MDRC is conducting the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project under a contract with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of the multisite Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, MDRC,…

A separate full report also was published. Austin Independent School District served 5,450 pre-K students in 2009-2010. Approximately 70% of sampled English-speaking pre-K students and 74% of sampled Spanish-speaking pre-K students had faster than the expected growth rate on an assessment of receptive vocabulary.

Following a discussion of the Home Start program and its evaluation plan, the 16 Office of Child Development-funded Home Start projects in the United States are described. Home start is a 3-year Head Start demonstration program, aimed at the 3-5 years of age range, which focuses on enhancing the quality of children's lives by building upon…

This paper reports the results of a retrospective study of the 3-year Head Start Planned Variation (HSPV) experience. The long-term residual effects of HSPV's effort to install and implement educational models in various communities are discussed with emphasis on the effects on the models and sponsors themselves. Six models were studied: Bank…

A modified before-after, control-group evaluation design was employed to assess the impact of a demonstration program for 30 multiply handicapped retarded children (mean age 5.6 years). (Author/PHR)

A nationwide program to provide teenagers with opportunities to develop more positive attitudes about children and parenting, to improve self-awareness and self-understanding, and to increase knowledge and skills related to child care and development formed the basis for a survey compiled by voluntary organizations serving teenagers. Nonrandomized…

This report details the development and evaluation of a model program for inservice training of full-time child day care personnel. Based on a survey of licensed day care centers in Virginia, the program involved 100 participants, ranging from day care aides through center directors. The 10-week training element was presented three successive…

The purpose of the Learning to Learn Project was to ascertain if a comprehensive, early-childhood intervention program could effectively break the cycle of educational disabilities and inadequacies generally associated with the public school careers of poverty children, and insure their long-term educational success. Major findings of the…

The Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP), enacted by Congress in 1988, provides intensive, comprehensive, integrated, and continuous support to preschool children from low-income families to enhance their intellectual, social, and physical development. It also provides needed services to parents and household family members to enhance…

The major goal of the Educational Television Intervention Programs Project (ETIPS) of Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee, is to develop, field test, and disseminate a supplementary model for early intervention in rural isolated regions. The ETIPS model is based on beliefs that parents can be effective at early intervention…

Research Findings: Integrated services for young children and families are part of the new policy landscape in early childhood, but there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of these programs and how they develop on the ground. This study examined the use of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as both a summative program evaluation tool…

Reported are the recommendations resulting from a review of the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment Program (EPSDT). The concept of developmental assessment, as used in the EPSDT, is explained. The introduction provides a summary of the recommendations. Areas covered and for which recommendations are discussed include the role…

This study examines parenting in 290 of the 2,322 families studied in the New Chance Demonstration, a national research and demonstration program operated between 1989 and 1992 in 10 states. The demonstration project sought to improve the economic prospects and overall well-being of low-income young mothers (ages 16 to 22) and their children…

This is an executive summary of the interim report on National Home Start Evaluation. Home Start, a federally-funded 3-year (1972-1975) home-based demonstration program for low-income families with 3- to 5-year-old children was designed to enhance a mother's skills in dealing with her own children and to provide comprehensive social-emotional,…

Organized in 1981 by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the "New Parents as Teachers" (NPAT) program was initiated to demonstrate the value of early, high quality parent education. More specifically, the NPAT program provides age-appropriate information on children's development; helps parents increase their…