A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

National Evaluation of The Even Start Family Literacy Program, 1998

Chapter 4

What Are Major Challenges in Implementing Even Start?

Projects were asked to indicate the extent of problems they experienced in terms of ten potential barriers to program implementation. Exhibit 4.9 lists the ten potential barriers and whether each presented a "big" problem or "some" problem to projects.

Exhibit 4.9: Percent of Projects Reporting Barriers to Program Implementation (1996-97)

Four issues were "big problems" for one-fourth or more of projects: improving attendance; improving participants' retention or motivation; obtaining sufficient financial resources; and obtaining adequate transportation. These four issues have consistently been among the most difficult problems cited every year since 1993-94. Projects are meeting the mandate to recruit and serve very needy families. If the extent of participant need increases, the problems of maintaining motivation, retention, and providing support services are likely to continue, and possibly increase.⁵⁷

For each implementation barrier, we asked the projects to report successful solutions they had utilized. Exhibit B.8 in Appendix B lists the innovative and/or frequently mentioned solutions; these solutions repeat, in large measure, the solutions cited in previous years. Solutions for four issues that presented major problems to many projects are summarized in the following paragraphs:

• Improving participants' retention and motivation. Thirty-four percent of projects reported solutions to counteract poor retention and poor motivation among participants. These included: offering families incentives such as field trips, family nights, and merchandise certificates; using letters, phone calls, and home visits to maintain personal contact and to follow up on absences; providing/arranging for social services, transportation and child care to enable more parents to attend; involving parents in planning activities and in parent advisory boards; improving applicant screening; maximizing flexibility of service schedules; encouraging peer support and "buddy" systems among parents; and offering more vocational topics and activities in adult education programs.
• Improving attendance. Thirty-three percent of projects reported solutions that they had implemented to improve participants' attendance. There was considerable overlap with the solutions reported for improving motivation.
• Obtaining sufficient financial resources. Although securing sufficient financial resources was the third major problem cited, only 16 percent of projects reported solutions to this problem. Those that did report solutions in this area primarily wrote grants to obtain funds to supplement their Even Start grants and obtained monetary and in-kind contributions from local businesses and collaborative partners.
• Transportation. Twenty-two percent of projects reported solutions for coping with transportation problems. Solutions included: subsidizing transportation costs for families that have cars; encouraging car pooling among students; purchasing or renting a van to transport families; using public transportation; arranging for families to ride public school buses; having staff use their own cars to transport families; sharing vehicles and transportation costs with other programs; redesigning transportation routes and/or relocating classes; and offering more home-based services.

Footnotes:

⁵⁷ Projects were asked to describe problems they encountered in implementing various aspects of their services. However, to the extent that some of these "features" are legislatively required program elements (e.g., recruiting families most in need, providing support services to enable families to participate), the responses could be interpreted as indicators of statutory/programmatic barriers projects experienced. In that case, recruiting eligible, most-in-need families does not appear to be a problem for most projects, while providing a wide range of support services and retaining these families may be.

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