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

描述（由申请人提供）：启智计划是最大的联邦计划，为来自低收入家庭的孩子提供丰富的幼儿教育。大量的非实验性和准实验性研究已将参与“先导性教育”与儿童发展成果（通常是适度的）收益联系起来。然而，迄今为止的研究未能检验不同先导中心之间的差异与儿童发展结果的差异之间的关系，以及在先导计划实施后，家庭和学校环境的质量如何随着时间的推移维持或减少先导计划的影响。为了解决这一知识差距，拟议的项目超越了简单影响的问题，考虑了使“启智计划”或多或少有效的条件和背景。具体来说，我们将研究随着时间的推移，学前教育中心的结构和质量、父母行为和家庭环境以及小学的结构和质量可能在多大程度上调节或缓和项目的影响。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导研究——其中一项采用实验设计——来解决以下目标：目标1：确定先导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：确定家长在创造和维持“先发计划”对儿童认知发展、社会情感技能和身体健康的长期积极影响方面的作用；目标3：研究后续学校经历在多大程度上缓和了“先发”对儿童认知发展、社会情感技能和身体健康的持续影响。该项目涉及对联邦政府资助的两个大型数据集的二次数据分析，即1997年队列（FACES-97）和领先启动家庭和儿童经历调查（HSIS）。每项研究都包括一个具有全国代表性的3岁和4岁低收入儿童参加启智计划的样本，以及一个在HSIS中等待启智计划名单上的对照组儿童。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HSIS的治疗条件与学龄前中心质量和小学学校质量之间的相互作用。

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.