Even Start Family Literacy: focusing on quality with fewer resources

February 7, 2006

With the recent cuts in funding for Even Start Family Literacy programs, states will have less than half the dollars to continue to provide high quality literacy services to families and their children. States have several options in dealing with those cuts, but they are not allowed to reduce the quality or quantity of services offered to families. The end result is that the number of families served through Even Start will be reduced by more than half. In order to maintain high quality services with only 44 percent of last year’s funding, state leaders have difficult decisions to make.

The results of the national evaluations continue to be cited as evidence that Even Start is ineffective. However, those results reflect questionable data quality and do not address State indicators of quality that have been implemented since the last national evaluation. Data for the national evaluations was input by local programs without any mechanism for them to review or edit the data. State Coordinators did not play a role in ensuring data quality. Local and State Coordinators did not receive the data output until 18 months to 2 years after submission, and there was still no mechanism to amend incorrect data.

The Even Start legislation was reauthorized in 2000 and 2001, and while all previous requirements were retained, the reauthorized legislation stressed more strongly the importance of the quality of instructional content, and participant outcomes. Since the reauthorization in 2000, states have been required to develop indicators of program quality with specific attention to the outcomes of children and adults. States must use the results of these indicators to evaluate local programs and target low performing programs for technical assistance. Unfortunately, there are not consistent indicators across the states, so there is no way to measure the results of Even Start program implementation on the national level. One must look now at local evaluations, Statewide evaluations (that are not required by statute and also are not consistent across states), and State summaries of their performance indicators to determine the effectiveness of Even Start programs.

Local and state evaluations have clearly documented the success of Even Start Family Literacy. In New York, almost 80 percent of the children served in Even Start made more than one year’s gain in literacy and accelerated language development, in effect closing the achievement gap. In Texas, where almost 60 percent of the children are English language learners, 86 percent of the children in kindergarten and 82 percent of the children in grades 1 and 2 met or exceeded the standards on district reading assessments. In California, where 82 percent of the families served are English language learners, second grade students who entered the program with little or no English language, are now achieving at comparable rates with all second graders statewide. The results are similar in states across the country.

Half of these children will no longer receive services in the upcoming year due to the cuts in FY 2006 – the children who are most at risk in our nation. If we are to ever close the gap between children who live in poverty, whose parents have low literacy, we must implement an education model that begins at birth and that supports parents to assist their children in their language and literacy development. That model is Even Start Family Literacy.

This is a time that is critical to our future. The President has just released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2007. Again, there is no line item for Even Start in the budget. Each program and each State must communicate the results of their Even Start program to ensure that legislators who make decisions about the level of funding for Even Start have information upon which to base their decisions.

Members of the House of Representatives, all of whom are up for reelection in 2006, will be in their home districts between February 21st and 24th and between March 20th and 24th. Please invite them to visit your program during this time. Make sure they know and understand the impact that the recent cuts have on your program. Make sure they meet the family members impacted by their decisions. Make sure they know how and why your Even Start Family Literacy program is effective.

Each of us must make a commitment to ensure that our legislators know about the success of Even Start Family Literacy.

NOW IS THE TIME!

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Sue Henry
CEO, National Even Start Association