Chapter 3
Even Start is designed to target families most in need of its services based on two primary criteria: low income and low level of adult literacy skills. Projects are also encouraged to consider other need-related factors in targeting and recruiting families.
Even Start parents' educational backgrounds vary widely.33 As shown in Exhibit 3.11, a complete lack of formal schooling was rare, reported by only 2 percent of parents enrolling in 1996-97. The highest grade completed for 30 percent of 1996-97 new enrollees was between the 7th and 9th grades; 13 percent of new enrollees had not progressed beyond the primary school grades.
Exhibit 3.11: Percent of Parents, by Educational Background at Enrollment: 1994-95 Participants and 1995-96 and 1996-97 New Enrollees
|
Exhibit reads: 2 percent of parents who enrolled in Even Start in 1996-97 had no schooling before enrolling in Even Start. |
Parents with only a primary school education were more common among older than younger parents, constituting 33 percent of parents 40 years or older (Exhibit 3.12). Given that the average Even Start parent participated in slightly less than 100 hours per year of adult education services (see Chapter 6), many parents face a long and difficult road before completing their basic education goals. The largest group of parents (42 percent) had reached the latter half of high school (10th to 12th grade) but had not graduated.
Even Start has served less well-educated parents since 1992-93. The percentage of adults with no high school diploma or GED at the time of intake in 1992-93 was 79 percent for participating parents. In contrast, 86 percent of 1996-97 enrollees had neither completed high school nor earned a GED.
The percentage of Even Start parents with 9th grade or less education (45 percent in 1996-97) was closely representative of parents with no more than a 9th grade education among all Even Start-eligible families in the general population (47 percent) (Nord, in preparation). However, a substantial percentage of parents who were 30 years of age or older had no more than a 6th-grade education (Exhibit 3.12). For the projects, parents with very low levels of education may pose greater difficulties in such areas as designing an effective curriculum and retaining participants over several years.
In the last three years of the second evaluation, about 15 percent of participants and new enrollees reported having a high school diploma, GED, or post-secondary education at the time of enrollment in Even Start. This was a decline from 21 percent for the 1992-93 participants. Even Start services received by the 1996-97 new parents who enrolled with at least a high school diploma or GED are discussed in Chapter 6.
Exhibit 3.12: Percent of Parents, by Educational Background at Enrollment and Parent Age: 1996-97 New Enrollees
| Exhibit reads: 52 percent of teen parents who enrolled in 1996-97 had reached 10th-12th grades but had not completed high school at the time of enrollment. |
At most, 40 percent of parents had participated in some form of adult education before enrolling in Even Start, mostly at the level of secondary education and GED preparation (Exhibit 3.13). For the majority of parents, Even Start was their first experience with adult education programs. Many parents with very limited educational achievements and/or English proficiency had not participated in any other program to improve these skills before Even Start. Despite the high percentage of parents with limited English proficiency (31 percent of the 1996-97 new enrollees), only 12 percent had participated in ESL programs before Even Start. Similarly, though roughly 15 percent of parents had very limited educational backgrounds (6th grade or lower), only 7 percent of the 1996-97 new enrollees had participated in beginning or intermediate adult basic education before Even Start.
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Exhibit 3.13: Percent of Parents, by Previous Adult Education Experiences: 1994-95 Participants and 1995-96 and 1996-97 New Enrollees |
|
Exhibit reads: 12 percent of parents who enrolled in Even Start in 1995-96 and 1996-97 had participated in ESL services before Even Start. |
Generally, Even Start parents were young adults who had completed some high school grades at the time of intake. These background factors may explain why only a small percentage (less than 8 percent) had participated in employment or vocational training before or at the time of enrolling in Even Start. In addition to lacking a high school diploma or GED, most parents had received no job skill training before Even Start. In the context of welfare reform, Even Start projects may be challenged to incorporate more vocational and employment-training materials and activities in their adult education curriculum while maintaining the primary objective of basic academic and literacy education.
The racial/ethnic composition of Even Start participants has important implications for the design and the delivery of Even Start services. Race/ethnicity is related to the languages families use at home and, for language-minority groups, their levels of English proficiency. In addition, in multi-racial/ethnic communities, educational activities can serve as opportunities for people to interact with members of different racial/ethnic groups, providing benefits for individuals and the community beyond the specific educational objectives. At the same time, racial/ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity increases the difficulty of developing culturally sensitive and appropriate instructional materials and approaches.
The Even Start community includes a wide spectrum of racial/ethnic backgrounds, and notable changes in the relative mix of major racial/ethnic groups have occurred since the program began.34 Exhibit 3.14 shows that since 1992-93 the proportion of Hispanic families in Even Start has increased substantially, from 22 percent to 39 percent among the 1996-97 participants. This rate of increase far surpassed the increase of Hispanics in the national population from 10 percent in 1992 to 11 percent in 1997 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998).
In Even Start, offsetting the increase of Hispanic families, the relative percentages of Caucasian, African American, and Asian families declined between 4 to 8 percentage points. The representation of American Indian families has remained fairly stable between 2-4 percent since 1992-93.
Exhibit 3.14: Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds of Even Start Parents: 1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96, and 1996-97 Participants
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Exhibit reads: 39 percent of parents participating in Even Start in 1996-97 were Hispanic. |
The distributions of racial/ethnic groups varied in different regions of the country. Hispanic families constituted the largest group in the western and southern region projects, while Caucasian families represented the largest group in the Northeast and Midwest (Exhibit 3.15).
While Hispanic and Asian families are represented in all regions, their above-average concentration in some states suggests that the need for ESL programs is particularly critical in these areas. States where more than 50 percent of Even Start parents were Hispanic were Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Iowa, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Texas. Seventy-eight percent of parents enrolled in the Migrant Education Even Start projects were Hispanic, although they constituted only 9 percent of all Hispanic parents participating in Even Start in 1996-97.
Exhibit 3.15: Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds of Even Start Parents, by Region: 1996-97 Participants
|
Racial/Ethnic Group |
Northeast |
South |
Midwest |
West |
|
Hispanic |
29% |
39% |
21% |
65% |
|
Caucasian |
48% |
29% |
46% |
14% |
|
African American |
19% |
30% |
23% |
3% |
|
Asian |
4% |
2% |
6% |
6% |
|
American Indian |
1% |
1% |
4% |
12% |
|
Total |
101% |
101% |
100% |
100% |
|
Note: Some column totals exceed 100 percent due to rounding. Exhibit reads: In 1996-97, 29 percent of families participating in Even Start in the Northeast region were Hispanic. |
African American families represented the second largest racial/ethnic minority group in Even Start (21 percent of all 1996-97 participants). They were most prevalent in the South. States where more than 50 percent of Even Start parents were African American were Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
The Asian and Pacific Islander families comprised a small percentage of the Even Start population (4 percent of all 1996-97 participants). States where more than 10 percent of Even Start parents were Asian were Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
The number of American Indian families in Even Start was small (3 percent of all 1996-97 participants). States where more than 20 percent of Even Start parents were American Indian were Alaska, Oklahoma, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington. Of the 1,236 parents who identified themselves as American Indian, only 473 (38 percent) were enrolled in the nine special set-aside, tribal Even Start projects. The majority participated in state-administered, non-set-aside projects.
As reported earlier, two-parent families represented 45 percent of the new enrollees, and single-parent families represented 37 percent. However, the majority (64 percent) of African American families who enrolled in 1996-97 was headed by single parents, compared to 13 percent of Asian, 20 percent of Hispanic, and 33 percent each of American Indian and Caucasian families. Thus, many African American parents participating in Even Start may experience the social, economic, and parenting difficulties associated with single-parent families.
Economically, the Hispanic and Asian families in Even Start were less impoverished as a group than other racial/ethnic minority groups. However, they were more likely to experience problems related to limited English proficiency than were other families. Thirty-three percent of Hispanic families and 47 percent of Asian families who enrolled in 1996-97 had lived in the United States for five or fewer years at the time of enrollment. These percentages have increased since 1995-96 (Exhibit 3.16).35 Many families who have lived in the United States for only a few years are likely to experience problems with their second language.
Exhibit 3.16: Percent of Parents Who Had Lived in the United States for Five Years or Less at the Time of Enrollment, by Race/Ethnicity: 1994-95 Participants and 1995-96 and 1996-97 New Enrollees
|
Race/Ethnicity of Parents |
1994-95 |
1995-96 |
1996-97 |
|
Asian/Pacific Islander |
44% |
39% |
47% |
|
Hispanic |
32% |
30% |
33% |
|
Caucasian |
2% |
2% |
3% |
|
African American |
3% |
3% |
2% |
|
American Indian |
0% |
1% |
1% |
|
Note: Each percentage represents parents in the specific racial/ethnic and program year group who were recent immigrants compared to all parents of the specific racial/ethnic and program year group. Thus, the percentages do not total to 100 by row or column. Exhibit reads: Among Asian/Pacific Islander families who enrolled in Even Start in 1996-97, 47 percent had lived in the United States for five years or less. |
Thirty-nine percent of parents who enrolled in 1996-97 reported speaking languages other than English at home at the time of enrollment: 32 percent spoke Spanish and 7 percent spoke other languages. The increase from 34 percent among the 1992-93 participants is not surprising, since more than 40 percent of Even Start parents were Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islanders in the last year of the second evaluation. The percentage of parents who speak Spanish at home has increased from 26 percent in 1992-93, reflecting the increase of Hispanics in the Even Start program.
About one-fourth of the new parents who spoke a language other than English at home could speak and/or read English well or very well; about one-third could understand English well or very well.36 The remainder of these parents, however, had difficulties in understanding, speaking, and/or reading English (Exhibit 3.17). They were more limited in their reading and speaking abilities. Nearly one-third of new parents who reported speaking languages other than English at home were unable to read and/or speak English at all.
Exhibit 3.17: Percent of ESL Parents, by Limited English Proficiency Level: 1994-95 Participants and 1995-96 and 1996-97 New Enrollees
|
1994-95 |
1995-96 |
1996-97 |
||||
|
English Language Ability |
Not Well |
Not at All |
Not Well |
Not at All |
Not Well |
Not at All |
|
Reading English |
47% |
30% |
46% |
30% |
45% |
31% |
|
Speaking English |
50% |
26% |
49% |
29% |
48% |
29% |
|
Understanding English |
50% |
21% |
48% |
25% |
48% |
23% |
|
Exhibit reads: 31 percent of non-English-speaking parents who enrolled in 1996-97 could not read English at all. |
Hispanic and Asian parents, on average, had less formal education than Caucasian, African American, and American Indian parents (Exhibit 3.18, the first column). The educational levels of primarily English-speaking groups (i.e., Caucasian, African American, and American Indian parents) averaged around the 10th grade and were relatively similar across these groups. However, the Hispanic and Asian parents' educational experiences averaged around the 8th grade.
Exhibit 3.18: Average Years of Education Completed at Enrollment, by Parent Age and Race/Ethnicity (1996-97)
|
Parent Age |
|||||
|
Across All Age Groups |
Less Than 20 Years |
20-29 Years |
30-39 Years |
40 Years or Older |
|
|
Hispanic |
8.6 |
9.0 |
8.9 |
8.5 |
7.0 |
|
Caucasian |
10.3 |
9.6 |
10.3 |
10.7 |
10.4 |
|
African American |
10.2 |
9.8 |
10.4 |
10.5 |
10.0 |
|
Asian |
8.1 |
8.7 |
8.3 |
8.6 |
6.5 |
|
American Indian |
10.7 |
9.8 |
10.8 |
11.2 |
10.5 |
|
Across All Racial/Ethnic Groups |
9.5 |
9.6 |
9.8 |
9.5 |
8.4 |
|
Note: The years of education correspond to academic grades (e.g., 1=1st grade, 9=9th grade). Exhibit reads: Among parents who participated in Even Start in 1996-97, Hispanic parents younger than 20 years had reached, on average, the 9th grade in high school. |
Within each racial/ethnic group, the average educational levels were fairly constant across parents' age groups, except for Asian and Hispanic parents 40 years or older who averaged more than one grade level lower than younger parents (Exhibit 3.18). Further, 90 percent of Asians and 88 percent of Hispanic parents in this age group had received most of their previous schooling outside the United States (not shown in exhibit).
The composite profile of Even Start parents as a group points to increasing educational needs, and consequently, points to greater challenges for projects trying to meet these needs. Since 1992-93, projects have enrolled higher percentages of parents with no high school diploma or GED and parents with limited English proficiency. Although the majority of Even Start parents have completed all but a few years of high school education, many older parents who are Hispanic or Asian present much greater needs for services. Further, a large portion of Even Start parents had not received any adult education or vocational/employment training before enrolling in Even Start.
For many children, Even Start provided their first experience with early childhood education. The percentage of children enrolling in Even Start with no prior educational experiences increased substantially since 1994-95 from 43 percent to 58 percent (see Appendix B, Exhibit B.2). This increase, at least in part, reflects the rise of infants and toddlers entering the program. Among the 1996-97 new enrollees, the most common pre-Even Start programs that children had experienced were kindergarten and Head Start (12 percent and 13 percent, respectively).
For 52 percent of children who enrolled in 1996-97, Even Start was the only educational program in which they were participating at the time of intake, compared to 38 percent among the 1994-95 participants. The other children who enrolled in 1996-97 were attending primary schools (11 percent), kindergartens (9 percent), and Head Start (9 percent) in addition to Even Start. Most of the educational services these children received in addition to Even Start also were public programs.
Footnotes:
33 Throughout this report, descriptions of parent characteristics refer to parents participating in Even Start because this evaluation collected background information only for participating parents. If one parent from a two-parent family participated, characteristics such as years of education completed and English language proficiency of the participating parent are represented in the analysis results.
34 For most of the analyses that incorporated the "family" race/ethnicity, the race/ethnicity of participating parents was used.
35 For families in which various family members immigrated to the United States at different times, the data collection instrument asked for the longest period of residence in the United States by any family member. This instruction was problematic in cases where family members who immigrated first were not participating in Even Start and the "late comers" were the participants. In these families, "the (longest) length of residence in the United States" may overestimate English proficiency for the family and discount the extent of language difficulty that participating family members experience. The written instructions in the data collection instrument were not revised, but local projects were instructed to report the length of residence for the participating members of the family, as appropriate.
36 These parents constituted 7 percent of all parents who enrolled in 1996-97. Their educational backgrounds ranged from primary grades to postsecondary education. Less than 2 percent of all Even Start parents were not native English speakers, but were proficient in English and had at least a high school diploma.
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 [Part 3: What Where The Demograhic characteristics Of Even Start Families?] |
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 [Part 5: How Many Children Have Special Needs?] |