Facts In Action

The 1998 reauthorization of the Head Start Act of 1981 created a mandate that all Head Start programs must measure developmental outcomes of the children in their programs on a regularly scheduled basis. While the reauthorization did not prescribe a specific outcome measurement instrument, it did define specific indicators - in language, literacy, numeracy, approaches to learning, social/emotional development, and physical health and development - on which programs should focus their analysis.

Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. (ABCD) Head Start has spent the past few years developing an instrument to screen and assess every child in its programs. After the mandate, ABCD Head Start assembled a working group of teachers, education specialists, disability specialists, education and disability coordinators, and other staff to reevaluate their assessment instrument to determine if it could be used to measure child outcomes.

The working group decided that starting in June 2001, it would pilot the assessment instrument on 50 to 75 children. After the pilot period, the working group plans to analyze the data collected to determine if the instrument is capturing the information required by the mandate. Based on that analysis, ABCD Head Start plans to fully implement the instrument, as it exists or with minor revisions, with all of the children in its programs within the next calendar year.

For more information:
about ABCD Head Start's outcome measurement tool or the 1998 Head Start reauthorization outcome measurement mandate, contact Barbara Jacobs at (617) 357-6000 x294, or by email at jacobs@bostonabcd.org.

Facts in Action, June 2001