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 6

To What Extent Did the Very Needy Families Participate in Even Start Services?

In Chapter 3, we began the discussion of evaluation findings with the question: "What are the needs of Even Start families?" and described the profiles of very needy families—roughly 40 percent of all Even Start families who have multiple needs and disadvantages. In Chapter 5, we described projects serving high percentages of very needy families offering more hours of services in adult and parenting education.

Every year, project directors report that maintaining participant motivation and retaining families are two of the most difficult challenges they face. This difficulty is likely to be even greater for the very needy families who must overcome numerous circumstances that may interfere with regular active involvement in educational programs. How well were very needy families able to participate in the services that were offered to them?

In terms of extent of participation, the results are encouraging. Very needy families attended adult and parenting education activities more often than did less needy families (Exhibit 6.15). Children from very needy families were more likely to participate for ten to twelve months (25 percent) than children from less needy families (21-23 percent). (All these differences were statistically significant.)

Despite their greater number of disadvantages, the rate of participation in all core service areas by the very needy families exceeded the rates of less needy families. To assist families in maintaining this level of participation in spite of multiple difficulties, projects provided a greater number of support services to families with five or more needs (on average 3.3 types of services) than to families with little or no special needs (2.6 types of services).

These results all point toward tremendous efforts on the part of very needy families and project staff to accomplish the participants' goals against many odds. Data on the year-end status, however, shed further light on the plight of the very needy families. Despite their greater hours of participation, a lower percentage of families with four or more needs completed their educational goals (5 percent) than families with fewer needs (7-9 percent). Further, somewhat fewer very needy families were continuing at year-end (56 percent), compared to less needy families (58-63 percent) (Exhibit 6.16).

Given that very needy families were less likely to complete the program or to continue participation, what were the reasons for their termination from the program? About the same percentages of very needy and less needy families left the program due to new employment and family crises and conflicts. The very needy families were somewhat more likely to be terminated due to low motivation and attendance than less needy families (10 percent versus 7 percent, respectively). These patterns of findings have been replicated each year since 1994-95.

These findings highlight the difficulty and the importance of assisting the very needy families to maintain full participation. The very needy families did receive more support services than less needy families. These services must be sustained to prevent families from becoming discouraged by multiple barriers that stand in the way of achieving their goals.

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[ What Were the Patterns of Retention? ]

[ Summary of Participation Rates for Other Participant Groups ]