Measurement Options for the Assessment of Head Start Quality Enhancements: Final Report Volume II

Publication Date: September 30, 2005
Current as of:

Introduction

This volume of the final report for the project, Design Options for the Assessment of Head Start Quality Enhancements, provides a compendium of measures that could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of Head Start enhancements. We focus primarily on child outcome measures, although we also present and discuss measures pertaining to intermediate outcomes related both to changes in the program (for example, program management, teacher-child interaction, teacher knowledge and behaviors, and global classroom quality) and to changes in the home, (for example, parenting practices and the emotional and cognitive stimulation available in the home environment), outcomes that some Head Start enhancements could target. We also review measures and variables pertaining to baseline characteristics and conditions that may serve as moderators of program impacts. All of the measures reviewed here have been used in studies of Head Start programs, children, and families.