The evidence base for Head Start's school-readiness effects is small: only one of 40 eligible studies met WWC group design standards¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Of 40 eligible studies, only the DHHS ACF (2010) randomized controlled trial met WWC group design standards without reservations; 39 studies did not meet design standards. → What Works Clearinghouse 2015

Evidence¶

What Works Clearinghouse 2015¶

What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. (2015). Head Start: WWC intervention report. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs

q2 · i? · review · r3

The WWC reviewed 40 eligible studies against group design standards; 39 did not meet WWC design standards, most because they used quasi-experimental designs in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups were not shown to be equivalent. The report states the extent of evidence is small for all three rated domains.

"One study (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Adminis-tration for Children and Families [DHHS ACF], 2010) is a randomized controlled trial that meets WWC group design standards without reservations."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Head Start shows no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for 4-year-old children — related
• Head Start has potentially positive effects on general reading achievement for 3- and 4-year-old children, based on parent-rated emergent literacy — related
• Head Start shows no discernible effects on social-emotional development for 3- and 4-year-old children — related
• Substantial crossover occurred in the Head Start impact study comparison group, with 17.3% of the 3-year-old and 13.9% of the 4-year-old comparison groups enrolling in non-study Head Start programs — related
• Supplemental analyses show statistically significant positive Head Start effects on one social-emotional subscale and two mothers' race/ethnicity subgroup comparisons for the 3-year-old cohort — related
• Only three of twelve identified OLI studies met WWC group design standards — related
• Thirteen of 14 reviewed studies of the program fail WWC evidence standards or eligibility screens, most for lacking comparison-group designs or non-equivalent quasi-experimental groups — related
• The evidence base for Core-Plus Mathematics is small: of 17 reviewed studies, only one met WWC standards (with reservations) and 16 did not meet standards or screens — related