Project Head Start has as its goal the improvement of the child's physical health, intellectual performance, social attitudes, and sense of self. The project involves over half a million children each year, including children in both summer and yearlong programs. About 40 percent of Head Start pupils are Negro, about 30 percent are white, and the…

Thirty children and their mothers from a poverty area of Kansas City enrolled in a Head Start parent cooperative nursery school. The mothers actively participated in a parent-training program consisting of tutorial training in which a series of lessons designed to teach preacademic concepts and skills to the children was presented to the mothers.…

The Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) model identifies conditions under which evaluators intervene in educational programs, provides for a sequence of evaluation activities and conditions under which departures from this sequence occurs, and defines the relationship between the evaluator and the decision maker. This paper provides a study…

Preschool education has often been acclaimed as an important influence on educational achievement capable of offsetting or even compensating for social, economic and educational disadvantages. However, studies done in America and Britain suggest that its effects are not as important as might be desired. (Editor)

Outlines the process of evaluation of early childhood programs by administrators and teachers. Offers guidelines for formulating questions to be used in evaluation of these program dimensions: effort, process, adequacy of performance, and efficiency. (NH)

Presents a teacher's journal of her experiences in the accreditation process of the Willow Wood Pre-School in Winnetka, Illinois by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. (BB)

This conference summary presents the views of five early childhood special education professionals, each of whom recommended one child outcome measure and one family outcome measure for use in a typical early childhood special education program serving children from birth to five years with a range of handicapping conditions. (Author/JW)

The results of an evaluation of a unique preschool heart education program, "The Lub Dub Club", are described. The evaluation focused on knowledge gains of the students. Results are discussed. (DF)

The prekindergarten (pre-K) program is an important part of the systemic effort by the Austin Independent School District, Texas (AISD) to help every student meet the state's student performance standards. In 2000-2001, 41 of the district's schools offering pre-K (79% of all elementary schools) had full-day programs and 17 had half-day programs. A…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) prekindergarten program is an important component of the state and district goal of having every student reading on grade level by the end of third grade. In 1999-2000, 57 of the 71 AISD elementary schools provided prekindergarten education. The AISD prekindergarten program served 3,571 4-year-olds.…

In 1995, Head Start developed performance measures to promote accountability through the assessment of program quality and outcomes. This report is the Head Start program's first progress report on its self-assessment using the evolving Program Performance Measures. These measures were developed using ideas from the broad community of people…

In 1995, Head Start developed performance measures to promote accountability through the assessment of program quality and outcomes. This report is the Head Start program's second progress report on its self-assessment using the Program Performance Measures. The measures are grouped under the five objectives of Head Start: (1) enhance children's…

In fiscal year 2004, the Congress appropriated $6.8 billion to serve 919,000 poor children through 1,680 Head Start grantees nationwide. Recent reports of financial improprieties at a number of Head Start programs around the country raised questions about the effectiveness of the oversight provided by the Department of Health and Human Services'…

The attainment of curricular goals, rather than improved IQ scores, was the basis for evaluation of the effectiveness of a program for disadvantaged preschoolers. Featured is the development of an Inventory of Cognitive Skills and Visual-Motor Functioning to evaluate the child's level of functioning in curriculum-related areas. (KW)