DOI: 10.3886/icpsr29462.v3
title: Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), 2002-2006 [United States]
title: Version 3

description: Since its beginning in 1965 as a part of the War on Poverty, Head Start's goal has been to boost the school readiness of low income children. Based on a "whole child" model, the program provides comprehensive services that include preschool education; medical, dental, and mental health care; nutrition services; and efforts to help parents foster their child's development. Head Start services are designed to be responsive to each child's and family's ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage. In the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, Congress mandated that the United States Department of Health and Human Services determine, on a national level, the impact of Head Start on the children it serves. This legislative mandate required that the impact study address two main research questions: What difference does Head Start make to key outcomes of development and learning (and in particular, the multiple domains of school readiness) for low-income children? What difference does Head Start make to parental practices that contribute to children's school readiness? Under what circumstances does Head Start achieve the greatest impact? What works for which children? What Head Start services are most related to impact? The Head Start Impact Study addresses these questions by reporting on the impacts of Head Start on children and families during the children's preschool, kindergarten, and first grade years. It was conducted with a nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 three- and four-year old preschool children across 84 nationally representative grantee/delegate agencies in communities where there are more eligible children and families than can be served by the program. The children participating were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (which had access to Head Start services) or a comparison group (which did not have access to Head Start services, but could receive other community resources). Data collection began in the fall of 2002 and ended in spring 2006, following children through the spring of their first grade year. Baseline data were collected through parent interviews and child assessments in fall 2002. The annual spring data collection included child assessments, parent interviews, teacher surveys, and teacher-child ratings. In addition, during the preschool years only, data collection included classroom and family day care observations, center director interviews, care provider interviews, and care provider-child ratings. The study examined differences in outcomes in several domains related to school readiness: children's cognitive, social-emotional, health, and parenting outcomes (e.g., reading to the child, use of spanking and time out, exposing children to cultural enrichment activities, safety practices, parent-child relationships). It also examined whether impacts differed based on characteristics of the children and their families, including the child's pre-academic skills at the beginning of the study; the child's primary language; whether the child has special needs; the mother's race/ethnicity; the primary caregiver's level of depressive symptoms; household risk; and urban or rural location. The Head Start Impact Study differs from other evaluations of early childhood programs in that it: represents children from the majority of Head Start programs, represents a scaled-up federal program, represents the full range of quality within the national program, employs a randomized control design, the strongest design for testing impacts, examines all domains of children's school readiness, as well as parenting outcomes, follows children through their early years of elementary school, and compares children who have access to Head Start to a control group that includes many children in center-based and other forms of early childhood education programs.
description: The primary purpose of the Head Start Impact Study is to determine whether Head Start has impacts on participating children and their parents and whether any impacts vary among different types of children and families. By impact, we mean a difference between the outcomes observed for Head Start participants and what would have been observed for these same individuals had they not participated in Head Start.
description: The study was designed to separately examine two cohorts of children, newly entering three- and four-year-olds. This design reflects the hypothesis that different program impacts may be associated with different age of entry into Head Start. Differential impacts were of particular interest in light of a trend of increased enrollment of the three-year-olds in some grantee/delegate agencies presumably due to the growing availability of preschool options for four-year-olds. Consequently, the study included two separate samples: a newly entering three-year-old group (to be studied through two years of Head Start participation i.e., Head Start year and age four year, kindergarten and first grade), and a newly entering four-year-old group (to be studied through one year of Head Start participation, kindergarten and first grade). Baseline data was collected through parent interviews and child assessments in fall 2002. Data collection included annual spring child assessments, parent interviews, teacher surveys, and teacher-child ratings. In addition, during the preschool years only, data collection included classroom/family day care observations, center director interviews, care provider interviews, and care provider-child ratings. Outcome measures were developed in four domains: child cognitive development, child social-emotional development, health, and parenting practices.
description: The measures used in this study fall into three categories: (1) child and family demographics and other characteristics collected at baseline that were used as covariates in the impact analyses and also used to form child and family subgroups, (2) child and family outcomes measures (i.e. the variables on which program impacts were estimated), and (3) characteristics of the preschool and early elementary school experiences of the participating children.
description: Weights are attached to each child in the files. Cross sectional weights are provided for each data collection period. In addition three sets of longitudinal weights were created at the end of data collection. Longitudinal weights are to be used with children with assessments at two or more time points (LONGCHTRWT2), children with assessments at three or more time points (LONGCHTRWT3), or children with a teacher survey and teacher child rating in both kindergarten and first grade (LONGTSTRIMWT). The final program and center weights are also provided. Careful consideration should be given to the choice of a weight for a specific analysis since it depends on the type of data analyzed. Each set of weights is appropriate for a different set of data or combination of sets of data. A general description of the types of weights available for use is provided in the User Guide. For a more detailed description about the weights, users should refer to the HSIS Technical Report.
description: Response Rates: Response rates for each instrument by data collection period, cohort (three- or four-year old cohort), and status (treatment or control group) are provided in the User Guide.
description: Presence of Common Scales: All assessments and other outcome measures are described in the HSIS Final Report.
description: The Head Start Impact Study is based on a nationally representative sample of both Head Start programs and children. First time applicants to Head Start in fall 2002 were randomly selected from a nationally representative sample of Head Start programs.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Covariates and Subgroup Variables Data DS2: Fall 2002 Child Assessment Data DS3: Fall 2002 Parent Interview Data DS4: Spring 2003 Child Assessment Data DS5: Spring 2003 Child Experiences Data DS6: Spring 2003 Parent Interview Data DS7: Spring 2003 Teacher Survey Data DS8: Spring 2003 Teacher's Child Report Data DS9: Spring 2003 Center Director Interview Data DS10: Spring 2003 Classroom Observation Data DS11: Spring 2003 Care Provider Interview Data DS12: Spring 2003 Family Child Care Observation Data DS13: Spring 2004 Child Assessment Data DS14: Spring 2004 Child Experiences Data DS15: Spring 2004 Parent Interview Data DS16: Spring 2004 Teacher Survey Data DS17: Spring 2004 Teacher's Child Report Data DS18: Spring 2004 Center Director Interview Data DS19: Spring 2004 Classroom Observation Data DS20: Spring 2004 Care Provider Interview Data DS21: Spring 2004 Family Child Care Observation Data DS22: Spring 2005 Child Assessment Data DS23: Spring 2005 Parent Interview Data DS24: Spring 2005 Teacher Survey Data DS25: Spring 2005 Teacher's Child Report Data DS26: Spring 2006 Child Assessment Data DS27: Spring 2006 Parent Interview Data DS28: Spring 2006 Teacher Survey Data DS29: Spring 2006 Teacher's Child Report Data DS30: Weights DS31: Jackknife Factors
description: All newly entering three- and four-year-olds in all Head Start programs operating in 2002-2003, except those serving only special populations (i.e., programs serving primarily only migrant or seasonal farmworkers and their families, American Indian or Alaskan Native tribal populations, or Early Head Start children), or very new programs.
description: coded on-site observation; cognitive assessment test; face-to-face interview; mail questionnaire; paper and pencil interview (PAPI); on-site questionnaireThe User Guide provides descriptive and technical information about the Head Start Impact Study data files. It begins with an overview of the study, methodology, sampling procedures, response rates, weights and variance estimation. It contains information about the HSIS data collection instruments, measures, and covariates and subgroup variables. In addition, the User Guide provides information on data collection procedures, data preparation, file structure, use of the data weights, and sample programs for using the data in SAS or SPSS. Users seeking additional information on the HSIS study design, implementation, and findings are encouraged to refer to the HSIS Final Report and the Technical Report.For additional information see the Head Start Impact Study Program Web site.