Preschool, Home, and School Contexts as Determinants of the Impacts of Head Start

描述（由申请人提供）：开端是最大的联邦计划，为低收入家庭的儿童提供丰富的幼儿教育。大量的非实验性和准实验性研究将“先声夺人”的参与与儿童发展成果的收益（通常是适度的）联系起来。然而，迄今为止的研究未能研究如何在头开始中心的变异性与儿童的发展结果的变异性，以及如何在头开始后经历的家庭和学校环境的质量可能会维持，或削减，随着时间的推移头开始的影响。为了解决这一知识差距，拟议的项目超越了简单的影响问题，考虑的条件和背景，使头开始或多或少有效。具体来说，我们将研究在何种程度上的结构和质量的开端中心，父母的行为和家庭环境，以及小学的结构和质量可能会随着时间的推移调解或缓和程序的影响。我们的跨学科团队（来自人类发展、教育、经济学和社会工作领域）将利用两项大型的全国性“先声夺人”研究- -其中一项使用了实验设计--来解决以下目标：目标1：确定“先声夺人”质量的各个方面在多大程度上、通过什么过程促进儿童的认知发展、社会情感技能和身体健康;目标2：确定家长的作用，创造和维持积极的长期影响的开端对儿童的认知发展，社会情感技能，和身体健康;和目标3：检查在何种程度上随后的学校经历温和的持久性开端对儿童的认知发展，社会情感技能，和身体健康的影响。该项目涉及对两个大型联邦资助数据集的二级数据分析，即1997年队列开端家庭和儿童经历调查（FACES-97）和开端影响研究（HSIS）。每项研究都包括一个具有全国代表性的3岁和4岁的低收入儿童参加头开始，沿着一个对照组的儿童在等待名单上的头开始在HSIS。研究问题将使用多元回归，分段回归，潜在类增长分析和多组分析的组合来解决。特别感兴趣的将是治疗条件之间的相互作用，在HSIS和中心的质量在学龄前一年和学校的质量在小学几年。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Head Start is the largest federal program providing an enriched early childhood education for children from low income families. A substantial body of non-experimental and quasi-experimental research has linked Head Start participation with (often modest) gains in children's developmental outcomes. Yet research to date has failed to examine how variability across Head Start centers is associated with variability in children's developmental outcomes, and how the quality of home and school environments experienced after Head Start might sustain, or curtail, the impacts of Head Start over time. To address this knowledge gap, the proposed project goes beyond questions of simple impact to consider the conditions and contexts which make Head Start more or less effective. Specifically, we will examine the extent to which the structure and quality of Head Start centers, parenting behavior and the home environment, and the structure and quality of elementary schools might mediate or moderate program impacts over time. Our interdisciplinary team (from the fields of human development, education, economics, and social work) will utilize two large, national Head Start studies- -one of which used an experimental design--to address the following aims: Aim 1: To identify to what extent, and by what processes, aspects of Head Start quality promote children's cognitive development, social-emotional skills, and physical health; Aim 2: To determine the role of parents in creating and sustaining positive long-term impacts of Head Start on children's cognitive development, social-emotional skills, and physical health; and Aim 3: To examine the extent to which subsequent school experiences moderate the persistence of Head Start effects on children's cognitive development, social-emotional skills, and physical health. The project involves secondary data analysis of two large, federally sponsored data-sets, namely the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, 1997 Cohort (FACES-97), and the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS). Each study included a nationally representative sample of 3- and 4-year-old low income children attending Head Start, along with one control group of children on waiting lists for Head Start in the HSIS. Research questions will be addressed using a combination of multiple regression, piecewise regression, latent class growth analysis, and multiple group analysis. Of particular interest will be interactions between treatment condition in the HSIS and center quality in the preschool year and school quality in the elementary school years.