Chapter 5: Study Status

The Head Start Impact Study began in October 2000 with initial activities focused on developing the study design, recruiting Head Start grantee/delegate agencies, and field testing study measures and procedures. The selection and recruitment of participating Head Start centers, families, and children continued through spring 2002, culminating with the collection of child, family, and program data in fall 2002 and spring 2003. Activities are on schedule for the planned final report of findings in December 2006. Accomplishments to date include:

• During the 2000-01 Head Start year, conducted an advance field test involving eight Head Start grantees, 21 Head Start centers, and approximately 400 children to test the feasibility of all study procedures.
• During the 2001-02 Head Start year, completed the selection and recruitment of a national probability sample of 84 grantee/delegate agencies and 378 Head Start centers to participate in the national study.
• During summer 2002, completed random assignment, in all recruited centers, resulting in 4,750 children being randomly assigned to either a Head Start treatment group or a non-Head Start control group.
• Completed fall 2002 data collection, with high overall response rates for both child assessments and parent interviews with a combined rate of 80 percent for fall 2002.
• Completion of data entry and checking for errors, as well as statistical weighting of the fall 2002 data. The initial assessment of the psychometric properties of the child assessments is currently underway.
• Completion of spring 2003 data collection with approximately 83 percent response rates for both child assessments and parent interviews.
• Have started data entry and checking for errors, as well as statistical weighting. Initial assessment of psychometric properties for the spring 2003 data collection will continue on an ongoing basis following the completion of this process for the fall 2002 data.
• A meeting was held of the Advisory Committee on Head Start Research on June 16 and 17, 2003, to update the committee on the progress of the study activities and to seek additional input and recommendations on the remaining work of the study. A summary of the Advisory Committee meeting can be found at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/research/hsreac/index.htm

Overall, Advisory Committee members commented positively on the research design of the Impact Study and the success of implementation to date, especially given the complexity of the Congressional mandate and the ethical concerns of randomly assigning low-income children to a control group. Several members noted that when completed, the Impact Study will provide a rich array of data that will not only meet the Congressional requirements, but will also allow for an extensive range of secondary data analyses.

A final report of the study findings is scheduled for December 2006.