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Abstract:
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Family- and parent-directed programs and family assistance services are critical aspects of the Head Start program's mission to provide comprehensive services to support the education of low-income children. This investigation examines the relationship between parental involvement in Head Start family- and parent-directed programs and parental receipt of Head Start assistance and child cognitive and academic outcomes. Several types of assistance have a significant impact on child cognitive measures, including receiving assistance with food, income, and Medicaid needs and assistance with medical care. Parental involvement with the Head Start program had no consistent impact on child academic outcomes, either positive or negative. The findings that certain types of involvement and assistance have substantial impacts on child outcomes, and that other forms of parental participation that were expected to have positive impacts in fact did not, have profound consequences for the future development of Head Start programming in this time of constrained financial resources. |