The Even Start program, designed to demonstrate ways of implementing and delivering family literacy services, has had strong evaluation requirements since its inception. An analysis was conducted to determine the types of evaluations programs had conducted and their findings concerning Even Start outcomes. A convenience sample of 4 state…

Until the past few years, our nation's approach to designing federal programs for preschool-age children lacked coherence and paid little attention to what had worked (and not worked) in the past. In this article, the authors propose that credible information useful for designing effective programs will require the ongoing, systematic development…

Methods and findings are summarized from a classical randomized experiment used to evaluate the Nutrition Education and Training (NET) Program developed and implemented in Nebraska. Generally positive effects of the program were found. Two issues needing further consideration are described. (Author/GK)

Responds to Gilliam et al.'s critique of evaluation of the Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP). Restates the policy implications of the study and comments on the design of the intervention and the evaluation. Concludes with remarks on how evaluation and research should be used to help low-income families. (Author/KB)

Describes some of the ways in which the federal government has decentralized responsibility for national evaluations of federally-funded early childhood programs. Details the methods used in local evaluation studies, and the strengths and weaknesses of centralized and decentralized national evaluations. (Author/KB)

This project summary reviews and extends the findings of prior reports made by Abt Associates, Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts) on the Nutrition Education and Training (NET) program, synthesizes evaluation efforts in nutrition education, and presents a set of conclusions based on the evaluations of nutrition programs. Chapter 1 presents background…

A randomized experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of Even Start, a federally supported family literacy program providing early childhood education, adult education, parenting education, and joint parent-child literacy activities to children and parents from low-literate families. The evaluation of 18 Even Start projects followed 463…

Conducted a randomized experiment over 5 years to test effects of the Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP), a 2-generation program that employed case management and home visiting to ensure education, health, and social services for multi-risk, low-income children and families. Found no statistically significant impact on CCDP families…

Describes two-generation programs and how they differ from earlier single-focus approaches to serve children and families. Results from six programs are reviewed and indicate mixed and modest success in promoting the development of children and improving the parenting skills and economic self-sufficiency of parents. Recommendations are presented…

The Wiley and Harnischfeger school effects model treats quantity of instruction as a predictor of school performance. Despite the importance of the model for the study of school and program effects, including the incremental effects (if any) of Title I and other compensatory efforts, very little information is available on its practical…

Evaluation of programs at 21 sites, involving 4,410 families participating in the Comprehensive Child Development Program, a two-generation program using case management and home visiting, found no statistically significant impact on program families compared with control families for any assessed domain. Results do not support the effectiveness…

This study assessed the feasibility of conducting relatively low cost later effects studies of Follow Through (FT) programs without extensive new data collection, relying instead on existing data resources including the national FT data base, sponsor and site data bases, school and community records, and potential new data collection of modest…

This document summarizes a study designed to assess the feasibility of conducting relatively low cost later effects studies of Follow Through (FT) programs without extensive new data collection, relying instead on existing data resources including the national FT data base, sponsor and site data bases, school and community records, and potential…