Children's Performance in School Readiness Skills in the Jumpstart Program

Abstract

This article reports 2 pilot research studies of child outcomes associated with participation in the New York City Jumpstart program. Jumpstart is a new, national preschool program designed to supplement Head Start and other pre- school experiences. Study 1 is a 2-year longitudinal study at the original NYC Jumpstart site that assessed improvement in school readiness skills as measured by a standardized instrument, the Bracken Basic Concept Scale (BBCS), in children who participated in the program, as well as in a comparison Head Start sample. Information on the immediate benefits to children was gathered from parents and teachers using focus groups and surveys. Results indicate that the Jumpstart program was serving the children from the Head Start population who were less school ready than their peers, as revealed by their lower performance on the BBCS. Parents and teachers credited the one-on-one attention provided by Jumpstart Corps Members as promoting the children's development. Study 2 is an observational longitudinal study covering the 2nd year of the program and includes participants from all 4 NYC Jumpstart sites. Views of the children's progress were obtained from the children's mentors, a Jumpstart staff Observation Team, and parents using program-specific measures and focus groups. Results show that adults saw improvement in the children's emergent literacy skills and social adaptive behaviors, although the different observers assessed growth in different areas. Implications for educational and social policies are drawn.