Download Locations

• Open CRS (User submitted)

Summary

The Even Start program provides education and related services jointly to disadvantaged parents and their young children. The purpose of the program is to integrate early childhood education, adult basic education, and parenting skills education into a unified family literacy program. Even Start program services must include adult literacy instruction, early childhood education, instruction to help parents support their child's education, participant recruitment, screening of parents, staff training, and home-based instruction. Even Start serves an extremely disadvantaged population. In 2000-2001, 85% of Even Start parents did not have a high school diploma and 84% of Even Start families lived below the federal poverty line. The Even Start program, first authorized in 1989, grew rapidly in its first years, but it has been subject to increasing criticism in recent years and has seen its funding decline in FY2003, FY2004, FY2005, and most notably in FY2006. The Administration requested no funding for the program for either FY2005 or FY2006. In the FY2006 budget justification, the Administration argued that the program has not demonstrated that it has been effective in improving child and adult learning outcomes through the integration of the four core services of adult education, parenting education, parent-child activities, and early childhood education. The Administration argues that these conclusions are supported by data from three national evaluations of Even Start, as well as poor ratings on their Program Assessment Rating Tool system (PART). Advocates of the Even Start program argue that the goal of providing integrated family literacy services to an extremely disadvantaged population is so important that the program should not be eliminated or have its funding cut. Furthermore, they argue that a thorough study of the impact of legislatively mandated quality improvements to Even Start is needed, as well as a concerted effort to improve the program through implementation of model programs and technical assistance. The Third National Even Start Evaluation has suggested several areas in which the Even Start program could be enhanced to improve participant outcomes. First, it noted that the quality and content of language instruction provided in Even Start programs should be made the most important priority for programs, and that language instruction must be improved based on recent scientific research. Second, it found that families did not participate long enough or receive instruction of sufficient intensity to achieve program goals. Finally, it recommended that future research focus on identifying effective family literacy practices and instructional services to serve as models for improving Even Start projects. This report will be updated periodically.

XML