[Part 4: Principal Components of the Even Start Approach]
[Part 6: Organization of the Report]
Chapter 1
Although the Even Start legislation requires a number of key elements and features to be implemented in all local projects, decisions about how to implement each requirement are left up to the projects. Projects decide on the frequency and duration of program activities, whether the activities are primarily center-based or home-based, and whether to invent educational curricula from scratch or use a hybrid of existing approaches. Projects decide which program components will be provided using Even Start funds and negotiate components to be supported by collaborating agencies.
The number and characteristics of program participants vary greatly across projects, depending on such factors as geographic location, economic and social characteristics of the local population, and the design of the project. On average, each Even Start project serves approximately sixty families each year. However, some large projects in highly populated urban areas enroll several hundred families, while small rural projects may serve twenty to thirty families per year.
Overall, Even Start families are very poor; most have annual incomes at or below the federal poverty level. A majority of parents enter Even Start lacking a few years of high school education (including schooling received outside the United States). However, about 40 percent have only primary school education. Many parents are not native English speakers and have very limited English language abilities.
Projects can decide to focus educational activities for children on a narrower age span than the full birth-through-7 range allowed by the legislation, as long as each project, at a minimum, targets children over a three-year age range. Since the Even Start program began, local projects have consistently offered services for preschool-age children. Services for infants and toddlers, initially offered less frequently, are now available in many more projects.
Most Even Start projects provide center-based early childhood programs, either directly or through collaboration with existing early childhood programs such as Head Start. These center-based programs usually incorporate elements of pre-existing curricula designed for young children. Even Start services to school-age children in Even Start often are provided in conjunction with their regular school activities. Such services may take the form of homework assistance given in before- and after-school child care programs and summer school activities.
Adult education services are provided in a variety of formats by different levels of personnel, ranging from volunteers to certified adult education teachers. Some projects offer adult education classes geared toward completing a GED, while others provide general instruction in basic skills such as reading, writing, and math. In some projects, adult education services are focused chiefly on an English as a second language curriculum. Projects working with adults who have very low-level basic skills may arrange individual tutoring through such programs as Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) or provide other types of one-on-one instruction during home visits.
Parenting education is less frequently available through other sources than are adult and early childhood education services. Thus, many projects rely mostly on Even Start resources to deliver parenting education. These services may take the form of group discussions, hands-on activities, home visits, and presentations by invited speakers. Topics addressed in these activities include helping families make use of available community services, increasing parents' understanding of their role in their children's education, and training parents in child-behavior management.
Educational activities often are offered in institutional settings (e.g., adult education classes in high schools and community colleges and preschool programs associated with community-based organizations or local educational agencies). In some projects, however, particularly those in sparsely populated rural areas, most services may be home-based, involving highly individualized instruction tailored to each family's needs.
Projects vary greatly in the amount of experience in operating the Even Start program. Some projects began with relevant prior experience in providing family educational services and have further refined and enhanced their services over four or more years of Even Start grants. In 1996-97, more than half of all projects had four years or longer of Even Start experience. On the other hand, in recent years, about 15 percent of projects each year have been new Even Start grantees. Commonly, new grantees spend a planning period of three to six months in program development before they begin enrolling families and even more time before all key program elements are fully implemented.
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[Part 4: Principal Components of the Even Start Approach] |
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[Part 6: Organization of the Report] |