In these days where "accountability" is the byword, organizations more and more frequently seek to evaluate their programs. They often hire outside evaluators to help them assess the effectiveness of their programs, to find out what works and what doesn't, and to determine what programmatic changes would be beneficial. ActKnowledge, a…

Education policy makers identify access to quality pre-Kindergarten programs as a critical step in early childhood development. While most agree on access, definitions of quality vary widely. A new study by the National Center for Early Development & Learning (NCEDL) finds that families define quality in broader terms than educators,…

The standards presented in this handbook are intended to serve as guidelines for the self-assessment of publicly funded preschool group day care centers. Each standard is accompanied by one or more indicators which suggest concrete ways in which that standard can be met. The handbook is divided into five sections. The standards in the first…

An evaluation of the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program was begun in 1975 to provide longititudinal data on the effects of prekindergarten on children's development over a period of 5 years. Data were collected on a variety of items, including children's test performance at various times, family background, ratings by teachers,…

THREE HEAD START PROGRAMS WERE ESTABLISHED TO INVESTIGATE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FOUR GROUPS OF CHILDREN IN THE AREAS OF INTELLIGENCE, COGNITION AND ACHIEVEMENT, ENVIRONMENT, AND PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS. THE FOUR GROUPS WERE (1) THE SR GROUP IN WHICH THE CHILDRENS' PARENTS SOUGHT OUT ENTRY FOR THEIR CHILDREN IN THE HEAD START PROGRAM, (2) THE SAP…