Head Start shows no discernible effects on social-emotional development for 3- and 4-year-old children¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr3·q3
Currency · newest study 2015 · checked against its sources 2026-10-17 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? No statistically significant or substantively important effects were found on the Total Problem Behavior Scale, the Social Competencies Checklist, or the Social Skills and Positive Approaches to Learning Scale for either cohort. → 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
q3 · i? · causal · r3
In the DHHS ACF (2010) randomized controlled trial, three social-emotional outcomes were measured at the end of the intervention year. The average improvement index was +1 percentile points (range -1 to +5); the WWC characterized the effect as indeterminate because the mean effect was "neither statistically significant nor substantively important."
"The authors reported, and the WWC confirmed, no statistically significant or substantively important effects on any of these measures for either the 3-year-old or the 4-year-old cohorts."
Discussion¶
Learner Variables¶
- Emotional Intelligence — outcome: instruction changes it
- Social Awareness and Relationship Skills — outcome: instruction changes it
Related Claims¶
- The evidence base for Head Start's school-readiness effects is small: only one of 40 eligible studies met WWC group design standards — related
- Head Start shows no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for 4-year-old children — 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
- The first trial also found social-emotional gains including increased attachment and initiative and reduced anxiety/withdrawal — related
- Preschool PATHS increases emotion knowledge and parent- and teacher-rated social competence in Head Start 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
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
head-start-no-discernible-social-emotional-effects |
title |
Head Start shows no discernible effects on social-emotional development for 3- and 4-year-old children |
description |
Head Start shows no discernible effects on social-emotional development for 3- and 4-year-old children |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2015 |
source_checked |
2026-10-17 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-07 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — what-works-clearinghouse-2015 |
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