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 5

What Educational Approaches Do Local Projects Use?

An important element of Even Start is the flexibility that projects have in designing their educational curricula. Projects must provide the three core services to all participating families, but they are encouraged to tailor the delivery of these services to the families they serve.

What educational approaches and curricula have influenced the designs of projects' educational programs? A large percentage of projects in 1996-97 (43 percent to 55 percent) reported having used or incorporated into their programs aspects of the Kenan Family Literacy Approach, High/Scope Curriculum, Parents as Teachers (PAT), and the Head Start program. Other approaches cited by 10 to 22 percent of projects include: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP/PECES), Bowdoin Method, Parents as Partners in Reading, Parent and Child Education (PACE), Portage Home Teaching, and Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) Curriculum. While these existing approaches serve as guides for Even Start services, the majority of projects (60 percent) indicated that their program is best described as "locally developed," tailored to the specific needs of their service areas and participants. These findings are consistent with projects' reports from the earlier years of this second evaluation.

Characteristics of Even Start Curricula

Projects were asked to describe their instructional curricula in terms of four dimensions:

In most educational areas, sites developed their own curricula or used curricula that were combinations of locally-developed and externally-acquired materials. In adult education programs, however, 52 percent of sites used mostly externally-acquired curricula and materials, especially for their adult secondary education and GED programs (the results are summarized in Appendix B, Exhibit B.10).

Most project sites individualized their educational curricula to better match their students' needs and abilities (51 percent to 71 percent, depending on the service area)—particularly in adult education programs. Parenting education activities and ESL for adults tended to include more group activities (60 percent and 42 percent of sites, respectively). On the other hand, adult education and GED preparation classes involved more individual activities (34 percent to 44 percent reporting "Mostly alone"). Finally, across all educational areas, between 36 percent and 46 percent of project sites reported that both learners and instructors shared in planning activities; adult education curricula tended to involve more instructor-selection (44 to 48 percent of sites reporting "Mostly instructor") than either parenting or early childhood education programs.

The four sets of descriptors used to assess the characteristics of Even Start curricula provide a broad brush view of the nature of projects' instructional activities. Undoubtedly there are programmatic variations even among projects that rated themselves similarly on these descriptive scales. However, the use of externally-developed curricula and individualized instruction was fairly consistent across educational components and levels. ESL, parenting education, and early childhood education tended to involve more group activities than adult education. Parenting education classes involved more learner-direction than all other educational components. Ratings on these scales are revisited in Chapter 6 when we discuss the analyses that related a host of family and project characteristics to families' participation rates.

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