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CHAPTER I
Cognitive Gains Made by Head Start Children and Their Achievement in Kindergarten
The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) provides information about the knowledge and skills that children who attend Head Start have when they enter the program and the gains they make during the Head Start year and the first year of elementary school. The information is helpful in assessing how well the Head Start program is performing, and what changes and reforms may be needed to improve program performance. The information is gained through direct, one-on-one assessment of nationally representative samples of Head Start students in the fall and spring of the program and at the end of their kindergarten year. Although there is no non-Head Start comparison group in FACES, the use of assessment measures with national norms permits comparisons between the skills of children in the sample and children of the same ages in the norming samples.5
FINDINGS
Children who entered Head Start in the fall of 2000 had academic skill and knowledge levels well below national averages. They were comparable to the levels found in the initial round of FACES, conducted three years earlier in fall 1997. As in the earlier study, children made significant gains during the Head Start year, most notably in the areas of vocabulary knowledge and pre-writing skills. In the areas of letter recognition and knowledge of book and print conventions, children in 2000-2001 made significantly greater gains than Head Start children had in 1997-1998. In the areas of vocabulary and early math, gains were similar across the two studies. Children who entered Head Start with lower skill levels made greater gains than those who entered with higher skill levels, as was the case in the first round of FACES.
A. Emergent Literacy and Mathematics Skills of Head Start Children Compared With Those of the General Population of Preschoolers
A primary focus of FACES was to measure the knowledge and skills children brought with them when they entered the Head Start program, and how this varied across academic skill areas. Cognitive measures with national norms available for comparison with the Head Start results included tests in vocabulary, early writing, letter identification, and early math.
Majority Entered Head Start With
Academic Skills Below National Norms
As in FACES 1997, the majority of children who entered Head Start
in fall 2000 came into the program with early literacy and numeracy
skills that were less developed than those of most children of the
same age. This was to be expected with a group of young children who
came from families with low parent education and income levels. The
association between family socioeconomic status and children’s
achievement has often been demonstrated in education research (e.g.,
Phillips, Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov, & Crane, 1998). FACES
found that Head Start entrants had a mean standard score of 85.3 on
the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III). They had mean standard
scores of 85.1 on the Dictation (early writing) task of the Woodcock-Johnson
Revised (WJ-R) achievement battery; 87.9 on the Applied Problems (early
math) task, and 92.4 on the Letter-Word Identification (pre-reading)
task. Standard scores are constructed to have an overall mean of 100
and a standard deviation of 15, and are based on a sample of children
of a given age, across all income levels. Thus, the literacy and number
skills that the average Head Start child brought to the program were
from half a standard deviation to a full standard deviation below
national averages. These scores imply that the typical Head Start
child was at about the 16th percentile in vocabulary and early writing
skills, at about the 31st percentile in letter recognition, and at
about the 21st percentile in early math, when compared to the full
spectrum of American children in the same age range.
Diversity in Skills at Program
Entry
Though most children had below-average literacy skills, FACES 2000
found considerable diversity in the Head Start population (Figure
1.1). For example, mean standard scores for the highest quarter of
children entering Head Start were at national averages: 102.8 in vocabulary,
104.0 in letter recognition, 104.7 in early math, and 101.1 in early
writing skills. Thus, these students would rank above the 50th percentile
when compared to all U.S. preschoolers. On the other hand, mean standard
scores for the lowest quarter of Head Start children were two standard
deviations or more below national averages: e.g., 67.0 in vocabulary
and 70.8 in early writing skills. These scores would rank the bottom
quarter of Head Start students in the lowest 2 percent of all U.S.
preschoolers. Similar diversity of skills was found in FACES 1997.
B. Change in Knowledge and Skills Over the Head Start Year
A primary focus of FACES was to measure the extent of change in children’s knowledge and skills from the fall to the spring of the Head Start year, especially in comparison to national averages for all children of the same ages. These changes were meant to serve as key indicators of the extent to which programs were enhancing children’s school readiness.
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Gains in Vocabulary Knowledge
and Writing Skills
Children in Head Start showed significant expansion of their vocabularies
between the beginning and end of the program year. By the spring of
the Head Start year, mean standard scores were 89.1 for the PPVT-III
and 87.1 on the WJ-R Dictation writing task. The mean standard score
on the vocabulary test went up by 3.8 points ((p < .001),
or more than one quarter of a standard deviation. The mean standard
score on the writing task increased by 2.0 points ((p < .05), or .15 of a standard deviation (Figure 1.2). The vocabulary
gain seen in FACES 2000 was very comparable to that observed in FACES
1997, while the early writing gain, though still significant, was
smaller (p = .0028)6 (Figures 1.3, 1.4).
While the gains shown by Head Start children from fall to spring were relatively modest, they fell within the range that has been deemed “educationally meaningful” (Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1984). They were in line with earlier findings on the immediate effects of Head Start on children’s intellectual performance (Haskins, 1989, p. 277; McKey et al., 1985). On the other hand, the vocabulary gains found in Head Start were about half the size of standard-score gains in IQ and achievement that have been obtained in some earlier studies of more intensive interventions with children from disadvantaged families (Barnett, 1998, pp. 13-14).
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Most children left Head Start with vocabulary knowledge and early writing skills that were still below national averages.
Greater Gains in Letter Recognition
and Book Knowledge
In recent years, the national Head Start program has been stressing
the importance of early literacy skills like letter recognition.
FACES 2000 found that Head Start children were making greater gains
in letter recognition from fall to spring than was the case in 1997-1998.
In fall 2000, the typical child was found to enter the program knowing
about four letters (3.9) of the alphabet, and to leave knowing about
nine (8.9). The equivalent gain observed in FACES 1997 was from
about 3 letters (3.2) to seven letters (7.2).7 This
meant that children in the FACES 2000 cohort held their own in terms
of standard score gains on the WJ-R Letter-Word Identification task,
whereas in FACES 1997, they actually showed a small decline in standard
scores from fall to spring (Figure 1.5). The difference between
the change observed in FACES 2000 and that observed in FACES 1997
was statistically significant (p = .0005).
While this finding indicates that children were making more progress in Head Start in the important pre-reading skill of letter recognition, the result shows that Head Start programs still have a way to go in bringing children closer to or even up to the national norm. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the Kindergarten Class of 1998 found that a majority of U.S. children knew the letters of the alphabet upon entering kindergarten (Zill & West, 2001). Preliminary findings from randomized intervention studies conducted in Head Start programs in New York state as part of the Head Start Quality Research Consortium studies suggest that children in Head Start can make strikingly larger gains in letter recognition and related skills with certain research-based, literacy-focused curricula (Fischel, Storch, Spira, & Stolz, 2003).
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Head Start children in FACES 2000 demonstrated greater gains in knowledge of book and print conventions than they had in FACES 1997. In both studies, when Head Start children were asked, they could show the assessor the front of a storybook and open it to where the adult should start reading. But children in FACES 1997 showed no advance in this sort of book knowledge between the fall and the spring. Mean scores on this task were 1.83 in the fall and 1.85 in the spring. By contrast, in FACES 2000, mean scores went from 1.61 in the fall to 2.46 in the spring. This was a statistically significant gain ((p < .0001), with the raw score change equal to two thirds of a standard deviation. The difference in fall-spring gains from FACES 1997 to FACES 2000 was statistically significant (p < .0001).
Little Gain in Early Math Skills
Children in FACES 2000 showed very slight gains in early math skills
with respect to national averages. Their mean standard scores on the
WJ-R Applied Problems task went from 87.9 in the fall to 89.0 in the
spring. While the gain of 1.2 standard score points was statistically
significant ((p < .05), it amounted to only .08 of a standard
deviation. The difference in fall-spring gains from FACES 1997 to
FACES 2000 was not statistically significant (p = .87) (Figure
1.6).
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Greater Gains for Those Who Entered
With Lower Skills
Like the 1997 study, FACES 2000 found that children who came to Head
Start with lower early literacy and math skills made greater gains
in the program than those who came with average skills (Figure 1.7).
For example, whereas the average gain in vocabulary standard scores
was 3.8 points, the mean gain for those in the lowest quarter of the
distribution was 8.4 points. This amounted to more than half of a
standard deviation. By contrast, children who were in the highest
quarter of the distribution in the fall showed no gain (-0.5) in standard
scores by spring. (Differences between mean gain in lowest quartile
and overall mean gain, in highest quarter and overall mean gain, and
between mean gains in lowest and highest quartiles were all statistically
significant, (p < .001.) However, this finding may be
related in part to the tendency of scores to move close to the population
mean over successive assessments.
FACES 2000 found a similar picture with respect to changes in early writing and math skills (Figure 1.7). With respect to letter recognition, there was evidence of a slight but significant increase in standard scores (1.26, or .08 of a standard deviation) for children in the lowest quartile in the fall. In FACES 1997, the lowest quartile group had not shown even this relatively slight gain in standard scores.
Despite the greater gains shown by children who entered in the lowest quarter of the Head Start population, these children ended the year with skills that were still well below average.
C. Emergent Literacy Gains of Language-Minority Children
In FACES 2000, children whose English-language skills were not sufficient to enable them to be assessed fully in English, and whose parents spoke Spanish at home, were given a Spanish-language version of the FACES battery in the fall. In the spring, these children received the full assessment battery in English. However, these English-language learners also received two additional tests that enabled the research team to track their language development and pre-reading skills in both English and Spanish. In the fall, they received two components of the battery—vocabulary and letter identification—in English as well as Spanish. In the spring, they received the same two components in Spanish as well as English. Thus, the levels of proficiency achieved and the gains made in vocabulary and letter identification could be determined in both languages.8
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The dual assessment procedure made it possible to investigate the following research questions:
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How do the literacy levels and gains of language-minority children in Head Start compare with those of language-majority children?
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How do the literacy levels and gains of these children vary across the two languages?
Of course, in comparing children to test norms, a different set of norms has to be used for test performance in Spanish. The Spanish-language knowledge of Head Start children from Spanish-speaking homes was compared to norms based on samples of children drawn in Mexico and Puerto Rico combined (Dunn, Padilla, Lugo, & Dunn, 1986).
Knowing the Meaning of English
Words
Spanish-speaking children in Head Start entered with English vocabulary
skills considerably behind those of children who came from households
where English was the primary language spoken in the home. They made
greater gains over the course of the Head Start year. But their English
vocabulary knowledge remained behind that of other children at the
end of the year. The mean standard score on the PPVT-III for Spanish-speaking
children in fall 2000 was 59.7, two standard deviations below the
national norm. By the spring, their mean score had risen to 66.7,
a gain of 7 points. But this was still more than 20 points (or one
and a third standard deviations) lower than the mean score in vocabulary
for language-majority children in Head Start (Figure 1.8).
When the vocabulary scores of language-minority and language-majority children were added together, the combined Head Start student population began the year with a mean standard score of 81.4, and ended the year with a mean standard score of 85.7. This represented a gain of 4.3 standard score points.
Identifying Letters in English
Spanish-speaking children in Head Start entered with English letter
identification skills that were only slightly behind those of language-majority
children. However, they did not make gains in these skills over the
course of the year, at least not in comparison to national averages.The
mean standard score of Spanish-speaking children tested in English
on the WJ-R Letter-Word Identification test for Spanish-speaking children
in fall 2000 was 89.5, about two thirds of a standard deviation below
the national norm. By the spring, their mean score was 87.5, which
was not significantly different from the fall score (Figure 1.9).
When the letter identification scores of language-minority and language-majority children were added together, the combined Head Start student population began and ended the Head Start year with a mean standard score of 91.9.
Changes in English Language Skills
Versus Changes in Spanish Skills
The Spanish vocabulary knowledge of Spanish-speaking Head Start children
was quite comparable, in standard score terms, to the knowledge levels
of English-speaking Head Start children in English. While the Spanish
children made gains in English vocabulary knowledge during the year,
they did not lose ground in Spanish vocabulary knowledge. The mean
standard score for Spanish vocabulary knowledge was 84.9 in the fall
and 84.4 in the spring (Figure 1.10).
The ability of Spanish-speaking Head Start children to identify letters of the alphabet in Spanish was comparable, in standard score terms, to the ability of English-speaking Head Start children to identify letters in English. It was also comparable to their own ability to identify letters in English. However, the Spanish-speaking children showed no gains against norms in their ability to identify letters in either language. The mean standard score for Spanish letter identification was 89.6 in the fall and 86.2 in the spring (Figure 1.10).
D. Growth of Knowledge and Skills in Kindergarten
Assessment data are not yet available from FACES 2000 on the knowledge and skills of Head Start graduates by the time they reach the end of kindergarten. But analysis show something about the kindergarten experiences of Head Start graduates from longitudinal follow-ups to FACES 1997. For example, whereas Head Start children in 1997-1998 could identify about one third of the letters of the alphabet by the end of Head Start, by the end of kindergarten 82 percent could identify most or all letters. More than half—52 percent—could recognize beginning sounds of words by the end of kindergarten.
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Analysis from assessments also show in follow-ups to FACES 1997 that Head Start children continue to make advances against national norms during their first year in elementary school. For example, vocabulary standard scores went from 88.0 at the end of Head Start to 92.7 at the end of kindergarten. This was an increase of 4.7 points, or nearly one third of a standard deviation. Similarly, early math scores went from a mean standard score of 86.5 at the end of Head Start to a mean of 92.3 at the end of kindergarten. This was a gain of 5.8 points, or nearly 40 percent of a standard deviation. Early writing scores showed a gain in kindergarten of more than half a standard deviation.
They went from 86.5 at the end of Head Start to 92.3 at the end of kindergarten, an increase of 8.3 points (Figure 1.11). Similar analysis will be accomplished on follow-ups to the FACES 2000 sample, once data collection is completed in spring 2003.
Another important finding from the follow-up studies to FACES 1997 was that children’s cognitive scores in Head Start were predictive of their achievement by the end of kindergarten. Not only were children’s scores at the end of Head Start predictive, the size of the gains they made in Head Start from the skill levels at which they entered the program were predictive of later achievement. The evidence for these conclusions is presented in Chapter VII of this report. These conclusions support the predictive validity of the cognitive assessments carried out in FACES.
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CONCLUSIONS
Cognitive assessment data from FACES 2000 showed that most children entered Head Start with early literacy and math skills well below national averages. The typical Head Start child was found to enter at about the 16th percentile in vocabulary and early writing skills, at about the 31st percentile in letter recognition, and at about the 21st percentile in early math, when compared to the full spectrum of American children in the same age range. There was considerable diversity in skill levels among Head Start children, however. The highest quarter of Head Start children were at or above the national average (50th percentile) in early language and number skills, while the lowest quarter of children ranked in the lowest 2 percent of all U.S. preschoolers in these areas.
Children made gains toward national averages during the Head Start year, especially with respect to vocabulary knowledge and early writing skills. Children showed greater progress in letter recognition skills than they had in 1997-1998, but they still did not advance as much as the typical child in this area. Nor did they make gains toward national averages with respect to early math skills. Children who entered the program with lower levels of knowledge and skill showed larger gains during the program year, yet still lagged considerably behind national averages. Children who started with higher assessment scores in the fall wound up with higher scores in the spring, but showed less dramatic gains. Language-minority children in Head Start showed significant gains in English vocabulary skills without declines in their Spanish vocabulary skills. They did not gain in letter recognition skills.
Based on follow-up of the 1997-1998 cohort, Head Start graduates showed further progress toward national averages during kindergarten. Gains of between a third to more than half a standard deviation were observed in vocabulary, math, and writing skills during kindergarten. Most Head Start graduates could identify the letters of the alphabet by the end of kindergarten and more than half could recognize beginning sounds of words. Nevertheless, Head Start graduates remained behind their more advantaged peers in early achievement. The size of gains that children made while in Head Start were predictive of their achievement levels by the end of kindergarten. This seems to suggest that efforts to bolster achievement gains in Head Start should result in higher achievement for program graduates in early elementary school.
REFERENCES
Barnett, W.S. (1998). Long-term effects on cognitive development and school success. Pp. 11-44 in Early Care and Education for Children in Poverty, edited by W.S. Barnett & S.S. Boocock. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Dunn, L.M., Padilla, E.R., Lugo, D.E., & Dunn, L.M. (1986). Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Fishel, J.E., Storch, S.A., Spira, E.G., & Stolz, B.M. (2003). Enhancing emergent literacy skills in Head Start: First year curriculum evaluation results. Presented at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development,Tampa, FL.
Haskins, R. (1989). Beyond metaphor:The efficacy of early childhood education. American Psychologist, 44(2), 274-282.
McKey, R.H., Condelli, L., Ganson, H., Barrett, B.J., McConkey, C., & Plantz, M.C. (1985). The impact of Head Start on children, families, and communities. (DHHS Publication No. OHDS 85-31193). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Phillips, M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Duncan, G.J., Klebanov, P., & Crane, J. (1998). Family background, parenting practices, and the black-white test score gap. Pp. 103-145 in The Black-White Test Score Gap, edited by C. Jencks & M. Phillips, Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Rosenthal, R. & Rosnow, R.L. (1984). Essentials of behavioral analysis: Methods and data analysis. NewYork: McGraw-Hill.
Zill, N., & West, J. (2001). Entering kindergarten: A portrait of American children when they begin school. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.
5This chapter focuses on cognitive measures with national norms. See Chapter II for information about social-emotional measures and the Appendix for a complete listing of measures used in FACES.(back)
6The fall and spring mean scores and gains are those for children who were assessed in English in both fall and spring. These figures are comparable to those reported for FACES 1997. For information about the mean scores and gains of Spanish-speaking children from language-minority families, see below.(back)
7The mean number of letters known out of the entire English alphabet are estimates based on the mean scores children received on the WJ-R Letter-Word Identification (LWI) task. Estimates were derived using a known relationship between scores on the WJ-R LWI and a Letter Naming task in which children are shown all the letters of the alphabet. There are no national norms on the number of letters of the alphabet the typical four-year-old can name. For further details, see the Appendix .(back)
8English-language learners whose home language was something other than Spanish were not given any direct assessment in their native languages. They received only the full assessment battery in English in the spring. For further details, see the Appendix.(back)
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