Although reading to preschoolers has been shown to influence their later language and cognitive development, few studies have examined these relationships for children under age 3. Researchers studied over 2,500 low-income English- and Spanish-speaking families across the country who were...

The final report to Congress presents complete findings from our seven-year national evaluation of Early Head Start. The findings show that the program promotes learning and the parenting that supports it within the first three years of life. Participating children perform significantly better...

Early Head Start, a federal program begun in 1995 for low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers, was evaluated through a randomized trial of 3,001 families in 17 programs. Interviews with primary caregivers, child assessments, and observations of parent– child...

Mathematica collected data on child care settings used by program and control group families when children were 14, 24, and 36 months of age. Findings demonstrate the important role programs played: Early Head Start families were receiving not only more child care but substantially more...

This preliminary summary of program impacts shows that programs successfully delivered their intended services and that participating children performed significantly better in cognitive, language, and social-emotional development than nonparticipating children. Participating parents also showed...

In 2001, Latino children represented 18 percent of the U.S. population 18 years of age and younger, with this percentage expected to rise during this century. This study examined variation in mother-infant interactions, father engagement, and infant cognition as a function of country of origin,...