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HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today released a preliminary evaluation of Early Head Start showing that children in the new child development program performed significantly better in cognitive, language and social-emotional development compared to children not participating in the program. Parents in Early Head Start also showed more positive parenting behavior, reported less physical punishment of their children and provided more help for their children to learn at home.

Early Head Start provides high quality child and family development services to pregnant women and infants and toddlers, from birth to age 3, a time considered one of the most important in a child's cognitive and social development. It was started in 1995 as a new component of the Head Start program that serves children age 3 to 4.

"Early Head Start is about giving our youngest and most disadvantaged children a chance to grow up healthy, to learn and to prepare for school," said Secretary Shalala. "Everyone who helped create the program, the providers who teach the children, and the parents who are taking part can be very proud of what we've accomplished in a very short time."

Major findings of the preliminary evaluation of 2-year-old children in the program include higher scores in standardized tests of infant and toddler development and reports of larger vocabularies and the ability to speak in more complex sentences. One-third of Early Head Start children were found to be at risk of slower developmental learning compared to 40 percent of the non-Early Head Start children. This indicates that Early Head Start children may also be less at risk of needing special learning intervention services in later years.

The results pertaining to parents present further evidence of Early Head Start's ability to promote learning in the home, to better prepare children for school, and to reduce family stress. The preliminary study reports that Early Head Start parents were more supportive of promoting learning, language and literacy at home by reading more to their children and engaging in more structured play activity than parents not in the program. Early Head Start parents also set more regular bedtimes and read to children before sleep. They spanked their children less and were more likely to resolve problems by using distraction, explanation or mild responses rather than physical punishment. Early Head Start parents also reported lower levels of family conflict and stress related to parenting. These findings indicate that the program is equipping parents with strategies to cope with conflict and to help break a cycle of parental stress and potential harm to children.

"This study is enormously important for the future of Early Head Start and all early childhood programs by showing that a large national program that is well-implemented, maintains quality, and focuses on specific child development goals for children and parents can succeed," said Olivia A. Golden, HHS assistant secretary for children and families. "There will be more to learn, but we now know that the Early Head Start blueprint of an early, intensive program can yield significant results and brighter outcomes for children."

Early Head Start provides its full range of services in home-based, center-based and mixed settings. The evaluation found that the child development services provided directly by Early Head Start programs were generally of high quality. Though there were differences in results for children and parents among the three program formats, overall findings regarding improvements in children's cognitive development and parental behavior were broad and substantial. Findings were strongest in programs that fully implemented the Head Start performance standards. The preliminary report covered children up to the age of 2. The study will continue to assess their progress for another year.

Early Head Start was launched in 1995 based on recommendations from the bipartisan Advisory Committee on Head Start appointed by Secretary Shalala. There are currently 635 Early Head Start programs serving 45,000 low-income children and their families. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and Columbia University's Center for Children and Families, in collaboration with the Early Head Start Research Consortium, prepared the national evaluation, which was begun in 1995. The evaluation studied approximately 3,000 children and families in 17 sites across the country during the first two years of the children's lives.

The final report following children through age three will be out next year. A copy of the preliminary study is available on the ACF web site at www.acf.dhhs.gov/news.

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