The first of two volumes, this document reports an evaluation of Project Developmental Continuity (PDC), a Head Start demonstration project initiated in 1974 to develop program models which enhance children's social competence by fostering developmental continuity from preschool through the early elementary years. In general, the impact of program models on participating institutions, teachers, parents, and children is described. Following the first chapter's brief overview of PDC's objectives, development, and design, chapter 2 focuses on evaluation methods, discussing research questions, sample formation, measurement techniques, sample attrition, and data analyses. Chapter 3 specifies PDC's influence on local institutions. The first section of this chapter identifies the sources of data available for the evaluation, defines each guideline requirement for which implementation was assessed, and describes procedures used to aggregate ratings for purposes of characterizing implementation at each site. The second section of chapter 3 describes guideline-relevant features of PDC institutions, assessing guideline compliance and level of implementation. The three sections of chapter 4 describe, respectively, measurement of parent outcomes, the data analysis strategy, and findings from the analysis of parent outcome variables. In chapters 5 and 6, measurement of and results from the analysis of outcomes for teachers and children are discussed. Finally, a summary and explanation of the study's findings are provided in chapter 7. (MP)