[Part 1: What Are The Needs of Even Start families?]
[Part 3: What Were The Demographic Characteristics of Even Start Families?]
Chapter 3
The number of families served in Even Start has grown from the first cohort of 2,450 in 1989-90 to 28,500 in 1994-95 to 34,400 in 1996-97 (Exhibit 1.1). In the 1996-97 program year, approximately 35,800 parents and 48,300 children participated in Even Start across 637 projects (Exhibit 3.1).
Exhibit 3.1: 1996-97 Even Start Participants (Estimated for All 637 Projects Operating in 1996-97)
|
Total 96-97 Participants |
New Enrollees (Percent of Total) |
Continuing from 95-96 (Percent of Total) |
|
|
Families |
34,400 |
20,800 (60%) |
13,600 (40%) |
|
Parents |
35,800 |
22,700 (63%) |
13,100 (37%) |
|
Children |
48,300 |
31,400 (65%) |
16,900 (35%) |
|
Note: The numbers in this exhibit are estimates based on family, parent, and child participation records submitted by 605 projects for the 1996-97 program year. However, based on the number of families the 605 projects reported serving in 1996-97, the estimated number of families served by 637 projects would be 35,545. Thus, the numbers in Exhibit 3.1 based on actual participation records are conservative estimates of the program population. Subtracting new 1996-97 participants from all participants resulted in fewer numbers of continuing parents than continuing families. This counter-intuitive result is based upon the fact that no parent participation data were submitted for a small percentage of families that continued from the previous year, even though children in these families participated. Exhibit reads: In 1996-97, an estimated 34,400 families participated across all 637 projects, of which 20,800 (or 60 percent) were new families, and 13,600 were continuing families from 1995-96. |
Repeating the pattern from previous years, in 1996-97, more than 60 percent of parents and children were new enrollees in Even Start; fewer than 40 percent of 1996-97 participants were continuing from the previous year.23 Given that the majority of participants were new enrollees (at least in the last two years of the second evaluation) and given that demographic shifts were also observed during this period, the discussion of participant characteristics will highlight characteristics of new families that enrolled in 1995-96 and 1996-97 ("new enrollees") compared to all participants in 1994-95 through 1996-97.24
Footnotes:
23 Further discussion of retention patterns over time is presented in Chapter 6.
24 Family characteristics were collected only once for each family at the time of their enrollment in Even Start. Some participant characteristics are immutable (e.g., gender, birth date, race/ethnicity, relationship to participating child). However, for continuing families, some of the information (e.g., family income, parent educational level) may have changed since initial enrollment.
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[Part 1: What Are The Needs of Even Start families?] |
|
[Part 3: What Were The Demographic Characteristics of Even Start Families?] |