Report to Congressional Requester

United States General Accounting Office

GAO

March 2002 HEAD START AND

EVEN START

Greater Collaboration

Needed on Measures

of Adult Education

and Literacy

GAO-02-348
Page i GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Letter 1

Results in Brief 2

Background 4

Programs Share Many Common Elements, But Differ In Focus And

Design 8

Grantees in Both Programs Provided Similar Early Childhood

Services To Poor Children, but Adult Services Differed 15

Information About The Effectiveness Of Head Start And Even Start

Is Limited 21

Opportunity Exists For Additional Collaboration Between The Two

Programs 27

Conclusions 29

Recommendation 30

Agency Comments And Our Evaluation 30

Appendix I Comments from the Department of Education 32

Appendix II GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments 34

GAO Contacts 34

Acknowledgments 34

Related GAO Products 35

Tables

Table 1: Comparison of Major Head Start and Even Start

Legislative Provisions 9

Table 2: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Performance

Expectations and Measures for Children’s Cognitive

Growth and Adult Literacy and Education 12

Table 3: Maximum Percent of Head Start and Even Start Funding

Received From Federal Program Appropriations Each

Grant Year 15

Table 4: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Participants by

Characteristic 16

Table 5: Objectives of Ongoing Effectiveness Studies 24

Contents
Page ii GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Figures

Figure 1: Comparison of Numbers of Children and Families Served

by Head Start and Even Start, Program Year 2000 6

Figure 2: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Federal

Funding, 1990–2002 (Current Dollars) 7

Figure 3: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Program

Funding and Service Delivery Structures 13

Figure 4: Comparison of Educational Components of Head Start

and Even Start Center Programs 20

Figure 5: Experimental Design for Early Childhood Program

Impact Evaluations 23

Abbreviations

ESPIRS Education’s Even Start Performance Information

 Reporting System

FACES Family and Child Experiences Survey

GED general equivalency diploma

HHS Department of Health and Human Services

PIR Program Information Report
Page 1 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

March 29, 2002

The Honorable George V. Voinovich

Ranking Minority Member

Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring,

and the District of Columbia

Committee on Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Head Start and Even Start Family Literacy programs have for many

years provided services intended to improve the educational and

economic outcomes for millions of disadvantaged children and their

families. Although the programs differ substantially in size—in fiscal year

2002, Head Start funding is over $6 billion while Even Start is $250

million—our earlier work highlighted some similarities between these two

programs, which are administered by different federal agencies.1

 We have

raised concerns that if such programs are designed to achieve similar

outcomes for similar populations, but do not work together to address the

needs of these targeted groups, then inefficiencies in administration and

service delivery may result. Moreover, questions have arisen about the

wisdom of having similar early childhood programs administered by

different departments. Recently, President Bush, as part of his emphasis

on child literacy and school readiness, has proposed transferring Head

Start from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the

Department of Education (Education).

To determine whether Head Start and Even Start programs are

substantially similar in key areas, you asked us to determine the following:

• How similar the programs are in legal requirements and administration

and the extent to which they have similar purposes, performance goals,

and indicators.

 1

U.S. General Accounting Office, Early Education and Care: Overlap Indicates Need to

Assess Crosscutting Programs, GAO/HEHS-00-78 (Washington, D.C.: April 28, 2000).

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, DC 20548
Page 2 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

• How these programs differ operationally, particularly in terms of the

services they provide; how those services are provided; and who receives

them.

• What is known about the relative effectiveness of the two programs.

• The extent to which opportunities exist for the programs to work more

effectively with one another to meet the needs of program participants.

To answer these questions we collected and reviewed the most recent,

national-level data for both programs summarizing the type of participants

served, the services they receive, how the services are provided and who

provides them. We reviewed the legislation governing both programs and

several evaluative studies, including the interim results of recent impact

studies by HHS and Education. We supplemented our understanding with

site visits to Head Start and Even Start programs located in different types

of communities–one densely populated urban city (Chicago, Illinois), two

suburban cities, one located near Seattle, Washington (Renton) and

another near Washington, D.C. (Frederick, Maryland) and a rural

community (Niceville, Florida). We selected sites that demonstrated a

variety of cooperative arrangements with one another and with other

organizations in their communities. Some Head Start and Even Start

programs we visited were formal partners with each other, some

collaborated as needed, and others did not coordinate their efforts with

each other. We performed our work between May 2001 and March 2002 in

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Head Start and Even Start were both designed to address the education

and literacy needs of poor families with young children and are required to

offer similar services when the needs of the families they serve are similar.

However, in practice they served somewhat different populations with

different education and literacy needs.

Although Head Start is a substantially larger program than Even Start, the

separate legislation establishing them created programs with similar goals,

target populations, and services. Head Start and Even Start both target

disadvantaged populations to improve their educational outcomes.

Moreover, both programs are required to offer education and literacy

services to children and their families. Head Start’s goal, however, is to

ensure that young children are ready for school and program eligibility is

tied to specific poverty income guidelines. In contrast, Even Start’s goal is

to improve family literacy and the educational opportunities of both

Results in Brief
Page 3 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

parents and their young children. Even Start eligibility is tied to parents’

educational attainment. Although there are no income thresholds

established for eligibility, local Even Start programs are required to recruit

families most in need of such services as indicated by high levels of

poverty and unemployment. Despite these differences, both programs are

required to provide similar services for children and families when

necessary. Both programs have developed some similar and some identical

performance measures and outcome expectations for children, but not for

parents. Only Even Start has identified measures that directly gauge

educational attainment and literacy of participating adults. Finally, the

federal government plays different roles in administering the two

programs. The federal government administers Head Start and directly

provides up to 80 percent of program funds to local Head Start programs.

In contrast, the states administer Even Start and award federal funding to

local Even Start programs, and the federal share of Even Start programs

declines from a maximum of 90 percent in the first year of funding to a

maximum of 35 percent in the ninth and subsequent years.

Head Start and Even Start grantees provided some similar services to

young children and families, but the variations in how these programs

served adults reflect the variations in the needs of the parents. In Head

Start, about three quarters of the parents had high school diplomas.

Therefore, Head Start grantees generally focused on early childhood

education and enrolled only the child although the parents can receive

adult education and literacy services if they require them. Head Start

officials, as well as parents with children in the program, said that many of

the parents who participated in Head Start did so primarily to obtain early

childhood education for their young children. Even Start parents were

much more likely than Head Start parents to lack a high school diploma

and speak a language other than English. Thus, Even Start grantees

enrolled both the parents and the child in the program and their core

services included a range of adult education and literacy services, such as

basic education and English language instruction. According to

Education’s data, many of the parents who participated in Even Start did

so primarily to obtain education and literacy services for themselves.

No recent, definitive information exists on the effectiveness of either

program and so it is difficult to determine which of the programs employs

a more effective model for improving educational outcomes for

disadvantaged children and their parents. Both HHS and Education have

studies underway that will provide more definitive information on the

extent to which each of these programs is achieving its intended goals.

Both programs have been heavily studied in the past, providing
Page 4 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

policymakers with information on how well the programs were

implemented and how they could be improved. For example, the first Even

Start study was largely an implementation study in which the findings

served as a catalyst for changes in the program’s legislation, including

making teenage parents eligible for services.

In recognition of the similarities between the programs, both programs’

legislation contain provisions that they coordinate services with one

another. At the local level, differences in the needs of participants and the

location of neighborhoods served by the two programs may mean some

Head Start and Even Start grantees find only limited opportunities to work

together. At the national level, HHS and Education have initiated several

coordinating activities, including the funding of state-level organizations

intended to improve collaboration among organizations serving poor

children and their families in each state. Other national efforts have been

to provide technical assistance, share information and develop a

complementary outcome measurement system that reflects their common

early childhood development goals. However, the two agencies have not

collaborated as much on family literacy or developed similar measures of

family literacy outcomes. We are recommending that they take action in

this area.

Head Start is administered by HHS and was begun in 1965 as part of the

“War on Poverty.” The program was built on the philosophy that effective

intervention in children’s lives could best be accomplished through family

and community involvement, as evidenced by the broad range of services,

which include educational, medical, dental, mental health, nutritional, and

social services, offered to Head Start families. In 1992, the Congress added

a requirement that Head Start offer family literacy services. Today Head

Start dwarfs all other federal early childhood programs both in funding

support and the size of the population served. In the year 2000, Head Start

served about 846,000 families and about 923,000 children. Although it

began as a summer program with a budget of $96.4 million, Head Start

funding today totals more than $6 billion.2

 Head Start grantees operate

programs in every state, primarily through locally based service providers.

Recognizing that the years from conception to age three are critical to

human development, the Congress established Early Head Start in 1994, a

program that serves expectant mothers, as well as infants and toddlers.

 2

In this report, all dollar figures are in current dollars.

Background
Page 5 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Over the course of its 36-year history, Head Start has served over 19

million children.

In contrast, Even Start is substantially smaller than Head Start. First

funded in 1989 under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education

Act, Even Start also has a much shorter history of serving needy children

and families than its HHS counterpart. The program’s approach is rooted

in the philosophy that the educational attainment of parents in particular

and the quality of the family’s environment in general are central to a

child’s acquisition of literacy skills and success in school. Administered by

Education, Even Start’s budget has expanded considerably, from about

$15 million at the program’s beginning, to $250 million in the year 2002.

During its 1999–2000 program year, Even Start served about 31,600

families and 41,600 children in programs around the country. In addition,

the Congress established separate Head Start and Even Start migrant and

Native American programs. These programs are not covered in this report.

See figure 1 for a comparison of the numbers of children and families

served by both programs. See figure 2 for a comparison of Head Start and

Even Start appropriations over the last decade, 1990–2002.
Page 6 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 1: Comparison of Numbers of Children and Families Served by Head Start

and Even Start, Program Year 2000
Page 7 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 2: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Federal Funding, 1990–2002 (Current Dollars)

Source: Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services

Although Head Start is administered by HHS, President Bush, as part of his

emphasis on child literacy and school readiness, proposed transferring

Head Start from HHS to Education. President Carter advocated a similar

transfer in 1978. Opponents of the move argue that the social and human

services component of Head Start is just as important as the educational

program in achieving school readiness and the overall well being of the

child. They have expressed concern that moving the program to Education

would result in a narrower menu of services almost exclusively

educational in nature.
Page 8 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

The separate legislation governing Head Start and Even Start established

programs that overlap somewhat in goals, target population and services,

but also have a number of significant differences. Even Start and Head

Start similarly target disadvantaged populations, seeking to improve their

educational outcomes. While both programs are required to provide

education and literacy services to children and their families, Head Start’s

goal is to prepare children to enter school while Even Start’s goal is to

improve family literacy and education. Both programs measure

achievement of their goals for children against similar criteria or

measures, but only Even Start has developed measures to gauge adults’

educational attainment and literacy. Although the programs have similar

legislative provisions, the federal government administers Head Start and

directly funds local Head Start programs while the states administer Even

Start and allocate federal funds to local Even Start programs.

The separate legislation establishing Head Start and Even Start created

overlapping programs, although there are many legislative differences

between the two programs (see table 1). Both programs were created to

address a similar problem, poor educational outcomes and economic

prospects for low-income people. However, Head Start’s goal is to

promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive

development of low-income children. Even Start’s goal is to improve the

literacy and education in the nation’s low-income families.

Programs Share Many

Common Elements,

but Differ in Focus

and Design

Head Start and Even Start

Legislation Created

Programs with

Overlapping Goals,

Populations, and Services
Page 9 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Table 1: Comparison of Major Head Start and Even Start Legislative Provisions

Head Start Even Start

Goal Prepare children to enter

school

Improve family literacy and

educational opportunities

Target Population Preschool age children

(including infants and

toddlers) and their families,

as well as pregnant women

(10 percent of enrollment is

reserved for children with

disabilities)

Parents who are not

enrolled in school and their

children, birth through age

7, who lack a high school

diploma or its equivalent,

the basic skills necessary to

function in society, or

are unable to speak, read,

or write English

(No requirement to serve

children with disabilities)

Income and poverty

targeting provisions

Primarily children from

families with income at or

below federal poverty

income guidelines or

eligible for public

assistance

Although having no specific

income requirements,

priority is given to families

who are most in need of

services as indicated by,

among other things, high

levels of poverty and

unemployment

Services required to be offered

Early childhood education

Health

Nutrition

Social

Substance abuse

counseling

Adult literacy

Adult basic education

Parenting education

Other necessary services

Xa

Xa

Xa

Xa

X

Xb

Xa

X

Xa

X

c

c

c

c

X

Xd

X

X

a

These services are identified in the Head Start legislation’s statement of purpose, but are only to be

provided as necessary.

b

The legislation requires Head Start programs to offer (either directly or through referral to other

entities) family literacy services, which are defined in the legislation to include “parent literacy

training”. We are using the term “adult literacy” to refer to parent literacy training.

c

Although not mentioned, Even Start’s legislation authorizes programs to provide support services

when they are determined to be necessary to ensure program participation.

d

This service is identified in the Even Start legislation’s statement of purpose.

Source: GAO analysis of Head Start and Even Start legislation (42 USC 9831–9852a, 20 USC 6361–

6370.

The legislation creating each program specifies the broad target group as

low-income people; however, each program’s legislation specifically

targets a different group of low-income individuals. Consistent with its
Page 10 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

school readiness goal, Head Start specifically targets poor preschool age

children and their families. The regulations governing Head Start require

that at least 90 percent of the children enrolled in Head Start come from

families with incomes at or below the federal poverty guidelines3

 or from

families eligible for public assistance. Consistent with its family literacy

goal, Even Start is authorized to serve low-literate parents and their young

children. To participate in Even Start, the parent or parents must be

eligible for participation in adult education and literacy activities under

the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. For example, at least one

parent must not be enrolled in school and must lack a high school diploma

or its equivalent or lack the basic skills necessary to function in society.4

The parent must also have a child who is below age 8. Although Even Start

targets low-income families, its legislation does not specifically limit

participation to low-income individuals nor does it define “low-income,” as

does Head Start. However, the legislation creating Even Start does require

that priority for funding be given to families who are in need of such

services as indicated by their poverty and unemployment status. In line

with its focus on literacy, Even Start legislation does assign priority for

funding to families who are in need of such services as indicated by parent

illiteracy, limited-English proficiency and other need related indicators.

Although both programs target young children, there are differences in the

ages the two programs are authorized to serve. Head Start is authorized to

serve children at any age prior to compulsory school attendance. In 1994,

as part of Head Start, the Congress established Early Head Start to ensure

that infants and toddlers are served in greater numbers. This program is

also authorized to provide services to pregnant women. Even Start is

authorized to serve preschool age children as well, but unlike Head Start,

it is also authorized to serve school-age children to age 8.5

 Even Start is not

authorized to serve pregnant women who do not have children below the

age of 8. Head Start grantees are also required to reserve 10 percent of

their enrollment for children with disabilities. Even Start has no such

requirement.

 3

For example, the federal poverty guideline was $17,050 for a family of four in fiscal year

2000.

4

For school age parents, school districts are required to provide the basic education

services.

5

Children 8 and older can be served if services are provided in collaboration with

Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title I, Part A services.
Page 11 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

With respect to services, Head Start historically has been authorized to

provide services that specifically support children’s development, such as

early childhood education, nutrition, health, and social services. Head

Start legislation has long required that local programs provide parent

involvement activities that ensure the direct participation of parents in the

development, conduct, and overall program direction of local programs.

However, in 1992, the Congress added a requirement that Head Start

provide family literacy services, if these services are determined to be

necessary. In the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, the Congress clarified

the definition of family literacy, requiring that Head Start family literacy

services be of sufficient intensity and duration to make sustainable

changes in a family. The legislation also required that family literacy

programs integrate early childhood education, parenting education, parent

and child interactive literacy activities, and adult literacy services. The

same definition of family literacy services is found in Even Start’s

legislation. Even Start legislation also requires that it integrate early

childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education and parenting

education into a unified family literacy program.

Head Start and Even Start have some similar measures to assess children’s

progress but different measures for adult literacy and educational

attainment (see table 2).6

 6

Both programs have other measures of program and participant performance. For

example, Head Start has measures for children’s social emotional health, and Even Start

has goals related to recruiting the most needy families and program quality.

Head Start and Even Start

Have Similar Performance

Expectations and

Measures for Children, but

Not for Adults
Page 12 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Table 2: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Performance Expectations and Measures for Children’s Cognitive Growth

and Adult Literacy and Education

Head Start Even Start

Performance

Category Expectation Measure Expectationa Measure

Children’s Cognitive

Growth

Children show improvement

in cognitive, emergent

literacy, numeracy, and

language skills

Language development,

math skill, and letter

identification

Improve children’s

language development

and reading readiness

Language

development

Adult Literacy and

Education

Parents improve selfconcept and emotional well

being and make progress

toward their education,

literacy and employment

goals

Number of parents who are

employed as Head Start

staff

Improve adult literacy

and educational

attainment

Math and reading

skill Number earning

high school diploma

or equivalent

a

Even Start has the same expectations and measures for both preschool and school age children.

Source: Department of Education, 2000 Performance Report and 2002 Program Annual Plan

(Washington, D.C., 2000). Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children

and Families, Fiscal Year 2002 Annual Performance Plan and Fiscal Year 2001 Annual Performance

Plan and Fiscal Year 2000 Annual Performance Report (Washington, D.C., 2000).

For example, to measure children’s cognitive growth, both programs

measure language development. As shown in table 2, Even Start measures

adult literacy and educational attainment by measuring gains in math and

reading and by counting the number of participants earning a high school

diploma or its equivalent. Head Start measures adults’ progress toward

their educational, literacy and employment goals, by the number who are

employed as Head Start staff–not a direct measure of adult literacy or

educational attainment. According to HHS performance standards, Head

Start is an important place for employment opportunities for parents and a

vehicle for providing additional skills for parents who are seeking

employment or who are already employed.

Head Start and Even Start are managed and operated in fundamentally

different ways (see fig. 3). First, Head Start is administered by the federal

government and Even Start is administered by the states. Unlike some

other social programs, the federal government (HHS) directly funds local

Head Start programs. Many organizations that receive Head Start grant

funding deliver services to Head Start participants. In some cases, the

organization that receives the grant contracts with other organizations to

deliver services to Head Start participants. HHS’ 10 regional offices, which

are geographically dispersed throughout the nation, are responsible for

program oversight and management. Even Start is administered by the

Programs Operate

Differently
Page 13 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

states, with the federal government allocating the funds to the states. The

states are responsible for oversight and management of local programs

and make decisions about which programs to fund.

Figure 3: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Program Funding and Service Delivery Structures

Source: GAO Analysis

Note: Head Start provides separate funding to the states to support the coordination activities of state

Head Start collaboration offices.
Page 14 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Second, although Head Start and Even Start are both formula programs,

the formulas for allocating funds differ. Although the formulas for both

programs are multifaceted and complex, Head Start funding is based in

part on the number of children in a state under age 5 living in poverty. The

Even Start formula is based, in part, on the number of poor school-age

children, ages 5 to 17, in a state.

Third, Head Start and Even Start legislation have different requirements

for the types of local organizations that are eligible to receive funding. For

Head Start, local community organizations are authorized to administer

Head Start services. Even Start’s legislation gives school districts a central

role in delivering services. The law requires local organizations to form

partnerships with school districts in order to receive funds. Thus, eligible

entities are school districts in partnership with nonprofit community

based organizations, institutions of higher education, or other nonprofit

organizations.

Finally, Head Start and Even Start have different matching fund

requirements and different requirements for the sources of these matching

funds. Head Start grantees annually may receive up to 80 percent of total

funding from the federal Head Start program funds. The remaining 20

percent must come from nonfederal sources and may include such in-kind

contributions as space, staff, supplies and equipment. In contrast, Even

Start grantees receive a maximum of 90 percent of their total funding in

the first year from the federal Even Start program, but in subsequent years

this share declines. In the ninth and subsequent years of the grant, the

family literacy programs are expected to largely operate independent of

Even Start funding, receiving only a maximum of 35 percent of total

funding from the federal Even Start program (see table 3). However,

matching funds, which also include in-kind contributions, may come from

other non-Even Start federal sources, such as Adult Education Act funds.
Page 15 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Table 3: Maximum Percent of Head Start and Even Start Funding Received from

Federal Program Appropriations Each Grant Year

Year of Grant Head Starta

Even Startb

1st 80 90

2nd 80 80

3rd 80 70

4th 80 60

5th 80 50

6th 80 50

7th 80 50

8th 80 50

9th and subsequent years 80 35

a

Matching funds must be from nonfederal sources

b

Matching funds may include federal sources

In 1999–2000, both Head Start and Even Start grantees served poor

families with young children, but the parents they served had different

education and literacy needs and the extent to which parents received

services to meet those needs differed. Even Start parents were much more

likely than Head Start parents to lack a high school diploma and speak a

language other than English. According to agency data, parents who

enrolled their children in Head Start expected primarily to receive

education services for their young children, whereas Even Start parents

sought education and literacy services for themselves as well. At the sites

we visited, both programs provided early childhood development and

education services, as well as health and nutrition support to young

children, but we found that adults participating in Even Start programs

were more likely to need and thus receive a range of adult education and

literacy services.

Grantees in Both

Programs Provided

Similar Early

Childhood Services to

Poor Children, but

Adult Services

Differed
Page 16 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

According to agency data, both Head Start and Even Start grantees

primarily served poor families with young children, although Even Start

served infants and toddlers to a larger degree than Head Start.7 Almost all

Head Start children were under age 5–95 percent–and most were 4 years

old. About one percent of the participants were pregnant women. About

two-thirds of Even Start children were under age 5, and the remaining onethird were school-age children, 5 and older (see table 4).

Table 4: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Participants by Characteristic

Percentage of participants

Participant Characteristic Head Start Even Start

Parent has completed high school 73 14

Participant child age:

0 through 2 years old

3 through 4 years old

5 years and older

5

90

5

39

28

33

Participant child has a physical disability 13 8

Family received public assistancea27 31

Ethnicity

Hispanic

African American

White

27

36

32

44

21

30

Primary language

English

Spanish

77

19

54

31

a

For Head Start, public assistance refers to families receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy

Families and for Even Start, public assistance refers to families receiving Temporary Assistance to

Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income, and other assistance.

Source: All information, except high school completion, reflect program year 1999–2000 data and

were derived from Head Start’s PIR and Education’s ESPIRS databases. High school completion

data were derived from Head Start’s 1996–1997 FACES and Education’s 1996–1997 ESPIRS

databases.

 7

The national-level data were obtained from three separate databases. Head Start data were

obtained primarily from Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) database, which

covered program year 1999– 2000. We supplemented the PIR data with additional

information from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), which

covered program year 1996–1997. Even Start data were obtained from Education’s Even

Start Performance Information Reporting System (ESPIRS) database, which covered

program years 1999–2000 and 1996–1997. Although we did not test the reliability of the

data, they are commonly used by agencies and academic researchers.

Both Programs Served

Poor Families with Young

Children, but Participants

Differed in Language and

Education
Page 17 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

In both programs, these young children came from very poor families.

Most Head Start and Even Start families reported incomes of less than

$15,000.8 While Even Start participation is not restricted by income,

grantees give priority for services to families at or below federal guidelines

for poverty, families receiving public assistance, and families with no

earned income. Almost one-third of the families served by Head Start and

Even Start received government assistance, such as Temporary Assistance

to Needy Families, according to program year 1999–2000 data.

While both programs primarily served very poor families with young

children, the families differed in their parent educational attainment,

ethnicity and primary language. For example, the proportion of Even Start

parents without high school diplomas was substantially higher than those

participating in Head Start. About 86 percent of Even Start parents

reported that they had not completed high school, compared to about 27

percent of Head Start parents.

Hispanic children represented about a quarter of the children attending

Head Start programs and almost half of the children attending Even Start

programs. These differences in ethnicity were accompanied by differences

in the primary languages of children participating in each program. Even

Start children were much less likely to speak English as their primary

language than Head Start children, according to agency data. The vast

majority–about three-fourths–of Head Start children spoke English as their

primary language, compared to a little over half of Even Start children. For

about one-third of Even Start children, Spanish was the primary language,

compared to only one-fifth of Head Start children.

In part, the tendency of Even Start children to speak English as a second

language may reflect their parents’ immigration from non-English speaking

countries. According to Education’s data, about two-thirds of parents with

children in Even Start have lived outside of the United States, about onefifth have lived in the United States 5 years or less, and about a third of

Even Start parents were educated outside the United States.

 8

Head Start and Even Start calculate family income differently, however. Therefore, income

data are not directly comparable.
Page 18 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Head Start and Even Start both provided children with similar early

learning and other developmental and support services. Head Start served

primarily 3 and 4 year olds, while Even Start served a greater percentage

of children below the age of 2. However, the extent to which parents of

enrolled children received education and literacy services differed

between these two programs. According to Head Start and Even Start

program data, both programs provided young children with early

childhood education services that included developmentally appropriate

learning activities. Both programs offered home-based instruction and

center-based, half-day programs several days per week, which often

included meals, snacks, and health care support, such as mental health,

vision, immunizations, and screenings. There are some differences,

however, in services offered to children. For example, as we saw in

Niceville, Florida, the Even Start program offered home-based, afterschool

reading support and other learning activities for school-aged children.

Although there were few differences in services for children, the major

difference among these programs was the extent to which adults need and

thus received education and literacy services. Only the Even Start

programs we visited considered adult education and literacy services to be

among their primary services. According to Education’s data, Even Start

grantees provided such services as basic adult education, adult secondary

education services, general equivalency diploma (GED) preparation, and

English language instruction.9

 Many Even Start programs provided flexible

hours of instruction, such as evening and weekend instruction, to

accommodate the scheduling needs of parents. Parents most often

participated in GED preparation services and English language instruction.

About half of the parents indicated that obtaining their GED was a primary

reason for Even Start enrollment, although learning English, improving

their chances of getting a job, improving parenting skills, and obtaining

early learning experiences for their children were also important,

according to Education’s data. This was true of the eight Even Start

parents we spoke with during our site visits who also told us that their

primary reason for enrolling in Even Start was to obtain adult education

 9

In addition to the Even Start Family Literacy program, Education also administers the

Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (20 U.S.C 1201 et seq.). The objectives of this

program are to create a partnership among the federal government, states and localities to

provide, on a voluntary basis, adult education and literacy services, in order to assist adults

to become literate and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and selfsufficiency; assist adults who are parents to obtain the education skills necessary to

become full partners in the educational development of their children; and assist adults in

the completion of a secondary school education.

Both Programs Provided

Similar Early Childhood

Services, but Extent to

Which Adults Received

Education and Literacy

Services Differed
Page 19 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

and literacy services. Two of the Even Start programs we visited enrolled

large numbers of primarily Spanish speaking parents and other sites we

visited enrolled many recent immigrants with limited English skills. Many

of these Even Start parents received English language instruction. In

Frederick, Maryland for example, the Even Start official said that many

parents with limited proficiency in English had enrolled in the program to

improve their English language skills. Often, she said, parents participate

only long enough to acquire the basic skills needed to find a job.

Most of the adults participating in Even Start–almost three quarters–were

unemployed, according to Education’s data, allowing Even Start programs

to enroll both the parent and the child in a program that consisted of child

and adult education and literacy, parenting education, and interactive

literacy activities between the parent and child. At the Even Start sites we

visited, adults often received instruction during the day as their children

simultaneously received early childhood services nearby, often in the

same building. They also participated in joint learning activities (see fig.

4).
Page 20 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 4: Comparison of Educational Components of Head Start and Even Start Center Programs

For example, at the Frederick, Maryland, Even Start program, parents and

children arrived together at the community center, which houses both the

child development center and adult and family literacy center. Parents

dropped off their children at the child development center and attended

either adult literacy or basic education classes taught by an Even Start
Page 21 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

instructor. The parents later rejoined their children to participate in joint

activities, such as reading, painting, or playing, often sharing lunch. In this

way, the Even Start program integrated early childhood education, adult

literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified

family literacy program. Not all Even Start programs we visited locate

children and their parents in a single building; however, they all provided

space at some location for joint child and parent activities and required

the joint participation of parents and children in the program.

In contrast, 73 percent of the parents of children enrolled in Head Start

had a high school diploma and thus may not have needed adult education

and literacy services. Head Start programs did not require the joint

participation of parents and children in the program. At the sites we

visited, parents typically left the Head Start center after dropping off their

children. For example, one Head Start parent told us that she thought of

Head Start as an early learning program for children and had enrolled her

child in Head Start to obtain early childhood education. This parent said

she had completed high school and did not need adult education or

literacy services. However, for those parents in need of adult education

and literacy services, Head Start programs often referred them to the local

public school district, local community college, or Even Start for help. For

example, Head Start officials in Niceville, Florida told us that they refer

adults in need of such services to Even Start. The Albany Park Community

Center Head Start in Chicago offered an array of adult learning

opportunities. However, unlike other sites we visited that received either a

Head Start or an Even Start grant, Albany Park received both Head Start

and Even Start grants, using funding from both to provide a unified family

literacy program. Because Head Start does not currently collect data on

the types of adult education or literacy services it provides, however, we

could not determine the specific types of education and literacy services

these parents received.

No recent, definitive, national-level research exists about the effectiveness

of Head Start and Even Start for the families and children they serve.

However, both programs have effectiveness studies underway using a

methodology that many researchers consider to be the most definitive

method of determining a program’s effect on its participants. These

studies reflect each program’s primary focus and population of interest.

For instance, consistent with Head Start’s school readiness goal, its study

focuses on children. Consistent with Even Start’s family literacy goal, its

study is focusing on children and adults. Although final results of these

studies are not yet available, HHS and Education have conducted a

Information about the

Effectiveness of Head

Start and Even Start

Is Limited
Page 22 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

number of other studies that provide useful information about the Head

Start and Even Start programs. These studies have prompted both

legislative and programmatic changes intended to improve program

operations.

Although there is little definitive information about the effectiveness or

relative effectiveness of Head Start and Even Start, both programs are

undergoing rigorous evaluations that will provide more definitive

information about their effectiveness. Both programs are currently being

evaluated using an “experimental design” in which groups of children are

randomly assigned either to a group that will receive program services or

to a group that will not receive program services. This is an approach

many researchers consider the best for assessing program effectiveness

when factors other than the program are known to affect outcomes.10 To

illustrate, in the case of a child, many influences affect his or her

development. Nutrition, health, family and community, in conjunction with

education and care, play a role in his or her learning. In light of all these

influences, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the effects of the

program and the other factors that influence a child’s learning. Figure 5

shows how this approach produces information that shows the effect of

the program being studied, rather than the effects of other developmental

influences on young children.

 10See U.S. General Accounting Office, Early Childhood Programs: The Use of Impact

Evaluations to Assess Program Effects, GAO-01-542 (Washington, D.C.: April 16, 2001).

Major Studies Underway to

Assess Program

Effectiveness
Page 23 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 5: Experimental Design for Early Childhood Program Impact Evaluations

Source: GAO Analysis.

Factors Affecting 

Children's Development

Children Are Randomly 

Assigned to Either a 

Group That Receives 

Program Services or a 

Group That Does Not 

Receive Program Services. 

Therefore, the Groups Are 

Fundamentally the Same.

Children Are Tested at 

Various Ages to Plot 

Their Progress...

The Differences in Test 

Results Between the Two 

Groups Are Assessed

Any Differences Found 

Can Be Attributed to the 

Program

Receives 

Program Services

Does Not Receive 

Program Services but 

Can Receive Services 

Through Other Programs

At 3 Years Old

At 4 Years Old

At 5 Years Old

In First Grade

Other 

Learning 

Experiences

Physical/ 

Psychological 

Maturation

Parenting 

Practices

Socioeconomic 

Status Parents’

Education Nutrition

Health Care

Community
Page 24 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Both HHS and Education are using experimental design impact studies

performed by independent research firms to measure the effect of Head

Start and Even Start on the populations they serve. The Head Start study

focuses on children, while the Even Start study focuses on both children

and their parents. Head Start has two studies underway: one for the Head

Start program and a separate effort to evaluate Early Head Start. See table

5 for a summary of the objectives for these studies.

Table 5: Objectives of Ongoing Effectiveness Studies

Study Objectives

The Head Start Study To determine how Head Start affects school readiness in the following areas as compared to children

not enrolled in Head Start:

• cognitive development,

• general knowledge,

• approaches to learning,

• social and emotional development,

• communication skills,

• fine and gross motor skills, and

• physical well-being.

To determine the conditions that make Head Start most effective, such as

• characteristics of children (poverty, ethnicity),

• home environments (single-parent, two-parent families),

• if program is a home-based or a center-based program, and

• characteristics of the program (staffing, curriculum, part- or full-day, one- or two-year, availability

and quality of child care and preschool programs in a particular area).

The Early Head Start Study To determine

• how Early Head Start programs affect child, parent, and family outcomes;

• how children perform on a wide range of cognitive, language and social-emotional development

indicators;

• whether Early Head Start parents demonstrate more supportive and stimulating parenting

behaviors, greater knowledge of infant-toddler development;

• whether Early Head Start families demonstrate more supportive home environments;

• how different program approaches and community contexts affect these outcomes;

• how program implementation and services affect outcomes; and

• how the characteristics of children and families affect outcomes.

The Even Start Study To determine

• the gains children make on measures of school readiness, vocabulary, and language development;

and

• the gains adults make on measures of functional literacy, English acquisition, GED attainment,

employment status, annual income, parent expectations, and parenting skills.
Page 25 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

The Head Start study is a $28.3 million, national impact evaluation that

follows participants over time.11 The study has been divided into two

phases. The first phase, a pilot study designed to test various procedures

and methods, was conducted last year. The second phase is scheduled to

begin in the fall of 2002 and will entail data collection on 5,000 to 6,000 3

and 4 year-olds from 75 programs and communities across the country.

The study will track subjects through the spring of their first grade year,

and results are expected in December 2006. Although Head Start is

scheduled to be reauthorized in 2003, an HHS official told us that the

interim report scheduled for 2003 will likely not contain findings.

The Early Head Start evaluation is a 6-year, $21 million study enlisting

3,000 families and their children, a sample drawn from 17 different Early

Head Start programs. Under the Early Head Start evaluation, study

participants are assessed at 14, 24 and 36 months after birth. The final

report is scheduled for completion in June 2002. The preliminary findings

were released at the beginning of 2001. According to HHS officials, these

early results suggest that participation in Early Head Start has positive

effects on both children and their parents.

The Even Start study is expected to be a 6-year, $3.6 million study tracking

400 Even Start families from 18 program locations and focuses on

measuring children’s readiness for school and adult literacy. The final

report is scheduled for completion in 2003. The current study is actually

the second Even Start impact study conducted using an experimental

design. The first evaluation examined Even Start programs operated by

five grantees. As we observed in our earlier study, the small number of

sites examined by the study and the lack of information on control group

experiences did not permit conclusions about program effectiveness.12

 11This study responds in part to a 1997 GAO recommendation that HHS conduct an

assessment of the impact of regular Head Start programs. See U.S. General Accounting

Office, Head Start: Research Provides Little Information on Impact of Current Program,

GAO/HEHS-97-59 (Washington, D.C.: April 15, 1997).

12U.S. General Accounting Office, Early Childhood Programs: The Use of Impact

Evaluations to Assess Program Effects, GAO-01-542 (Washington, D.C.: April 16, 2001).
Page 26 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Although experimental-design impact evaluations are considered by many

researchers to be the most definitive method of determining the effect of

the program on participants, other types of studies have been conducted

by HHS and Education that provide a wide variety of data valuable to

program managers and policymakers. Often, to answer varied, complex,

and interrelated questions, policymakers may need to use several different

designs to assess a single program. Different study designs are used

depending on the questions to be answered, the nature of the program

being studied and the type of information needed.

For instance, Head Start is collecting outcome data on a nationally

representative sample of Head Start children and families as part of its

Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES). FACES collects a range of

data that includes cognitive, social, emotional and physical development

of Head Start children; the well-being and accomplishments of Head Start

families, and the quality of Head Start classrooms. Since this study does

not employ an experimental design, researchers cannot attribute changes

in children’s performance to the Head Start program.

A study of Early Head Start, which assessed the degree to which the

program is being administered as the Congress intended, has been

completed. This study gathered information on the characteristics of

participants and the services they received. Information from this study

will be integrated with the results of the experimental design study.13

Since Even Start’s first national evaluation,14 Education has also made an

effort to monitor Even Start’s evolution in relation to its legislative

mandate. For example, Even Start’s first study was broad in scope and

designed to examine the characteristics of Even Start participants and

projects, and services provided to assess how closely they resembled what

had been envisioned for the program. The study served as a catalyst for

changes in the program’s legislation, including a shift in focus on those

most in need. As a result of the study, teen parents and previously

ineligible family members can now participate.

 13Department of Health and Human Services, Building Their Futures: How Early Head

Start Programs are Enhancing the Lives of Infants and Toddlers in Low-Income

Families, Summary Report (Washington, D.C, 2001).

14Robert G. St. Pierre and Janet P. Swartz and others, Improving Family Literacy:

Findings from the National Even Start Evaluation (Abt Associates Inc., 1996).

Studies to Date Inform

HHS and Education about

Program Implementation

and Participant Outcomes

but Reveal Little about

Effectiveness
Page 27 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

The Head Start and Even Start programs have similar goals and grantees in

both programs provided similar services to children. However, the

programs differ in the extent to which they served adults. Nevertheless,

their common focus on improved educational outcomes for poor children

and their families calls for coordination between the two programs.

Indeed, federal law requires such coordination. Head Start and Even Start

activities are coordinated with each other on many levels, with federal

coordinating efforts more often focusing on the early childhood

development aspects of the two programs, rather than on broader family

literacy activities. While most Head Start and Even Start grantees have

reported they collaborate with one another in some way, at the program

sites we visited, we found that differences in participants and service areas

may mean that collaboration involves only limited opportunities for

program staff to work together.

Both Head Start and Even Start programs are required to coordinate with

one another and with other organizations to provide child and family

support services.15 As a result, the programs are involved in several efforts

to coordinate their activities with one another at the federal, state and

local levels. Even Start’s primary effort to coordinate directly with Head

Start at the federal level focused on creating complementary systems for

measuring developmental and educational outcomes for young children.

Both programs have defined program goals and performance indicators

for young children in consultation with each other and Even Start is also

developing a new tool for collecting program data that will allow it to

obtain information on early childhood and family outcomes similar to that

collected by Head Start through a separate data collection effort.16

Coordinated data collection is intended to help the HHS and Education

compare programs and determine their combined contribution to

children’s school readiness. However, officials from both departments said

that cooperation in developing outcome measures for other components

of family literacy, such as parenting and adult education, has not occurred

because Head Start has made only a limited effort to measure its

performance in this area.

 1520 U.S.C .6365(9); 42 U.S.C. 9837 (c).

16The Classroom Literacy Environment and Outcomes study, funded by the Department of

Education’s Planning and Evaluation Service, will evaluate the Even Start Family Literacy

Program and the Title I Early Childhood Education Programs. The study is being

coordinated with FACES.

Opportunity Exists

for Additional

Collaboration

between the Two

Programs
Page 28 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

In another federal collaborative effort, Even Start has provided about

$250,000 in funding to support Head Start’s family literacy initiative. The

funding helps to support an evolving “promising practices” national

network of Head Start family literacy programs as well as training on how

to build a family literacy program.17 Lessons learned from model family

literacy initiatives and technical assistance are to be shared with Even

Start grantees.

Other initiatives by Education and HHS support state and local

coordination efforts. For example, HHS and Education have both awarded

grants to states to create coordinating councils that include state-level

administrators of federal and state-funded early childhood and human

services agencies. Head Start has funded Head Start Collaboration Offices

in each state,18 while Even Start has funded an Even Start Consortium in 36

states. Membership in each Even Start consortium must include a

representative from Head Start. Head Start Collaboration Offices are

encouraged to forge links with organizations promoting family literacy,

such as Even Start. In addition, Even Start and Head Start have jointly

sponsored training for state and regional administrators on topics such as

family literacy and interagency coordination. According to an Education

contractor that provides the Even Start consortia with technical

assistance, some state Even Start administrators have also collaborated

with local Head Start officials to identify appropriate state-level

performance indicators for children.19

At the local level, about 74 percent of Even Start grantees reported in

program year 1999–2000 that they collaborated with Head Start in some

way, including receiving cash funding, instructional or administrative

support, technical assistance, and space or job training support from Head

Start grantees. However, the type of support most often reported by Even

Start grantees was technical assistance, especially public relations support

in which Head Start helped to disseminate information about the program

through the community. About one-third of Even Start grantees reported

receiving direct instructional, administrative support or space from Head

 17The Head Start Bureau has contracted with the National Center for Family Literacy to

manage this program and provide technical assistance to Head Start and Even Start

grantees.

18Collaboration Offices have been funded also in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

19All states were required to identify and submit state-level performance indicators to

Education by June 30, 2001.
Page 29 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Start grantees. Instead, Even Start grantees more often received such

support from the public schools.20 About one-fourth of Even Start

programs had formal partnerships with Head Start.

At program sites we visited, we observed that local coordination activities

between Head Start and Even Start grantees seemed to be greater where

grantees were trying to serve the same group of families living in the same

geographic area. Grantees described less interaction between the

programs where the families served were different and service areas did

not overlap. For example, in the state of Washington, where a Head Start

and Even Start program are formal partners and are both administered by

the Renton Public Schools, only a few families are enrolled in both

programs. Local officials said this is partly due to the location of the two

sites in different neighborhoods several miles apart, differences in the ages

of the children served by each program, and differences in the adult

education needs of the families. Renton Head Start does not serve infants

and toddlers, whereas Even Start does. Working Head Start parents can

participate in adult education classes primarily in the evenings, whereas

Even Start offers adult education classes during the day only. Cooperation

between the programs has primarily focused on joint participation in

training events and sharing information on the few families that are

enrolled in both programs.

In contrast, in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, the Even Start

and Head Start programs are not only administered by the same grantee,

but they also are located in the same community center building.

Administrators told us that cooperation and collaboration is extensive,

with a large proportion of families enrolled in both Head Start and Even

Start programs. Albany Park staff said that Even Start and Head Start

administrators work together extensively to coordinate the curriculum

between the programs and to accommodate the work schedules and

learning needs of the many families they serve together.

Although Head Start and Even Start both serve poor children, they differ

because these children’s parents differ substantially in their educational

attainment and literacy. To meet the needs of parents who do not have

 20Specifically, Even Start grantees reported receiving instructional staff, administrative

support, technical staff, space and equipment more often from public school elementary

education and public school adult education departments than from Head Start.

Conclusions
Page 30 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

high school diplomas or who have literacy needs, Even Start, from the

beginning, designed its program to include adult education and literacy as

core services. It also established a system for measuring the progress of

adults in attaining adult education and literacy skills. Although a much

larger percentage of parents with children enrolled in Head Start have high

school diplomas, Head Start is a much larger program. Thus, there are still

thousands of Head Start parents who might need and benefit from

education and literacy services.

Recognizing that these programs serve a similar population of children,

Head Start and Even Start have jointly developed similar outcome

measures for children. This common framework allows policymakers and

program administrators to assess how well each program contributes to

children’s development. Joint development of indicators for adults’

progress has not occurred. Head Start’s current measure of adult literacy

is not a direct measure of adult literacy skills and is not comparable with

indicators used by Even Start. Lacking similar measures for assessing the

educational and literacy level of parents, policymakers lack information

on the relative contribution each program is making toward improving the

education and literacy of the parents it serves.

We recommend that the secretaries of HHS and of Education direct the

administrators of Head Start and Even Start to coordinate the

development of similar performance goals and indicators for adult

education and literacy outcomes and that the effort include the

identification of indicators that specifically measure adult education and

literacy.

In commenting our report, Education observed that the report presents a

comprehensive discussion of the similarities and differences between the

Even Start Family Literacy program and the Head Start program.

Education generally agreed with our presentation. However, since our

recommendation focused on adult literacy indicators, Education thought it

would be helpful if we included a discussion of adult education programs

and the purpose of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act .

Moreover, Education suggested that we recommend that the Head Start

Bureau should coordinate with the department’s Division of Adult

Education and Literacy, not just Even Start, in its development of adult

education-related performance indicators. Education also pointed out that

Even Start’s family literacy goal encompasses school readiness for

Recommendation

Agency Comments

and Our Evaluation
Page 31 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

participating children. (See app. I.) Education also gave us technical

comments that were incorporated as appropriate.

We agree that some additional information on the Adult Education and

Family Literacy Act would provide related contextual information and

included a limited discussion of the act in the report. However, because

the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act programs were not part of

this review, we have kept our recommendation limited to the Head Start

and Even Start programs. This should not be interpreted as precluding the

Secretary of Education facilitating discussions between Head Start and

any other office in Education that could be helpful in developing

comparable indicators. Finally, although one could broadly interpret Even

Start’s family literacy goal as encompassing school readiness, this is not

the stated goal of the program. Therefore we have not added anything to

our discussion of the Even Start goal.

The Head Start Bureau, Administration of Children and Families, said HHS

had no comments on the report.

We are sending copies of this report to the secretaries of Health and

Human Services and the Department of Education and appropriate

congressional committees. Copies will also be made available to other

interested parties upon request. If you have questions regarding this

report, please call me at (202) 512-7215 or Eleanor Johnson, assistant

director, at (202) 512-7209. Other contributors can be found in appendix II.

Marnie S. Shaul

Director, Education, Workforce

 and Income Security Issues
Appendix I: Comments from the Department

of Education

Page 32 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Appendix I: Comments from the Department

of Education
Appendix I: Comments from the Department

of Education

Page 33 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start
Appendix II: GAO Contacts and Staff

Acknowledgments

Page 34 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Virginia Vanderlinde (206) 287-4823, vanderlindev@gao.gov

Sherri Doughty (202) 512-7273, doughtys@gao.gov

In addition to those named above, Tiffany Boiman, James Rebbe, Stan

Stenersen, and Jill Peterson made key contributions to this report.

Appendix II: GAO Contacts and Staff

Acknowledgments

GAO Contacts

Acknowledgments
Related GAO Products

Page 35 GAO-02-348 Head Start and Even Start

Bilingual Education: Four Overlapping Programs Could Be

Consolidated GAO-01-657. Washington, D.C.: May 14, 2001.

Early Childhood Programs: Characteristics Affect the Availability of

School Readiness Information. GAO/HEHS-00-38. Washington, D.C.:

February 28, 2000.

Early Childhood Programs: The Use of Impact Evaluations to Assess

Program Effects. GAO-01-542. Washington, D.C.: April 16, 2001.

Early Education and Care: Overlap Indicates Need to Assess

Crosscutting Programs. GAO/HEHS-00-78. Washington, D.C.: April 28,

2000.

Evaluations of Even Start Family Literacy Program Effectiveness.

GAO/HEHS-00-58R. Washington, D.C.: March 8, 2000.

Head Start: Challenges in Monitoring Program Quality and

Demonstrating Results. GAO/HEHS-98-186. Washington, D.C.: June 30,

1998.

Head Start Programs: Participant Characteristics, Services, and

Funding. GAO/HEHS-98-65. Washington, D.C.: March 31,1998.

Head Start: Research Provides Little Information on Impact of Current

Program. GAO/HEHS-97-59. Washington, D.C.: April 15, 1997.

Title I Preschool Education: More Children Served but Gauging Effect on

School Readiness Difficult. GAO/HEHS-00-171. Washington, D.C.:

September 20, 2000.

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