National Home Start Evaluation Interim Report VI. Twelve-Month Program Issues, Outcomes and Costs.

This report assesses the progress of the six summative Home Start projects as evaluation families completed their first twelve months of enrollment. Home Start, a federally-funded 3-year (1972-1975) home-based demonstration program for low-income families with 3- to 5-year-old children was designed to enhance a mother's skills in dealing with her own children and to provide comprehensive social-emotional, health and nutritional services. Aspects examined in this report include: overall national statistics on families, staff, and costs; organization and staffing of local projects; kind and quantity of services delivered; operational problems previously identified; mother and child outcomes; descriptive program costs; program cost-effectiveness; and cost-relevant program characteristics. The data examined in this report were gathered in fall 1974, through site visits, outcome measures, and quarterly information reports. Findings are presented in three different parts of this volume: program analysis results, summative evaluation results and cost-effectiveness results. (Author/MS)