ERIC Number: EJ1047721
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0276-8739
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Influence of Low-Income Children's Participation in Head Start on Their Parents' Education and Employment
Sabol, Terri J.; Chase-Lansdale, P. Lindsay
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, v34 n1 p136-161 Win 2015
Head Start is the oldest and largest federally funded preschool program in the United States. From its inception in 1965, Head Start not only provided early childhood education, care, and services for children, but also sought to promote parents' success. However, almost all evaluation studies of Head Start have focused solely on children's cognitive and social outcomes rather than on parents' outcomes. The present study examines whether children's participation in Head Start promotes parents' educational advancement and employment. We use data from the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), a randomized trial of over 4,000 newly entering three- and four-year-old children. We find that parents of children in the three-year-old cohort (but not the four-year-old cohort), who were randomly assigned to and participated in Head Start, had steeper increases in their own educational attainment by child age six years compared to parents of children in the control group. This pattern is especially strong for parents who had at least some college experience at baseline, as well as for African-American parents. We do not find evidence that Head Start helped parents enter or return to the workforce over time. Results are discussed in the context of using high-quality early childhood education as a platform for improving both child and parent outcomes.
Descriptors: Preschool Education, Federal Programs, Disadvantaged Youth, Low Income Groups, Preschool Children, Participation, Parents, Educational Attainment, Employment, Comparative Analysis, Early Childhood Education, Outcomes of Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Preschool Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A