ED407167 PS025418
Title: Head Start: Research Provides Little Information on Impact
of Current Program. United States General Accounting Office Report
to the Chairman, Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives.
Author Affiliation: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. Health,
Education, and Human Services Div.(BBB31516)
Pages: 59
Publication Date: April 1997
Report No: GAO/HEHS-97-59
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
Availability: U.S. General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg,
MD 20884-6015; phone: 202-512-6000; fax: 301-258-4066; e-mail: info{at
sign}www.gao.gov; world wide web home page: http://www.gao.gov (First
copy, free; additional copies, $2 each. VISA and MasterCard credit
cards are accepted).
Language: English
Document Type: Information Analysis (070); Reports--Evaluative (142);
Reports--Research (143)
Geographic Source: U.S.; District of Columbia
Journal Announcement: RIESEP1997
Government Level: Federal
Although an
extensive body of literature exists on Head Start, only a small
part of this literature is program impact research. The body of
existing research is inadequate in size, quality, and comparability
for use in drawing conclusions about the impact of Head Start in
any area in which Head Start provides services. This report from
the General Accounting Office (GAO) provides an examination of the
research plans of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Planned research will focus on new or innovative service delivery
strategies (including descriptive studies, studies of program variations
and demonstrations, and studies of the quality of innovative programs)
but will provide little impact data on regular Head Start programs.
DHHS believes effectiveness of Head Start is already proven, that
conducting impact studies would be difficult and perhaps unethical,
and that national estimates of program impact and comparisons with
other service providers are not appropriate. GAO concluded that
the increasing demand for shrinking federal resources and for accountability
points to the need for conducting impact studies on Head Start and
recommended that GHHS include in its research plan an assessment
of the impact of regular Head Start programs. A summary of DHHS'
comments conclude the report. Six appendices document how the GAO
report was developed: Appendix 1, "Objectives, Scope, and Methodology";
Appendix 2, "Research, Demonstration, and Evaluation Budgets
for the Head Start Program"; Appendix 3, "Summaries of
Studies Included in the Review"; Appendix 4 "Comments
from the Department of Health and Human Services"; Appendix
5 Acknowledgments"; and Appendix 6, "GAO Contacts and
Staff Acknowledgments." (DR)
Descriptors: Accountability; Educational Quality; *Educational Research;
Outcomes of Education; Preschool Education; *Program Effectiveness;
Program Evaluation; Research Design; Research Methodology; *Research
Needs; Research Problems
Identifiers: *Impact Studies; *Project Head Start
