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Making a Difference in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers and Their Families:
The Impacts of Early Head Start

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TITLE PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT FOR THE EVALUATION
   
1. OVERVIEW OF THE FINDINGS
2. EARLY HEAD START, ITS HISTORY, AND ITS DEVELOPMENT AS A NATIONAL PROGRAM
1. The Role of Legislation and Advisory Committees
   
2. The National Early Head Start Program
   
3. The Program’s Policy Context
   
4. The Research Context for the Early Head Start Program and Its Evaluation
   
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ADDRESSED IN THE EARLY HEAD START IMPACT STUDY
1. Central Questions of the Study
   
2. Conceptual Framework
   
3. Overarching Hypotheses
   
4. THE EARLY HEAD START PROGRAMS, FAMILIES, AND COMMUNITIES
1. The 17 Early Head Start Research Programs
   
2. The Families That Early Head Start Research Programs Served
   
3. The Communities Served by Early Head Start Research Programs
   
4. How Early Head Start Research Programs Compare with All Funded Programs from Which They Were Selected
   
5. OVERVIEW OF THE EVALUATION
1. Description of the Evaluation
   
2. The Early Head Start Research Consortium
   
3. Overview of the Implementation Study and Its Findings
   
   
2. EVALUATION DESIGN, DATA, AND ANALYTIC APPROACHES
   
   

   1. STUDY DESIGN
   1. Site Selection
      
   2. Sample Enrollment
      
   3. Random Assignment
      
      
   2. DATA SOURCES AND OUTCOME MEASURES
   1. Data Sources
      
   2. Response Rates
      
   3. Timing of Interviews
      
   4. Outcome Variables
      
   5. Analysis Samples
      
   3. ANALYTIC APPROACHES
   1. Global Analysis
      
   2. Targeted Analysis
      
   3. Criteria for Identifying Program Effects
      
      

3. PARTICIPATION IN EARLY HEAD START SERVICES
   
1. DATA SOURCES
2. LEVELS OF OVERALL PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM SERVICES
3. DURATION OF PROGRAM PARTICIPATION
4. LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION IN CORE CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
1. Early Head Start Home Visits
   
2. Early Head Start Center-Based Child Care
   
   
5. USE OF CHILD CARE SERVICES
6. RECEIPT OF OTHER CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
1. Parenting Education and Parent-Child Group Socializations
   
2. Child Health Services
   
3. Services for Children with Disabilities
   
7. FAMILY DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
   
   1. Case Management
      
   2. Family Health Care
      
   3. Family Mental Health Care
      
   4. Other Family Development Services
      
      

8. ENGAGEMENT IN PROGRAM SERVICES
9. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS




4. EARLY HEAD START IMPACTS ON SERVICE RECEIPT
   

1. GLOBAL IMPACTS ON SERVICE RECEIPT AND SERVICE INTENSITY
1. Impacts on the Receipt of Core Child Development Services
   
2. Impacts on Receipt of Other Child Development Services
   
3. Impacts on Receipt of Family Development Services
   
2. DIFFERENCES IN PROGRAM IMPACTS ON RECEIPT OF SERVICES ACROSS SUBGROUPS OF PROGRAMS
1. Difference in Impacts on Service Receipt by Program Approach
   
2. Differences in Program Impacts on Service Receipt by Implementation Status
   
3. IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILD AND FAMILY OUTCOMES
   
   
5. EARLY HEAD START PROGRAMS’ OVERALL IMPACTS ON CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT, PARENTING, AND FAMILY WELL-BEING
   
   

   1. HYPOTHESES AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
   2. OUTCOME MEASURES USED AT AGE 3
      
   1. Child Development Measures
      
   2. Parenting and Home Environment Measures
      
   3. Measures of Parent Health and Mental Health, Family Functioning, and Self-Sufficiency
      
   4. Data Sources for Child, Parent, and Family Measures
      
      
   3. OVERALL IMPACTS ON CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT
      
      1. Overall Impacts on Cognitive and Language Development
         
      2. Overall Impacts on Children’s Social-Emotional Development
         
         
   4. OVERALL IMPACTS ON PARENTING
      
      1. Parenting Behavior and the Home Environment
         
      2. Parenting Knowledge
         
      3. Summary of Impacts on Parenting
         
         

   5. OVERALL IMPACTS ON FAMILY WELL-BEING
      

      1. Parents’ Health and Mental Health and Family Functioning
         
      2. Economic Self-Sufficiency
         
         

   6. HOW IMPACTS ON PARENTING AT AGE 2 MAY HAVE INFLUENCED CHILD OUTCOMES AT AGE 3
      
      1. Mediators of Cognitive and Language Development
         
      2. Mediators of Child Engagement of Parent and Sustained Attention to Objects
         
      3. Mediators of Negative Aspects of Children’s Social-Emotional Development
         
      4. Synopsis of Estimates from the Mediated Analyses
         
         

   7. FATHERHOOD RESEARCH AND LOCAL RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS
      
      
   8. CONCLUSIONS
      
      

6. VARIATIONS IN IMPACTS BY PROGRAM APPROACH AND PATTERN OF IMPLEMENTING KEY FEATURES OF THE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
   
   1. HOW CHILD DEVELOPMENT, PARENTING, AND FAMILY WELL-BEING IMPACTS VARIED BY PROGRAM APPROACH
      
      1. Child Development
         
      2. Parenting
         
      3. Parents’ Physical and Mental Health and Self-Sufficiency
         
      4. Exploring the Relationships Between Parenting Impacts When Children Were 2 and Child Impacts When Children Were 3 by Program Approach
         
      5. Understanding Program Services and Their Impacts

       

   2. HOW CHILD DEVELOPMENT, PARENTING, AND FAMILY WELL-BEING IMPACTS VARIED BY PATTERNS OF IMPLEMENTATION
      
      1. Child Development
         
      2. Parenting
         
      3. Parent Mental Health and Self-Sufficiency
         
      4. The Importance of Implementation

       

   3. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
      
      
7. DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF EARLY HEAD START PROGRAMS ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES WITH DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS

 

1. IMPORTANT VARIATIONS IN PROGRAM IMPACTS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES WITH DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS
   
   1. Guiding Hypotheses
      
   2. Approach to Estimating and Interpreting Subgroup Impacts
      
   3. Variations in Impacts By Mother’s Pregnancy Status at Enrollment
      
   4. Variations by Child’s Birth Order
      
   5. Variations in Impacts Among Teenage and Older Mothers
      
   6. Variations in Impacts by Race/Ethnicity and Language
      
   7. Variations in Impacts By Number of Demographic Risk Factors
      
   8. Variations in Impacts By Mothers’ Mental Health Status
      
   9. Other Subgroups Examined
      
      

2. THE IMPORTANCE OF PARTICULAR SUBGROUP FINDINGS FOR PROGRAMS AND POLICY
   
   1. Working With Teenage Parents and Their Children
      
   2. Engaging Depressed Mothers
      
   3. Working with High-Risk Families
      
      

3. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
   
   
8. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
   
   
   1. KEY FINDINGS FROM THE ANALYSIS OF EARLY HEAD START IMPACTS
   2. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROGRAMS, POLICY, AND RESEARCH
   3. NEXT STEPS

   
   
   REFERENCES

   LIST OF TABLES

   LIST OF FIGURES

   LIST OF BOXES

VOLUME II: FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

APPENDIX B: DATA COLLECTION, SOURCES OF NONRESPONSE, AND FATHER STUDY RESPONSE RATES

APPENDIX C: OUTCOME MEASURES, PSYCHOMETRICS, AND IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES

APPENDIX D: ANALYTIC ISSUES AND DETAILS

APPENDIX E: SUPPLEMENTAL TABLES BY CHAPTER

VOLUME III: LOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNDERSTANDING THE PROGRAMS AND THEIR IMPACTS

 

 

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