![[Table of Contents]](/pubs/SER/EarlyChild/up.gif){kind=small}
[Executive Summary]Early Childhood Reform in Seven Communities - October 1996
This study of how local organizations implement complex government programs was itself a complicated interorganizational initiative. The National Association of State Boards of Education, the Harvard Family Research Project, the U.S. Department of Education, Anne Mitchell (an independent consultant of early childhood policy issues), a panel of technical advisors, a set of authors of commissioned papers, and busy managers and staff members in seven local early childhood agencies all made substantial investments of resources and talents to this project.
The authors are grateful to our Project Officers, Bob Thomas and Carol Chelemer, and staff at the Office of Education Research and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education for conceptualizing and sponsoring this research, for their management acumen, and for substantive advice on our plans, methods, reports, and products.
We are also grateful to members of our Advisory Group, Charles Bruner, Lois Engstrom, Sarah Greene, Norton Grubb, Jim Hamilton, Vonnie McLoyd, Roger Neugebauer, Sheila Smith, and Brenda Turnbull who provided valuable advice on the research design, site selection strategy, and the evolving context of early childhood policy and practice.
The study could not have been accomplished without the cooperation of our seven case study sites. Directors, staff members, parents, and children were unfailingly gracious in working with us during our interviewing, focus groups, and observation of classrooms, meetings, home visits, and other project activities. Thanks to Ethel Seiderman and the late Barbara Shaw of the Parent Services Project; Jo Ann Williams at Child Development, Inc.; Diane "Rocky" Rocketenetz and Rich Hulefeld in Covington, Kentucky; Pat Noonan and Pat Bryant in Jersey City, New Jersey; Chris Carman at Inn Circle in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Elaine Draeger at Sheltering Arms, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia; and Susan Neddeau, Colleen Alivado, and Patsy Jones of the FACE Program.
Heather Weiss, Director of the Harvard Family Research Project helped to conceptualize the research design, provided strategic guidance on the worlds of public policy and family support initiatives, and contributed in many ways to the shape and quality of our final products. Other members of the Harvard Family Research Project staff also contributed research and editorial support, in particular Tamara Beauboeuf, Crystal Byndloss, Margaret Dowley, Arlie Woodrum, and Kate Wrean.
A number of people at the National Association of State Boards of Education were of assistance over the course of this project, including Gene Wilhoit and Brenda Welburn, Executive Directors; Virginia Roach, Deputy Director; David Kysilko, Director of Publications; Adele Robinson, Director of Governmental Affairs; and Joan Waters and Nancy Deoudes, Support Staff.
Anne Mitchell of Early Childhood Policy Research, Inc. was a member of our original project team, and provided valuable input to the overall conceptualization of the research, to site selection and research methods, and to our overall strategy for dissemination over the course of the project. She also completed a comprehensive literature review which formed the basis for Chapter II in this report.
Helpful comments on earlier versions of this report were received from Gina Adams, Stacie Goffin, Sheila Smith, Barbara Willer, Heather Weiss, and Anne Mitchell.
-###-