Abstract
There have been consistent efforts to assess treatment effect heterogeneity (TEH) of Head Start using the data from the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), a randomized controlled trial of a federally funded child development program for a nationally representative sample of low-income parents and their 3- and 4-year-old children in the United States. Including 28 studies on TEH of Head Start, this review found that multiple high-risk subgroups (e.g., children with lower cognitive abilities, Spanish-speaking dual language learners) experienced larger gains across a range of developmental and parental outcomes, but mixed results for several subgroups. Most studies focused on subgroup analyses, cognitive and social-emotional outcomes, and short-term effects. Further studies on distributional effects, health and parental outcomes, and long-term effects are warranted. Finally, suggestions for future research on TEH of Head Start are discussed, which are applicable to other child development programs and policy evaluations.
Highlights
To be included in the review, studies needed to meet following criteria: 1) use of the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) data; 2) analysis of treatment effect heterogeneity (TEH); 3) evaluation of the Head Start effect on cognitive, social-emotional, health, or parental outcomes, which are the main outcomes of interest listed in the HSIS reports
Since we focused on studies using the HSIS data, if more than one study had analyzed an outcome at the same assessment year using the same moderator, any difference in estimates would be due to different analytic approaches rather than the presence of true TEH
Among 191 studies identified by the database search, 80 duplicates were identified by Covidence and removed by the reviewers
Summary
The program has served more than 37 million children and their families, playing an important role in improving welfare and population health, as well as alleviating social inequalities. Based on a “whole child” model, the program has four components: education, health, social services, and parent involvement. It promotes academic success, improved management of health needs, and positive social and behavioral development by providing various services including early childhood education; medical, dental, and mental healthcare; nutritional services; and parenting support. Most Head Start centers are run by non-profit organizations, schools, and community agencies, and they all follow the Head Start Program Performance Standards to ensure provision of high-quality early education and child development services (Puma et al, 2010)
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