Design for a National Evaluation of Social Competence in Head Start Children.

This volume specifies the design for a national evaluation of the effects of Head Start programs on the total child, defined in terms of his social competence (in assuming the role of pupil), but is not meant to be construed as a recommendation that a national evaluation be undertaken. The first chapters contain introductory recommendations concerning the use of the evaluation design; review of many of the theoretical and methodological problems involved in determining outcome criteria and producing interpretable, socially important, and socially responsible data; discussion of background information and issues which influenced the designing of the evaluation; and an overview of the evaluation, including detailed reasons for the choices made in respect to the main elements of the evaluation design. The following chapters contain specific examinations of these areas: (1) Health and Nutrition; (2) Perceptual-Motor, Cognitive, and Language Development; (3) Social and Personal Development; and (4) Independent Variables concerning treatment, control groups, and background characteristics. The final sections of the volume include the basic evaluation design and discussions of issues of statistical analysis, test development, pilot tests of the national evaluation, and the importance of using focused (small-scale) studies as adjunct to (and perhaps instead of) a national evaluation. (SDH)