[Insights into Evaluation of the Impact of the Even Start Program]
[Future Directions]
Chapter 9
As a federal funding strategy, Even Start has certainly spawned a new type of program, a program that is clearly providing services not generally available elsewhere—through Head Start, or regular adult literacy or adult education venues. This strategy has a defined life cycle for federal support: four years, with one possible second four-year funding cycle, for a total of eight years. Over the next two to three years, as a substantial number of projects hit the eight-year maximum, what will happen to well-established projects? Will the nature of services provided by those projects who are able to continue on their own vary systematically from services provided by projects that operate with some federal funding? Is it important or even critical for projects to be able to claim that they have even a modest amount of federal funding in order to operate effectively (e.g., to ensure coordination with other federal programs such as Title I, or that families are required to participate in all three core instructional components)? This will represent an interesting question for the next round of evaluation to consider. Further, as the shift from federal to local (including state) support continues, the role of the states in administering Even Start will become more visible. What will the state role be? How might the next national evaluation try to account for the diversity in how states offer programmatic guidance and how they approach these funding decisions?
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[Insights into Evaluation of the Impact of the Even Start Program] | |
[Future Directions] |