# Presentation: 135468

##  Overall Findings and Implications for Programs From the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project

** ****Overall Findings and Implications for Programs From the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project**

**	****	**

- January 2003

## The Early Head Start Program

**The Early Head Start Program**

- Two-generation program
- Child development with parenting education and self-sufficiency
- Follows the Head Start Program Performance Standards
- Program models fit community needs—center-based, home-based, or mixed approach
- Any program can apply to become a Head Start program; most are affiliated with Head Start programs to begin with.
- Over 700 programs serving about 62,000 children

## The Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project

**The Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project**

- Began in 1995; reports to Congress in 2001 and 2002
- Led by Mathematica Policy Research and Columbia University’s Center for Children and Families
- Local researchers in 15 universities involved
- In 17 Early Head Start programs—about 1/3 center-based, 1/3 home-based, and 1/3 mixed-approach
- Followed 3,001 children and families from enrollment in program until child age 3
- Used random assignment—program and control group

## Research Conducted by Early Head Start Research Consortium

**Research Conducted by Early Head ****Start Research Consortium**

- Research institutions in the Consortium (and principal researchers) include ACF (Rachel Chazan Cohen, Judith Jerald, Esther Kresh, Helen Raikes, and Louisa Tarullo); Catholic University of America (Michaela Farber, Lynn Milgram Mayer, Harriet Liebow, Christine Sabatino, Nancy Taylor, Elizabeth Timberlake, and Shavaun Wall); Columbia University (Lisa Berlin, Christy Brady-Smith, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Alison Sidle Fuligni); Harvard University (Catherine Ayoub, Barbara Alexander Pan, and Catherine Snow); Iowa State University (Dee Draper, Gayle Luze, Susan McBride, Carla Peterson); Mathematica Policy Research (Kimberly Boller, Ellen Eliason Kisker, John M. Love, Diane Paulsell, Christine Ross, Peter Schochet, Cheri Vogel, and Welmoet van Kammen); Medical University of South Carolina (Richard Faldowski, Gui-Young Hong, and Susan Pickrel); Michigan State University (Hiram Fitzgerald, Tom Reischl, and Rachel Schiffman); New York University (Mark Spellmann and Catherine Tamis-LeMonda); University of Arkansas (Robert Bradley, Mark Swanson, and Leanne Whiteside-Mansell); University of California, Los Angeles (Carollee Howes and Claire Hamilton); University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (Robert Emde, Jon Korfmacher, JoAnn Robinson, Paul Spicer, and Norman Watt); University of Kansas (Jane Atwater, Judith Carta, and Jean Ann Summers); University of Missouri-Columbia (Mark Fine, Jean Ispa, and Kathy Thornburg); University of Pittsburgh (Carol McAllister, Beth Green, and Robert McCall); University of Washington School of Education (Eduardo Armijo and Joseph Stowitschek); University of Washington School of Nursing (Kathryn Barnard and Susan Spieker); and Utah State University (Lisa Boyce and Lori Roggman).

- The Consortium consists of representatives from 17 programs participating in the evaluation, 15 local research teams, the evaluation contractors, and ACF/ACYF.

## Early Head Start Research Sites

## Many Measures Used in the Project

- Implementation data, including ratings
- Family service use data 7, 16, and 28 months after enrollment (both program and control)
- Child and family data collected when children were 14, 24, and 36 months old

- Videotaped observations of parent-child interaction
- Interviewer observations
- Parent interview
- Child assessments

## Positive Impacts: Multiple Dimensions of Children’s Development

- Health:

- Cognitive:

- Higher Mean Bayley MDI
- Smaller percent with MDI < 85

- More often have current immunizations
- Fewer emergency room visits for accidents and injuries

## Positive Impacts: Multiple Dimensions of Children’s Development (cont.)

- Language:

- Larger receptive vocabularies
- Smaller percent PPVT < 85

- Social-emotional development:

- Lower levels of aggressive behavior
- Higher sustained attention with objects
- Greater engagement of parent
- Less negativity toward parent

**Positive Impacts: Multiple Dimensions ****of Children’s Development (cont.)**

## Positive Impacts in Many Areas of Parenting

- Greater warmth and supportiveness
- Less detachment
- More parent-child play
- More stimulating home environments
- More support for language and learning
- More daily reading
- Less spanking by both mothers and fathers

## The Program Had Positive Effects on Aspects of Parent Self-Sufficiency

- More hours in education and job training
- More employment hours
- No impacts on welfare receipt or income
- Reduced subsequent births

## Most Family Subgroups Benefited

- Of 27 subgroups of families studied, nearly all had positive impacts.
- Strongest impacts: parents who enrolled while pregnant; parents with 3 demographic risk factors, and African American parents.
- Notable groups with positive impacts: teen parents and parents with depressive symptoms at enrollment.
- Few positive impacts: parents with 4 and 5 demographic risk factors.

## Findings in Program Subgroups Told Important Stories

- Program approaches—center-based, home-based and mixed-approach—all had positive impacts but patterns were different.
- Program implementation mattered—early- and later-implemented programs had the strongest patterns of impacts.
- Early-implemented mixed-approach programs had the strongest pattern of impacts found in the study.

## Conclusions

- Early Head Start was broadly effective across a wide array of outcomes and family subgroups.
- In several subgroups, impacts were larger as well as broad, demonstrating potential of the program for the future.
- The evaluation points to ways programs can build on a good beginning.

## How Can Early Head Start Build on a Good Beginning?

- Intensify and specialize services for families with greatest risk.
- Provide more intensive services for children in home-based programs and for parents in center-based programs. Learn from the mixed model.
- Begin services early, during pregnancy if possible.
- Implement well and early.

## For More Information...

**For More Information...**

- http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/core/ongoing_research/ehs/ehs_intro.html