ABSTRACT
In 1995, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) implemented the Early Head Start program at sites across the United States. Essentially a younger sibling of the long-standing Head Start program, Early Head Start was created with the primary goal of enhancing the health and development of younger children from low-income families through the provision of services to low-income families with pregnant women, infants, and toddlers, and through the training of service deliverers. One aspect of the rollout of Early Head Start was an experimental evaluation of its implementation and effectiveness. Eligible families and children from 17 communities were randomly assigned either to participate or not participate in the local Early Head Start offerings. This research design allowed the researchers to estimate the effect of participating in the program. Findings from this Early Head Start evaluation were generally positive. In particular, children who were assigned to participate in Early Head Start had higher levels of cognitive and social-emotional development and displayed a larger vocabulary than their comparison group peers (Mathematica Policy Research, 2002).
