Accessing families’ experiences and engagement using parents’ own words.
Go Beyond a Strength and Needs Assessment
Parent Gauge is a family engagement assessment tool designed specifically for Head Start and Early Head Start programs. The tool measures the parent experience and the impact of your program’s engagement efforts. It goes beyond counting inputs and outputs and beyond a simple survey that asks parents to report on their housing or employment. Parent Gauge takes this information in context with parents’ strengths, aspirations, and perceptions over time.
How Does it Work?
Through a series of closed- and open-ended questions, Parent Gauge explores a family’s experience with your program.
The tool provides immediate feedback to staff regarding family needs, but it also provides data on program effectiveness.
Using Parent Gauge, staff sit down with families 2-3 times during the year for a twenty-minute conversation and enter their responses into the easy-to-use web-based platform.
Is it Right For You?
Parent Gauge is designed to meet the needs of Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Frontline staff-like teachers, family service workers, and home visitors-have conversations with the families in their caseload and get immediate feedback. Leadership gets access to quantitative data to inform program design and measure progress throughout the year.
Your annual subscription includes:
Comprehensive training program covering all aspects of the product
One-on-one support and coaching from experienced product specialists
Live training sessions led by expert instructors
On-demand training materials and resources, including videos and tutorials
Regular updates and new training materials to keep users up-to-date on new features and best practices
Integrate Data Seamlessly into Your Curriculum
Your Parent Gauge data can help curate a program that delivers trauma-informed activities and parent-requested resources directly to your Head Start and Early Head Start families. All without adding anything extra to your busy schedule.
Pricing
Subscriptions run from July 1 one year to June 30 the next. Grant size is determined according to NHSA’s membership records.
| Grant Size | Member Price | Non-Member Price |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1 Million | $2,400 | $4,000 |
| $1-3 Million | $3,000 | $5,000 |
| $3-6 Million | $3,600 | $6,000 |
| $6-10 Million | $4,200 | $7,000 |
| $10-15 Million | $5,100 | $8,500 |
| $15-25 Million | $6,000 | $10,000 |
| $25-40 Million | $7,200 | $12,000 |
| $40-60 Million | $8,400 | $14,000 |
| Over $60 Million | $9,600 | $16,000 |
Parent Gauge FAQ
What does it look like to use Parent Gauge? Expand
A staff member sits down with a family member for a twenty minute conversation. The staff member goes through the questions in the Parent Gauge tool, entering responses into the web-based platform. You receive immediate information about a family’s strengths and needs and you can act immediately based on the data you collect. The tool aggregates the results of the close-ended questions to allow you to see at the program, center, or classroom level what the patterns are to support children and families.
How can I get Parent Gauge? Expand
Log in to your account at mynhsa.nhsa.org
- Select Subscriptions from the left menu
- Select Get a Subscription
- Purchase for your organization and select Next
- Under Categories, search for Parent Gauge and select Add to Cart
- Select Review & Checkout
- Complete Billing Information and select Submit Order
- Welcome to the Parent Gauge Community!
What about training and support? Expand
All training and support is included in the cost of your yearly subscription. The Parent Gauge team offers live orientation and training webinars. Previous recordings are always available for those who would like to watch on-demand. Request tech support by emailing pgtech@nhsa.org.