[Part 1: Even Start National Evaluation]
[Part 3: Design of the Second Even Start National Evaluation]
Chapter 2
In January 1990, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the first contract for a national evaluation of Even Start. The evaluation, completed in April 1994, was based on the National Evaluation Information System (NEIS), which compiled data from all Even Start projects, and an In-Depth Study (IDS) of ten projects.
The NEIS was designed to collect a common set of data from each Even Start project and Even Start participants. The NEIS provided annual descriptive information about Even Start, including types of projects funded, services offered, collaborative efforts undertaken, and obstacles to program implementation. It also provided detailed information describing the families participating in Even Start, the services they received, and the progress they made in areas such as adult basic skills, children's school readiness, and parent-child interactions.
The second component of the first evaluation, the In-Depth Study, was designed to complement the broad-based NEIS data collected from all Even Start projects with detailed information from a subset of ten purposely selected grantees. The IDS focused on the short-term outcomes of Even Start on adults and children. Five of the ten projects implemented a design where families were randomly assigned to Even Start or a control group. Major findings from the first evaluation were summarized in the final report published in 1995 (St.Pierre et al., 1995).
The first national Even Start evaluation documented the nature of program services and the types of families served by the program. From 1989 to 1992, federal funding for Even Start increased from $14.5 million to $70 million, and the program grew from seventy-six projects serving 2,500 families to 340 projects serving approximately 20,800 families. The program achieved its goal of working with families most in need of Even Start services—66 percent of families had annual incomes under $10,000; 79 percent of adults had not completed high school when they entered the program; and 34 percent spoke languages other than English at home. Though there was great project-to-project variation in most aspects of Even Start, virtually all Even Start projects were able to design and offer the three required core instructional services of adult education, parenting education, and early childhood education. They also offered instructional services in a home-based setting, services to parents and children together, and appropriate support services that enabled families to participate fully in Even Start's core services.
Outcomes for children followed a pattern seen in other studies of preschool programs: early positive effects on cognitive development that diminish over time once control group children start to receive school-based services. Similarly, the pattern of outcomes for adults was consistent with what has been learned from studies of other adult education/social service programs: Even Start projects were able to increase rates of GED attainment but with no commensurate increase in functional literacy. While acquiring a GED may be an important stepping stone to future education or employment, it is discouraging that literacy skills did not appear to improve at the same time. Finally, Even Start families that were intensively engaged in core services did better than families with lower levels of participation.
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[Part 1: Even Start National Evaluation] |
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[Part 3: Design of the Second Even Start National Evaluation] |