Head Start and Even Start: Greater Collaboration Needed on	 
Measures of Adult Education and Literacy (29-MAR-02, GAO-02-348).
								 
The Head Start and Even Start Family Literacy programs have	 
sought to improve the educational and economic outcomes for	 
millions of disadvantaged children and their families. GAO has	 
raised concerns that if such programs are designed to achieve	 
similar outcomes for similar populations, but do not work	 
together, then inefficiencies in administration and service	 
delivery may result. Moreover, questions have arisen about the	 
wisdom of having similar early childhood programs administered by
different departments. Head Start's goal is to ensure that young 
children are ready for school, and program eligibility is tied to
specific income guidelines. In contrast, Even Start's goal is to 
improve family literacy and the educational opportunities of both
the parents and their young children. Even Start eligibility is  
tied to parents' educational attainment. Despite these		 
differences, both programs are required to provide similar	 
services. Both programs have some similar and some identical	 
performance measures and outcome expectations for children, but  
not for parents. Head Start and Even Start grantees provided some
similar services to young children and families, but how these	 
programs served adults reflect the variations in the need of the 
parents. No recent, definitive information exists on the	 
effectiveness of either program and so it is difficult to	 
determine which of the programs employs a more effective model	 
for improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children and
their parents. At the local level, differences in the needs of	 
participants and the location of neighborhoods served by the two 
programs may mean some Head Start and Even Start grantees find	 
only limited opportunities to work together. At the national	 
level, the Departments of Health and Human Services and of	 
Education have initiated several coordinating activities,	 
including the funding of state-level organizations intended to	 
improve collaboration among organizations serving poor children  
and their families.						 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-02-348 					        
    ACCNO:   A02793						        
  TITLE:     Head Start and Even Start: Greater Collaboration Needed  
on Measures of Adult Education and Literacy			 
     DATE:   03/29/2002 
  SUBJECT:   Education program evaluation			 
	     Interagency relations				 
	     Disadvantaged persons				 
	     Adult education					 
	     Literacy						 
	     Federal agency reorganization			 
	     Even Start Family Literacy Program 		 
	     Head Start Program 				 
	     HHS Family and Child Experiences Survey		 
	     HHE Temporary Assistance for Needy 		 
	     Families Program					 
								 

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GAO-02-348
     
Report to Congressional Requester

United States General Accounting Office

GAO

March 2002 HEAD START AND EVEN START

Greater Collaboration Needed on Measures of Adult Education and Literacy

GAO- 02- 348

Page i GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start Letter 1

Results in Brief 2 Background 4 Programs Share Many Common Elements, But
Differ In Focus And

Design 8 Grantees in Both Programs Provided Similar Early Childhood

Services To Poor Children, but Adult Services Differed 15 Information About
The Effectiveness Of Head Start And Even Start

Is Limited 21 Opportunity Exists For Additional Collaboration Between The
Two

Programs 27 Conclusions 29 Recommendation 30 Agency Comments And Our
Evaluation 30

Appendix I Comments from the Department of Education 32

Appendix II GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments 34 GAO Contacts 34
Acknowledgments 34

Related GAO Products 35

Tables

Table 1: Comparison of Major Head Start and Even Start Legislative
Provisions 9 Table 2: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Performance

Expectations and Measures for Children?s Cognitive Growth and Adult Literacy
and Education 12 Table 3: Maximum Percent of Head Start and Even Start
Funding

Received From Federal Program Appropriations Each Grant Year 15 Table 4:
Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Participants by

Characteristic 16 Table 5: Objectives of Ongoing Effectiveness Studies 24
Contents

Page ii GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start Figures

Figure 1: Comparison of Numbers of Children and Families Served by Head
Start and Even Start, Program Year 2000 6 Figure 2: Comparison of Head Start
and Even Start Federal

Funding, 1990- 2002 (Current Dollars) 7 Figure 3: Comparison of Head Start
and Even Start Program

Funding and Service Delivery Structures 13 Figure 4: Comparison of
Educational Components of Head Start

and Even Start Center Programs 20 Figure 5: Experimental Design for Early
Childhood Program

Impact Evaluations 23

Abbreviations

ESPIRS Education?s Even Start Performance Information Reporting System FACES
Family and Child Experiences Survey GED general equivalency diploma HHS
Department of Health and Human Services PIR Program Information Report

Page 1 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

March 29, 2002 The Honorable George V. Voinovich Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the
District of Columbia Committee on Governmental Affairs United States Senate

The Head Start and Even Start Family Literacy programs have for many years
provided services intended to improve the educational and economic outcomes
for millions of disadvantaged children and their families. Although the
programs differ substantially in size- in fiscal year 2002, Head Start
funding is over $6 billion while Even Start is $250 million- our earlier
work highlighted some similarities between these two programs, which are
administered by different federal agencies. 1 We have raised concerns that
if such programs are designed to achieve similar outcomes for similar
populations, but do not work together to address the needs of these targeted
groups, then inefficiencies in administration and service delivery may
result. Moreover, questions have arisen about the wisdom of having similar
early childhood programs administered by different departments. Recently,
President Bush, as part of his emphasis on child literacy and school
readiness, has proposed transferring Head Start from the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) to the Department of Education (Education).

To determine whether Head Start and Even Start programs are substantially
similar in key areas, you asked us to determine the following:

 How similar the programs are in legal requirements and administration and
the extent to which they have similar purposes, performance goals, and
indicators.

1 U. S. General Accounting Office, Early Education and Care: Overlap
Indicates Need to Assess Crosscutting Programs, GAO/ HEHS- 00- 78
(Washington, D. C.: April 28, 2000).

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

Page 2 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

 How these programs differ operationally, particularly in terms of the
services they provide; how those services are provided; and who receives
them.

 What is known about the relative effectiveness of the two programs.

 The extent to which opportunities exist for the programs to work more
effectively with one another to meet the needs of program participants.

To answer these questions we collected and reviewed the most recent,
national- level data for both programs summarizing the type of participants
served, the services they receive, how the services are provided and who
provides them. We reviewed the legislation governing both programs and
several evaluative studies, including the interim results of recent impact
studies by HHS and Education. We supplemented our understanding with site
visits to Head Start and Even Start programs located in different types of
communities- one densely populated urban city (Chicago, Illinois), two
suburban cities, one located near Seattle, Washington (Renton) and another
near Washington, D. C. (Frederick, Maryland) and a rural community
(Niceville, Florida). We selected sites that demonstrated a variety of
cooperative arrangements with one another and with other organizations in
their communities. Some Head Start and Even Start programs we visited were
formal partners with each other, some collaborated as needed, and others did
not coordinate their efforts with each other. We performed our work between
May 2001 and March 2002 in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards.

Head Start and Even Start were both designed to address the education and
literacy needs of poor families with young children and are required to
offer similar services when the needs of the families they serve are
similar. However, in practice they served somewhat different populations
with different education and literacy needs.

Although Head Start is a substantially larger program than Even Start, the
separate legislation establishing them created programs with similar goals,
target populations, and services. Head Start and Even Start both target
disadvantaged populations to improve their educational outcomes. Moreover,
both programs are required to offer education and literacy services to
children and their families. Head Start?s goal, however, is to ensure that
young children are ready for school and program eligibility is tied to
specific poverty income guidelines. In contrast, Even Start?s goal is to
improve family literacy and the educational opportunities of both Results in
Brief

Page 3 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

parents and their young children. Even Start eligibility is tied to parents?
educational attainment. Although there are no income thresholds established
for eligibility, local Even Start programs are required to recruit families
most in need of such services as indicated by high levels of poverty and
unemployment. Despite these differences, both programs are required to
provide similar services for children and families when necessary. Both
programs have developed some similar and some identical performance measures
and outcome expectations for children, but not for parents. Only Even Start
has identified measures that directly gauge educational attainment and
literacy of participating adults. Finally, the federal government plays
different roles in administering the two programs. The federal government
administers Head Start and directly provides up to 80 percent of program
funds to local Head Start programs. In contrast, the states administer Even
Start and award federal funding to local Even Start programs, and the
federal share of Even Start programs declines from a maximum of 90 percent
in the first year of funding to a maximum of 35 percent in the ninth and
subsequent years.

Head Start and Even Start grantees provided some similar services to young
children and families, but the variations in how these programs served
adults reflect the variations in the needs of the parents. In Head Start,
about three quarters of the parents had high school diplomas. Therefore,
Head Start grantees generally focused on early childhood education and
enrolled only the child although the parents can receive adult education and
literacy services if they require them. Head Start officials, as well as
parents with children in the program, said that many of the parents who
participated in Head Start did so primarily to obtain early childhood
education for their young children. Even Start parents were much more likely
than Head Start parents to lack a high school diploma and speak a language
other than English. Thus, Even Start grantees enrolled both the parents and
the child in the program and their core services included a range of adult
education and literacy services, such as basic education and English
language instruction. According to Education?s data, many of the parents who
participated in Even Start did so primarily to obtain education and literacy
services for themselves.

No recent, definitive information exists on the effectiveness of either
program and so it is difficult to determine which of the programs employs a
more effective model for improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged
children and their parents. Both HHS and Education have studies underway
that will provide more definitive information on the extent to which each of
these programs is achieving its intended goals. Both programs have been
heavily studied in the past, providing

Page 4 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

policymakers with information on how well the programs were implemented and
how they could be improved. For example, the first Even Start study was
largely an implementation study in which the findings served as a catalyst
for changes in the program?s legislation, including making teenage parents
eligible for services.

In recognition of the similarities between the programs, both programs?
legislation contain provisions that they coordinate services with one
another. At the local level, differences in the needs of participants and
the location of neighborhoods served by the two programs may mean some Head
Start and Even Start grantees find only limited opportunities to work
together. At the national level, HHS and Education have initiated several
coordinating activities, including the funding of state- level organizations
intended to improve collaboration among organizations serving poor children
and their families in each state. Other national efforts have been to
provide technical assistance, share information and develop a complementary
outcome measurement system that reflects their common early childhood
development goals. However, the two agencies have not collaborated as much
on family literacy or developed similar measures of family literacy
outcomes. We are recommending that they take action in this area.

Head Start is administered by HHS and was begun in 1965 as part of the

?War on Poverty.? The program was built on the philosophy that effective
intervention in children?s lives could best be accomplished through family
and community involvement, as evidenced by the broad range of services,
which include educational, medical, dental, mental health, nutritional, and
social services, offered to Head Start families. In 1992, the Congress added
a requirement that Head Start offer family literacy services. Today Head
Start dwarfs all other federal early childhood programs both in funding
support and the size of the population served. In the year 2000, Head Start
served about 846,000 families and about 923,000 children. Although it began
as a summer program with a budget of $96. 4 million, Head Start funding
today totals more than $6 billion. 2 Head Start grantees operate programs in
every state, primarily through locally based service providers. Recognizing
that the years from conception to age three are critical to human
development, the Congress established Early Head Start in 1994, a program
that serves expectant mothers, as well as infants and toddlers.

2 In this report, all dollar figures are in current dollars. Background

Page 5 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Over the course of its 36- year history, Head Start has served over 19
million children.

In contrast, Even Start is substantially smaller than Head Start. First
funded in 1989 under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
Even Start also has a much shorter history of serving needy children and
families than its HHS counterpart. The program?s approach is rooted in the
philosophy that the educational attainment of parents in particular and the
quality of the family?s environment in general are central to a child?s
acquisition of literacy skills and success in school. Administered by
Education, Even Start?s budget has expanded considerably, from about $15
million at the program?s beginning, to $250 million in the year 2002. During
its 1999- 2000 program year, Even Start served about 31,600 families and
41,600 children in programs around the country. In addition, the Congress
established separate Head Start and Even Start migrant and Native American
programs. These programs are not covered in this report.

See figure 1 for a comparison of the numbers of children and families served
by both programs. See figure 2 for a comparison of Head Start and Even Start
appropriations over the last decade, 1990- 2002.

Page 6 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 1: Comparison of Numbers of Children and Families Served by Head
Start and Even Start, Program Year 2000

Page 7 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 2: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Federal Funding, 1990-
2002 (Current Dollars)

Source: Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services

Although Head Start is administered by HHS, President Bush, as part of his
emphasis on child literacy and school readiness, proposed transferring Head
Start from HHS to Education. President Carter advocated a similar transfer
in 1978. Opponents of the move argue that the social and human services
component of Head Start is just as important as the educational program in
achieving school readiness and the overall well being of the child. They
have expressed concern that moving the program to Education would result in
a narrower menu of services almost exclusively educational in nature.

Page 8 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

The separate legislation governing Head Start and Even Start established
programs that overlap somewhat in goals, target population and services, but
also have a number of significant differences. Even Start and Head Start
similarly target disadvantaged populations, seeking to improve their
educational outcomes. While both programs are required to provide education
and literacy services to children and their families, Head Start?s goal is
to prepare children to enter school while Even Start?s goal is to improve
family literacy and education. Both programs measure achievement of their
goals for children against similar criteria or measures, but only Even Start
has developed measures to gauge adults? educational attainment and literacy.
Although the programs have similar legislative provisions, the federal
government administers Head Start and directly funds local Head Start
programs while the states administer Even Start and allocate federal funds
to local Even Start programs.

The separate legislation establishing Head Start and Even Start created
overlapping programs, although there are many legislative differences
between the two programs (see table 1). Both programs were created to
address a similar problem, poor educational outcomes and economic prospects
for low- income people. However, Head Start?s goal is to promote school
readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of low- income
children. Even Start?s goal is to improve the literacy and education in the
nation?s low- income families. Programs Share Many

Common Elements, but Differ in Focus and Design

Head Start and Even Start Legislation Created Programs with Overlapping
Goals, Populations, and Services

Page 9 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Table 1: Comparison of Major Head Start and Even Start Legislative
Provisions Head Start Even Start

Goal Prepare children to enter school Improve family literacy and

educational opportunities Target Population Preschool age children

(including infants and toddlers) and their families, as well as pregnant
women (10 percent of enrollment is reserved for children with disabilities)

Parents who are not enrolled in school and their children, birth through age
7, who lack a high school diploma or its equivalent, the basic skills
necessary to function in society, or are unable to speak, read, or write
English (No requirement to serve children with disabilities) Income and
poverty targeting provisions Primarily children from

families with income at or below federal poverty income guidelines or
eligible for public assistance

Although having no specific income requirements, priority is given to
families who are most in need of services as indicated by, among other
things, high levels of poverty and unemployment

Services required to be offered

Early childhood education Health Nutrition Social Substance abuse counseling
Adult literacy Adult basic education Parenting education Other necessary
services

X a X a X a X a X X b X a X X a

X c

c c c

X X d X X a These services are identified in the Head Start legislation?s
statement of purpose, but are only to be

provided as necessary. b The legislation requires Head Start programs to
offer (either directly or through referral to other

entities) family literacy services, which are defined in the legislation to
include ?parent literacy training?. We are using the term ?adult literacy?
to refer to parent literacy training. c Although not mentioned, Even Start?s
legislation authorizes programs to provide support services

when they are determined to be necessary to ensure program participation. d
This service is identified in the Even Start legislation?s statement of
purpose.

Source: GAO analysis of Head Start and Even Start legislation (42 USC 9831-
9852a, 20 USC 6361- 6370.

The legislation creating each program specifies the broad target group as
low- income people; however, each program?s legislation specifically targets
a different group of low- income individuals. Consistent with its

Page 10 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

school readiness goal, Head Start specifically targets poor preschool age
children and their families. The regulations governing Head Start require
that at least 90 percent of the children enrolled in Head Start come from
families with incomes at or below the federal poverty guidelines 3 or from
families eligible for public assistance. Consistent with its family literacy
goal, Even Start is authorized to serve low- literate parents and their
young children. To participate in Even Start, the parent or parents must be
eligible for participation in adult education and literacy activities under
the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. For example, at least one
parent must not be enrolled in school and must lack a high school diploma or
its equivalent or lack the basic skills necessary to function in society. 4
The parent must also have a child who is below age 8. Although Even Start
targets low- income families, its legislation does not specifically limit
participation to low- income individuals nor does it define ?low- income,?
as does Head Start. However, the legislation creating Even Start does
require that priority for funding be given to families who are in need of
such services as indicated by their poverty and unemployment status. In line
with its focus on literacy, Even Start legislation does assign priority for
funding to families who are in need of such services as indicated by parent
illiteracy, limited- English proficiency and other need related indicators.

Although both programs target young children, there are differences in the
ages the two programs are authorized to serve. Head Start is authorized to
serve children at any age prior to compulsory school attendance. In 1994, as
part of Head Start, the Congress established Early Head Start to ensure that
infants and toddlers are served in greater numbers. This program is also
authorized to provide services to pregnant women. Even Start is authorized
to serve preschool age children as well, but unlike Head Start, it is also
authorized to serve school- age children to age 8. 5 Even Start is not
authorized to serve pregnant women who do not have children below the age of
8. Head Start grantees are also required to reserve 10 percent of their
enrollment for children with disabilities. Even Start has no such
requirement.

3 For example, the federal poverty guideline was $17,050 for a family of
four in fiscal year 2000. 4 For school age parents, school districts are
required to provide the basic education services. 5 Children 8 and older can
be served if services are provided in collaboration with Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, Title I, Part A services.

Page 11 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

With respect to services, Head Start historically has been authorized to
provide services that specifically support children?s development, such as
early childhood education, nutrition, health, and social services. Head
Start legislation has long required that local programs provide parent
involvement activities that ensure the direct participation of parents in
the development, conduct, and overall program direction of local programs.
However, in 1992, the Congress added a requirement that Head Start provide
family literacy services, if these services are determined to be necessary.
In the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, the Congress clarified the
definition of family literacy, requiring that Head Start family literacy
services be of sufficient intensity and duration to make sustainable changes
in a family. The legislation also required that family literacy programs
integrate early childhood education, parenting education, parent and child
interactive literacy activities, and adult literacy services. The same
definition of family literacy services is found in Even Start?s legislation.
Even Start legislation also requires that it integrate early childhood
education, adult literacy or adult basic education and parenting education
into a unified family literacy program.

Head Start and Even Start have some similar measures to assess children?s
progress but different measures for adult literacy and educational
attainment (see table 2). 6

6 Both programs have other measures of program and participant performance.
For example, Head Start has measures for children?s social emotional health,
and Even Start has goals related to recruiting the most needy families and
program quality. Head Start and Even Start

Have Similar Performance Expectations and Measures for Children, but Not for
Adults

Page 12 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Table 2: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Performance Expectations
and Measures for Children?s Cognitive Growth and Adult Literacy and
Education

Head Start Even Start Performance Category Expectation Measure Expectation a
Measure

Children?s Cognitive Growth Children show improvement

in cognitive, emergent literacy, numeracy, and language skills

Language development, math skill, and letter identification

Improve children?s language development and reading readiness

Language development

Adult Literacy and Education

Parents improve selfconcept and emotional well being and make progress
toward their education, literacy and employment goals

Number of parents who are employed as Head Start staff

Improve adult literacy and educational attainment

Math and reading skill Number earning high school diploma or equivalent

a Even Start has the same expectations and measures for both preschool and
school age children. Source: Department of Education, 2000 Performance
Report and 2002 Program Annual Plan (Washington, D. C., 2000). Department of
Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Fiscal
Year 2002 Annual Performance Plan and Fiscal Year 2001 Annual Performance
Plan and Fiscal Year 2000 Annual Performance Report (Washington, D. C.,
2000).

For example, to measure children?s cognitive growth, both programs measure
language development. As shown in table 2, Even Start measures adult
literacy and educational attainment by measuring gains in math and reading
and by counting the number of participants earning a high school diploma or
its equivalent. Head Start measures adults? progress toward their
educational, literacy and employment goals, by the number who are employed
as Head Start staff- not a direct measure of adult literacy or educational
attainment. According to HHS performance standards, Head Start is an
important place for employment opportunities for parents and a vehicle for
providing additional skills for parents who are seeking employment or who
are already employed.

Head Start and Even Start are managed and operated in fundamentally
different ways (see fig. 3). First, Head Start is administered by the
federal government and Even Start is administered by the states. Unlike some
other social programs, the federal government (HHS) directly funds local
Head Start programs. Many organizations that receive Head Start grant
funding deliver services to Head Start participants. In some cases, the
organization that receives the grant contracts with other organizations to
deliver services to Head Start participants. HHS? 10 regional offices, which
are geographically dispersed throughout the nation, are responsible for
program oversight and management. Even Start is administered by the Programs
Operate

Differently

Page 13 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

states, with the federal government allocating the funds to the states. The
states are responsible for oversight and management of local programs and
make decisions about which programs to fund.

Figure 3: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Program Funding and
Service Delivery Structures

Source: GAO Analysis Note: Head Start provides separate funding to the
states to support the coordination activities of state Head Start
collaboration offices.

Page 14 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Second, although Head Start and Even Start are both formula programs, the
formulas for allocating funds differ. Although the formulas for both
programs are multifaceted and complex, Head Start funding is based in part
on the number of children in a state under age 5 living in poverty. The Even
Start formula is based, in part, on the number of poor school- age children,
ages 5 to 17, in a state.

Third, Head Start and Even Start legislation have different requirements for
the types of local organizations that are eligible to receive funding. For
Head Start, local community organizations are authorized to administer Head
Start services. Even Start?s legislation gives school districts a central
role in delivering services. The law requires local organizations to form
partnerships with school districts in order to receive funds. Thus, eligible
entities are school districts in partnership with nonprofit community based
organizations, institutions of higher education, or other nonprofit
organizations.

Finally, Head Start and Even Start have different matching fund requirements
and different requirements for the sources of these matching funds. Head
Start grantees annually may receive up to 80 percent of total funding from
the federal Head Start program funds. The remaining 20 percent must come
from nonfederal sources and may include such in- kind contributions as
space, staff, supplies and equipment. In contrast, Even Start grantees
receive a maximum of 90 percent of their total funding in the first year
from the federal Even Start program, but in subsequent years this share
declines. In the ninth and subsequent years of the grant, the family
literacy programs are expected to largely operate independent of Even Start
funding, receiving only a maximum of 35 percent of total funding from the
federal Even Start program (see table 3). However, matching funds, which
also include in- kind contributions, may come from other non- Even Start
federal sources, such as Adult Education Act funds.

Page 15 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Table 3: Maximum Percent of Head Start and Even Start Funding Received from
Federal Program Appropriations Each Grant Year

Year of Grant Head Start a Even Start b

1st 80 90 2nd 80 80 3rd 80 70 4th 80 60 5th 80 50 6th 80 50 7th 80 50 8th 80
50 9th and subsequent years 80 35 a Matching funds must be from nonfederal
sources

b Matching funds may include federal sources

In 1999- 2000, both Head Start and Even Start grantees served poor families
with young children, but the parents they served had different education and
literacy needs and the extent to which parents received services to meet
those needs differed. Even Start parents were much more likely than Head
Start parents to lack a high school diploma and speak a language other than
English. According to agency data, parents who enrolled their children in
Head Start expected primarily to receive education services for their young
children, whereas Even Start parents sought education and literacy services
for themselves as well. At the sites we visited, both programs provided
early childhood development and education services, as well as health and
nutrition support to young children, but we found that adults participating
in Even Start programs were more likely to need and thus receive a range of
adult education and literacy services. Grantees in Both

Programs Provided Similar Early Childhood Services to Poor Children, but
Adult Services Differed

Page 16 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

According to agency data, both Head Start and Even Start grantees primarily
served poor families with young children, although Even Start served infants
and toddlers to a larger degree than Head Start. 7 Almost all Head Start
children were under age 5- 95 percent- and most were 4 years old. About one
percent of the participants were pregnant women. About two- thirds of Even
Start children were under age 5, and the remaining onethird were school- age
children, 5 and older (see table 4).

Table 4: Comparison of Head Start and Even Start Participants by
Characteristic Percentage of participants Participant Characteristic Head
Start Even Start

Parent has completed high school 73 14 Participant child age: 0 through 2
years old 3 through 4 years old 5 years and older

5 90

5 39

28 33 Participant child has a physical disability 13 8 Family received
public assistance a 27 31

Ethnicity

Hispanic African American White

27 36 32

44 21 30

Primary language

English Spanish

77 19

54 31 a For Head Start, public assistance refers to families receiving
Temporary Assistance to Needy

Families and for Even Start, public assistance refers to families receiving
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income, and
other assistance.

Source: All information, except high school completion, reflect program year
1999- 2000 data and were derived from Head Start?s PIR and Education?s
ESPIRS databases. High school completion data were derived from Head Start?s
1996- 1997 FACES and Education?s 1996- 1997 ESPIRS databases.

7 The national- level data were obtained from three separate databases. Head
Start data were obtained primarily from Head Start Program Information
Report (PIR) database, which covered program year 1999- 2000. We
supplemented the PIR data with additional information from the Head Start
Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), which covered program year
1996- 1997. Even Start data were obtained from Education?s Even Start
Performance Information Reporting System (ESPIRS) database, which covered
program years 1999- 2000 and 1996- 1997. Although we did not test the
reliability of the data, they are commonly used by agencies and academic
researchers. Both Programs Served

Poor Families with Young Children, but Participants Differed in Language and
Education

Page 17 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

In both programs, these young children came from very poor families. Most
Head Start and Even Start families reported incomes of less than $15,000. 8
While Even Start participation is not restricted by income, grantees give
priority for services to families at or below federal guidelines for
poverty, families receiving public assistance, and families with no earned
income. Almost one- third of the families served by Head Start and Even
Start received government assistance, such as Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families, according to program year 1999- 2000 data.

While both programs primarily served very poor families with young children,
the families differed in their parent educational attainment, ethnicity and
primary language. For example, the proportion of Even Start parents without
high school diplomas was substantially higher than those participating in
Head Start. About 86 percent of Even Start parents reported that they had
not completed high school, compared to about 27 percent of Head Start
parents.

Hispanic children represented about a quarter of the children attending Head
Start programs and almost half of the children attending Even Start
programs. These differences in ethnicity were accompanied by differences in
the primary languages of children participating in each program. Even Start
children were much less likely to speak English as their primary language
than Head Start children, according to agency data. The vast majority- about
three- fourths- of Head Start children spoke English as their primary
language, compared to a little over half of Even Start children. For about
one- third of Even Start children, Spanish was the primary language,
compared to only one- fifth of Head Start children.

In part, the tendency of Even Start children to speak English as a second
language may reflect their parents? immigration from non- English speaking
countries. According to Education?s data, about two- thirds of parents with
children in Even Start have lived outside of the United States, about
onefifth have lived in the United States 5 years or less, and about a third
of Even Start parents were educated outside the United States.

8 Head Start and Even Start calculate family income differently, however.
Therefore, income data are not directly comparable.

Page 18 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Head Start and Even Start both provided children with similar early learning
and other developmental and support services. Head Start served primarily 3
and 4 year olds, while Even Start served a greater percentage of children
below the age of 2. However, the extent to which parents of enrolled
children received education and literacy services differed between these two
programs. According to Head Start and Even Start program data, both programs
provided young children with early childhood education services that
included developmentally appropriate learning activities. Both programs
offered home- based instruction and center- based, half- day programs
several days per week, which often included meals, snacks, and health care
support, such as mental health, vision, immunizations, and screenings. There
are some differences, however, in services offered to children. For example,
as we saw in Niceville, Florida, the Even Start program offered home- based,
afterschool reading support and other learning activities for school- aged
children.

Although there were few differences in services for children, the major
difference among these programs was the extent to which adults need and thus
received education and literacy services. Only the Even Start programs we
visited considered adult education and literacy services to be among their
primary services. According to Education?s data, Even Start grantees
provided such services as basic adult education, adult secondary education
services, general equivalency diploma (GED) preparation, and English
language instruction. 9 Many Even Start programs provided flexible hours of
instruction, such as evening and weekend instruction, to accommodate the
scheduling needs of parents. Parents most often participated in GED
preparation services and English language instruction. About half of the
parents indicated that obtaining their GED was a primary reason for Even
Start enrollment, although learning English, improving their chances of
getting a job, improving parenting skills, and obtaining early learning
experiences for their children were also important, according to Education?s
data. This was true of the eight Even Start parents we spoke with during our
site visits who also told us that their primary reason for enrolling in Even
Start was to obtain adult education

9 In addition to the Even Start Family Literacy program, Education also
administers the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (20 U. S. C 1201 et
seq.). The objectives of this program are to create a partnership among the
federal government, states and localities to provide, on a voluntary basis,
adult education and literacy services, in order to assist adults to become
literate and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and
selfsufficiency; assist adults who are parents to obtain the education
skills necessary to become full partners in the educational development of
their children; and assist adults in the completion of a secondary school
education. Both Programs Provided

Similar Early Childhood Services, but Extent to Which Adults Received
Education and Literacy Services Differed

Page 19 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

and literacy services. Two of the Even Start programs we visited enrolled
large numbers of primarily Spanish speaking parents and other sites we
visited enrolled many recent immigrants with limited English skills. Many of
these Even Start parents received English language instruction. In
Frederick, Maryland for example, the Even Start official said that many
parents with limited proficiency in English had enrolled in the program to
improve their English language skills. Often, she said, parents participate
only long enough to acquire the basic skills needed to find a job.

Most of the adults participating in Even Start- almost three quarters- were
unemployed, according to Education?s data, allowing Even Start programs to
enroll both the parent and the child in a program that consisted of child
and adult education and literacy, parenting education, and interactive
literacy activities between the parent and child. At the Even Start sites we
visited, adults often received instruction during the day as their children
simultaneously received early childhood services nearby, often in the same
building. They also participated in joint learning activities (see fig. 4).

Page 20 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 4: Comparison of Educational Components of Head Start and Even Start
Center Programs

For example, at the Frederick, Maryland, Even Start program, parents and
children arrived together at the community center, which houses both the
child development center and adult and family literacy center. Parents
dropped off their children at the child development center and attended
either adult literacy or basic education classes taught by an Even Start

Page 21 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

instructor. The parents later rejoined their children to participate in
joint activities, such as reading, painting, or playing, often sharing
lunch. In this way, the Even Start program integrated early childhood
education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education
into a unified family literacy program. Not all Even Start programs we
visited locate children and their parents in a single building; however,
they all provided space at some location for joint child and parent
activities and required the joint participation of parents and children in
the program.

In contrast, 73 percent of the parents of children enrolled in Head Start
had a high school diploma and thus may not have needed adult education and
literacy services. Head Start programs did not require the joint
participation of parents and children in the program. At the sites we
visited, parents typically left the Head Start center after dropping off
their children. For example, one Head Start parent told us that she thought
of Head Start as an early learning program for children and had enrolled her
child in Head Start to obtain early childhood education. This parent said
she had completed high school and did not need adult education or literacy
services. However, for those parents in need of adult education and literacy
services, Head Start programs often referred them to the local public school
district, local community college, or Even Start for help. For example, Head
Start officials in Niceville, Florida told us that they refer adults in need
of such services to Even Start. The Albany Park Community Center Head Start
in Chicago offered an array of adult learning opportunities. However, unlike
other sites we visited that received either a Head Start or an Even Start
grant, Albany Park received both Head Start and Even Start grants, using
funding from both to provide a unified family literacy program. Because Head
Start does not currently collect data on the types of adult education or
literacy services it provides, however, we could not determine the specific
types of education and literacy services these parents received.

No recent, definitive, national- level research exists about the
effectiveness of Head Start and Even Start for the families and children
they serve. However, both programs have effectiveness studies underway using
a methodology that many researchers consider to be the most definitive
method of determining a program?s effect on its participants. These studies
reflect each program?s primary focus and population of interest. For
instance, consistent with Head Start?s school readiness goal, its study
focuses on children. Consistent with Even Start?s family literacy goal, its
study is focusing on children and adults. Although final results of these
studies are not yet available, HHS and Education have conducted a
Information about the

Effectiveness of Head Start and Even Start Is Limited

Page 22 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

number of other studies that provide useful information about the Head Start
and Even Start programs. These studies have prompted both legislative and
programmatic changes intended to improve program operations.

Although there is little definitive information about the effectiveness or
relative effectiveness of Head Start and Even Start, both programs are
undergoing rigorous evaluations that will provide more definitive
information about their effectiveness. Both programs are currently being
evaluated using an ?experimental design? in which groups of children are
randomly assigned either to a group that will receive program services or to
a group that will not receive program services. This is an approach many
researchers consider the best for assessing program effectiveness when
factors other than the program are known to affect outcomes. 10 To
illustrate, in the case of a child, many influences affect his or her
development. Nutrition, health, family and community, in conjunction with
education and care, play a role in his or her learning. In light of all
these influences, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the effects of
the program and the other factors that influence a child?s learning. Figure
5 shows how this approach produces information that shows the effect of the
program being studied, rather than the effects of other developmental
influences on young children.

10 See U. S. General Accounting Office, Early Childhood Programs: The Use of
Impact Evaluations to Assess Program Effects, GAO- 01- 542 (Washington, D.
C.: April 16, 2001). Major Studies Underway to

Assess Program Effectiveness

Page 23 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Figure 5: Experimental Design for Early Childhood Program Impact Evaluations

Source: GAO Analysis.

Factors Affecting Children's Development

Children Are Randomly Assigned to Either a Group That Receives Program
Services or a Group That Does Not Receive Program Services. Therefore, the
Groups Are Fundamentally the Same.

Children Are Tested at Various Ages to Plot Their Progress...

The Differences in Test Results Between the Two Groups Are Assessed

Any Differences Found Can Be Attributed to the Program

Receives Program Services

Does Not Receive Program Services but Can Receive Services Through Other
Programs

At 3 Years Old At 4 Years Old At 5 Years Old

In First Grade Other

Learning Experiences

Physical/ Psychological

Maturation Parenting

Practices Socioeconomic

Status Parents? Education Nutrition Health Care

Community

Page 24 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Both HHS and Education are using experimental design impact studies
performed by independent research firms to measure the effect of Head Start
and Even Start on the populations they serve. The Head Start study focuses
on children, while the Even Start study focuses on both children and their
parents. Head Start has two studies underway: one for the Head Start program
and a separate effort to evaluate Early Head Start. See table 5 for a
summary of the objectives for these studies.

Table 5: Objectives of Ongoing Effectiveness Studies Study Objectives The
Head Start Study To determine how Head Start affects school readiness in the
following areas as compared to children

not enrolled in Head Start:

 cognitive development,

 general knowledge,

 approaches to learning,

 social and emotional development,

 communication skills,

 fine and gross motor skills, and

 physical well- being. To determine the conditions that make Head Start
most effective, such as

 characteristics of children (poverty, ethnicity),

 home environments (single- parent, two- parent families),

 if program is a home- based or a center- based program, and

 characteristics of the program (staffing, curriculum, part- or full- day,
one- or two- year, availability and quality of child care and preschool
programs in a particular area).

The Early Head Start Study To determine

 how Early Head Start programs affect child, parent, and family outcomes;

 how children perform on a wide range of cognitive, language and social-
emotional development indicators;

 whether Early Head Start parents demonstrate more supportive and
stimulating parenting behaviors, greater knowledge of infant- toddler
development;

 whether Early Head Start families demonstrate more supportive home
environments;

 how different program approaches and community contexts affect these
outcomes;

 how program implementation and services affect outcomes; and

 how the characteristics of children and families affect outcomes.

The Even Start Study To determine

 the gains children make on measures of school readiness, vocabulary, and
language development; and

 the gains adults make on measures of functional literacy, English
acquisition, GED attainment, employment status, annual income, parent
expectations, and parenting skills.

Page 25 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

The Head Start study is a $28.3 million, national impact evaluation that
follows participants over time. 11 The study has been divided into two
phases. The first phase, a pilot study designed to test various procedures
and methods, was conducted last year. The second phase is scheduled to begin
in the fall of 2002 and will entail data collection on 5,000 to 6,000 3 and
4 year- olds from 75 programs and communities across the country. The study
will track subjects through the spring of their first grade year, and
results are expected in December 2006. Although Head Start is scheduled to
be reauthorized in 2003, an HHS official told us that the interim report
scheduled for 2003 will likely not contain findings.

The Early Head Start evaluation is a 6- year, $21 million study enlisting
3,000 families and their children, a sample drawn from 17 different Early
Head Start programs. Under the Early Head Start evaluation, study
participants are assessed at 14, 24 and 36 months after birth. The final
report is scheduled for completion in June 2002. The preliminary findings
were released at the beginning of 2001. According to HHS officials, these
early results suggest that participation in Early Head Start has positive
effects on both children and their parents.

The Even Start study is expected to be a 6- year, $3. 6 million study
tracking 400 Even Start families from 18 program locations and focuses on
measuring children?s readiness for school and adult literacy. The final
report is scheduled for completion in 2003. The current study is actually
the second Even Start impact study conducted using an experimental design.
The first evaluation examined Even Start programs operated by five grantees.
As we observed in our earlier study, the small number of sites examined by
the study and the lack of information on control group experiences did not
permit conclusions about program effectiveness. 12

11 This study responds in part to a 1997 GAO recommendation that HHS conduct
an assessment of the impact of regular Head Start programs. See U. S.
General Accounting Office, Head Start: Research Provides Little Information
on Impact of Current Program,

GAO/ HEHS- 97- 59 (Washington, D. C.: April 15, 1997). 12 U. S. General
Accounting Office, Early Childhood Programs: The Use of Impact Evaluations
to Assess Program Effects, GAO- 01- 542 (Washington, D. C.: April 16, 2001).

Page 26 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Although experimental- design impact evaluations are considered by many
researchers to be the most definitive method of determining the effect of
the program on participants, other types of studies have been conducted by
HHS and Education that provide a wide variety of data valuable to program
managers and policymakers. Often, to answer varied, complex, and
interrelated questions, policymakers may need to use several different
designs to assess a single program. Different study designs are used
depending on the questions to be answered, the nature of the program being
studied and the type of information needed.

For instance, Head Start is collecting outcome data on a nationally
representative sample of Head Start children and families as part of its
Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES). FACES collects a range of data
that includes cognitive, social, emotional and physical development of Head
Start children; the well- being and accomplishments of Head Start families,
and the quality of Head Start classrooms. Since this study does not employ
an experimental design, researchers cannot attribute changes in children?s
performance to the Head Start program.

A study of Early Head Start, which assessed the degree to which the program
is being administered as the Congress intended, has been completed. This
study gathered information on the characteristics of participants and the
services they received. Information from this study will be integrated with
the results of the experimental design study. 13

Since Even Start?s first national evaluation, 14 Education has also made an
effort to monitor Even Start?s evolution in relation to its legislative
mandate. For example, Even Start?s first study was broad in scope and
designed to examine the characteristics of Even Start participants and
projects, and services provided to assess how closely they resembled what
had been envisioned for the program. The study served as a catalyst for
changes in the program?s legislation, including a shift in focus on those
most in need. As a result of the study, teen parents and previously
ineligible family members can now participate.

13 Department of Health and Human Services, Building Their Futures: How
Early Head Start Programs are Enhancing the Lives of Infants and Toddlers in
Low- Income Families, Summary Report (Washington, D. C, 2001).

14 Robert G. St. Pierre and Janet P. Swartz and others, Improving Family
Literacy: Findings from the National Even Start Evaluation (Abt Associates
Inc., 1996). Studies to Date Inform

HHS and Education about Program Implementation and Participant Outcomes but
Reveal Little about Effectiveness

Page 27 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

The Head Start and Even Start programs have similar goals and grantees in
both programs provided similar services to children. However, the programs
differ in the extent to which they served adults. Nevertheless, their common
focus on improved educational outcomes for poor children and their families
calls for coordination between the two programs. Indeed, federal law
requires such coordination. Head Start and Even Start activities are
coordinated with each other on many levels, with federal coordinating
efforts more often focusing on the early childhood development aspects of
the two programs, rather than on broader family literacy activities. While
most Head Start and Even Start grantees have reported they collaborate with
one another in some way, at the program sites we visited, we found that
differences in participants and service areas may mean that collaboration
involves only limited opportunities for program staff to work together.

Both Head Start and Even Start programs are required to coordinate with one
another and with other organizations to provide child and family support
services. 15 As a result, the programs are involved in several efforts to
coordinate their activities with one another at the federal, state and local
levels. Even Start?s primary effort to coordinate directly with Head Start
at the federal level focused on creating complementary systems for measuring
developmental and educational outcomes for young children. Both programs
have defined program goals and performance indicators for young children in
consultation with each other and Even Start is also developing a new tool
for collecting program data that will allow it to obtain information on
early childhood and family outcomes similar to that collected by Head Start
through a separate data collection effort. 16 Coordinated data collection is
intended to help the HHS and Education compare programs and determine their
combined contribution to children?s school readiness. However, officials
from both departments said that cooperation in developing outcome measures
for other components of family literacy, such as parenting and adult
education, has not occurred because Head Start has made only a limited
effort to measure its performance in this area.

15 20 U. S. C .6365( 9); 42 U. S. C. 9837 (c). 16 The Classroom Literacy
Environment and Outcomes study, funded by the Department of Education?s
Planning and Evaluation Service, will evaluate the Even Start Family
Literacy Program and the Title I Early Childhood Education Programs. The
study is being coordinated with FACES. Opportunity Exists

for Additional Collaboration between the Two Programs

Page 28 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

In another federal collaborative effort, Even Start has provided about
$250,000 in funding to support Head Start?s family literacy initiative. The
funding helps to support an evolving ?promising practices? national network
of Head Start family literacy programs as well as training on how to build a
family literacy program. 17 Lessons learned from model family literacy
initiatives and technical assistance are to be shared with Even Start
grantees.

Other initiatives by Education and HHS support state and local coordination
efforts. For example, HHS and Education have both awarded grants to states
to create coordinating councils that include state- level administrators of
federal and state- funded early childhood and human services agencies. Head
Start has funded Head Start Collaboration Offices in each state, 18 while
Even Start has funded an Even Start Consortium in 36 states. Membership in
each Even Start consortium must include a representative from Head Start.
Head Start Collaboration Offices are encouraged to forge links with
organizations promoting family literacy, such as Even Start. In addition,
Even Start and Head Start have jointly sponsored training for state and
regional administrators on topics such as family literacy and interagency
coordination. According to an Education contractor that provides the Even
Start consortia with technical assistance, some state Even Start
administrators have also collaborated with local Head Start officials to
identify appropriate state- level performance indicators for children. 19

At the local level, about 74 percent of Even Start grantees reported in
program year 1999- 2000 that they collaborated with Head Start in some way,
including receiving cash funding, instructional or administrative support,
technical assistance, and space or job training support from Head Start
grantees. However, the type of support most often reported by Even Start
grantees was technical assistance, especially public relations support in
which Head Start helped to disseminate information about the program through
the community. About one- third of Even Start grantees reported receiving
direct instructional, administrative support or space from Head

17 The Head Start Bureau has contracted with the National Center for Family
Literacy to manage this program and provide technical assistance to Head
Start and Even Start grantees.

18 Collaboration Offices have been funded also in the District of Columbia
and Puerto Rico. 19 All states were required to identify and submit state-
level performance indicators to Education by June 30, 2001.

Page 29 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Start grantees. Instead, Even Start grantees more often received such
support from the public schools. 20 About one- fourth of Even Start programs
had formal partnerships with Head Start.

At program sites we visited, we observed that local coordination activities
between Head Start and Even Start grantees seemed to be greater where
grantees were trying to serve the same group of families living in the same
geographic area. Grantees described less interaction between the programs
where the families served were different and service areas did not overlap.
For example, in the state of Washington, where a Head Start and Even Start
program are formal partners and are both administered by the Renton Public
Schools, only a few families are enrolled in both programs. Local officials
said this is partly due to the location of the two sites in different
neighborhoods several miles apart, differences in the ages of the children
served by each program, and differences in the adult education needs of the
families. Renton Head Start does not serve infants and toddlers, whereas
Even Start does. Working Head Start parents can participate in adult
education classes primarily in the evenings, whereas Even Start offers adult
education classes during the day only. Cooperation between the programs has
primarily focused on joint participation in training events and sharing
information on the few families that are enrolled in both programs.

In contrast, in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, the Even Start and
Head Start programs are not only administered by the same grantee, but they
also are located in the same community center building. Administrators told
us that cooperation and collaboration is extensive, with a large proportion
of families enrolled in both Head Start and Even Start programs. Albany Park
staff said that Even Start and Head Start administrators work together
extensively to coordinate the curriculum between the programs and to
accommodate the work schedules and learning needs of the many families they
serve together.

Although Head Start and Even Start both serve poor children, they differ
because these children?s parents differ substantially in their educational
attainment and literacy. To meet the needs of parents who do not have

20 Specifically, Even Start grantees reported receiving instructional staff,
administrative support, technical staff, space and equipment more often from
public school elementary education and public school adult education
departments than from Head Start. Conclusions

Page 30 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

high school diplomas or who have literacy needs, Even Start, from the
beginning, designed its program to include adult education and literacy as
core services. It also established a system for measuring the progress of
adults in attaining adult education and literacy skills. Although a much
larger percentage of parents with children enrolled in Head Start have high
school diplomas, Head Start is a much larger program. Thus, there are still
thousands of Head Start parents who might need and benefit from education
and literacy services.

Recognizing that these programs serve a similar population of children, Head
Start and Even Start have jointly developed similar outcome measures for
children. This common framework allows policymakers and program
administrators to assess how well each program contributes to children?s
development. Joint development of indicators for adults? progress has not
occurred. Head Start?s current measure of adult literacy is not a direct
measure of adult literacy skills and is not comparable with indicators used
by Even Start. Lacking similar measures for assessing the educational and
literacy level of parents, policymakers lack information on the relative
contribution each program is making toward improving the education and
literacy of the parents it serves.

We recommend that the secretaries of HHS and of Education direct the
administrators of Head Start and Even Start to coordinate the development of
similar performance goals and indicators for adult education and literacy
outcomes and that the effort include the identification of indicators that
specifically measure adult education and literacy.

In commenting our report, Education observed that the report presents a
comprehensive discussion of the similarities and differences between the
Even Start Family Literacy program and the Head Start program. Education
generally agreed with our presentation. However, since our recommendation
focused on adult literacy indicators, Education thought it would be helpful
if we included a discussion of adult education programs and the purpose of
the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act . Moreover, Education suggested
that we recommend that the Head Start Bureau should coordinate with the
department?s Division of Adult Education and Literacy, not just Even Start,
in its development of adult education- related performance indicators.
Education also pointed out that Even Start?s family literacy goal
encompasses school readiness for Recommendation

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

Page 31 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

participating children. (See app. I.) Education also gave us technical
comments that were incorporated as appropriate.

We agree that some additional information on the Adult Education and Family
Literacy Act would provide related contextual information and included a
limited discussion of the act in the report. However, because the Adult
Education and Family Literacy Act programs were not part of this review, we
have kept our recommendation limited to the Head Start and Even Start
programs. This should not be interpreted as precluding the Secretary of
Education facilitating discussions between Head Start and any other office
in Education that could be helpful in developing comparable indicators.
Finally, although one could broadly interpret Even Start?s family literacy
goal as encompassing school readiness, this is not the stated goal of the
program. Therefore we have not added anything to our discussion of the Even
Start goal.

The Head Start Bureau, Administration of Children and Families, said HHS had
no comments on the report.

We are sending copies of this report to the secretaries of Health and Human
Services and the Department of Education and appropriate congressional
committees. Copies will also be made available to other interested parties
upon request. If you have questions regarding this report, please call me at
(202) 512- 7215 or Eleanor Johnson, assistant director, at (202) 512- 7209.
Other contributors can be found in appendix II.

Marnie S. Shaul Director, Education, Workforce

and Income Security Issues

Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Education

Page 32 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Education

Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Education

Page 33 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Appendix II: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments

Page 34 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Virginia Vanderlinde (206) 287- 4823, vanderlindev@ gao. gov Sherri Doughty
(202) 512- 7273, doughtys@ gao. gov

In addition to those named above, Tiffany Boiman, James Rebbe, Stan
Stenersen, and Jill Peterson made key contributions to this report. Appendix
II: GAO Contacts and Staff

Acknowledgments GAO Contacts Acknowledgments

Related GAO Products Page 35 GAO- 02- 348 Head Start and Even Start

Bilingual Education: Four Overlapping Programs Could Be Consolidated GAO-
01- 657. Washington, D. C.: May 14, 2001.

Early Childhood Programs: Characteristics Affect the Availability of School
Readiness Information. GAO/ HEHS- 00- 38. Washington, D. C.: February 28,
2000.

Early Childhood Programs: The Use of Impact Evaluations to Assess Program
Effects. GAO- 01- 542. Washington, D. C.: April 16, 2001.

Early Education and Care: Overlap Indicates Need to Assess Crosscutting
Programs. GAO/ HEHS- 00- 78. Washington, D. C.: April 28, 2000.

Evaluations of Even Start Family Literacy Program Effectiveness.

GAO/ HEHS- 00- 58R. Washington, D. C.: March 8, 2000.

Head Start: Challenges in Monitoring Program Quality and Demonstrating
Results. GAO/ HEHS- 98- 186. Washington, D. C.: June 30, 1998.

Head Start Programs: Participant Characteristics, Services, and Funding.
GAO/ HEHS- 98- 65. Washington, D. C.: March 31,1998.

Head Start: Research Provides Little Information on Impact of Current
Program. GAO/ HEHS- 97- 59. Washington, D. C.: April 15, 1997.

Title I Preschool Education: More Children Served but Gauging Effect on
School Readiness Difficult. GAO/ HEHS- 00- 171. Washington, D. C.: September
20, 2000. Related GAO Products

(130030)

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