Questionnaire) at Week 25 before HIPPY curriculum packet week 25 is delivered.
Parent involvement Questionnaires and Bracken School Readiness Assessment Record Form are available in English and Spanish.
All programs are required to submit completed surveys and assessments to the TA&T Center by deadline dates. For fiscal year 2016-2017 the following deadline dates have been established:
January 30th 2017 for the Pre Bracken and Pre Parent Questionnaire
May 1, 2017 for the Post Bracken and Post Parent Questionnaire