Design options for the assessment of Head Start quality enhancements: Final report. Volume I

In recognition of the need for rigorous evaluation of Head Start quality enhancements, ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and its subcontractor, Xtria, LLC, to prepare design options for potential future evaluations. The purpose of the project, known as the Design Options for the Assessment of Head Start Quality Enhancements project, is to develop a framework for rigorously evaluating enhancement initiatives and program variations in Head Start. This framework is intended to provide flexible guidelines for designing research to evaluate the effectiveness of specific quality enhancements in Head Start across a range of different settings, on either a small or a large scale. Previous concept papers developed for this project have focused on key issues in developing research designs, implementing enhancements and measuring implementation and fidelity, and measuring intermediate and child outcomes (Ross et al. 2004; Paulsell et al. 2004; Boller et al. 2004). This final report identifies specific quality enhancement ideas and describes appropriate evaluation plans for each.