In the proposed study, SRI International will leverage a nationally representative sample of children attending Head Start, the Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014, to provide ACF, Head Start, and ECE practitioners with a detailed understanding of DLLs’ bilingual vocabulary strengths. We will implement latent profile analyses, a person-centered, data-based approach to empirically derive bilingual vocabulary groups (i.e., latent profiles) in the fall and spring of Head Start, among Spanish-speaking DLLs. Profiles will reveal DLLs’ relative strengths in each language. We will then examine how family characteristics, such as household income and parents’ educational attainment relate to fall bilingual vocabulary profiles. Next, we will conduct latent transition analysis to assess how children’s membership in bilingual vocabulary groups changes between the fall and spring. Finally, we will examine how measures of classroom quality predict changes among profiles between the fall and spring, to examine the role of high- quality classrooms in supporting bilingual vocabulary growth.

The results of these analyses will provide ACF, Head Start, and ECE practitioners with actionable insights about variability among Spanish-speaking DLLs’ bilingual vocabulary strengths and about the family- and classroom-based factors that can support DLLs’ bilingual vocabulary growth. This study will inform stakeholders of the characteristics of DLLs and families who may need more targeted supports for their children to attain strong bilingual vocabulary skills, and help ACF, Head Start, and ECE practitioners provide high-quality learning environments to meet these children’s strengths and challenges.   (author abstract)