title: Effects of a family literacy program on low-literate children and their parents: findings from an evaluation of the Even Start family literacy program.
abstract: A randomized experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of Even Start, a federally supported family literacy program providing early childhood education, adult education, parenting education, and joint parent-child literacy activities to children and parents from low-literate families. The evaluation of 18 Even Start projects followed 463 families for 2 years and found no statistically significant or educationally important impacts on Even Start families when they were compared with control families on child literacy outcomes, parent literacy outcomes, or parent-child interactions. The study concludes that Even Start projects were able to properly implement family literacy programs, and the observed lack of effectiveness is attributed to a combination of 2 factors: (a) a lack of full participation on the part of families and (b) instructional services that may be ineffective because of the curriculum content or the instructional approach.
authors.affiliation: Social and Economic Policy Division, Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA, USA. bob.stpierre@comcast.net
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: St Pierre
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Ricciuti
authors.forename: Tracy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Rimdzius
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D004493:Education; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011640:Public Policy