Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning Network Evaluation

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SRI is examining the critical features of a high-quality early learning program and its effects on children, families, caregivers, and communities.

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Summary

In partnership with the Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning (CHS), SRI’s Education Division is conducting a longitudinal, mixed-methods evaluation to understand the short-, mid-, and long-term effects of attending the CHS program on children, families, and communities. We are conducting three studies: a child and family outcomes study to examine the effects of CHS participation, an implementation study to examine the factors that facilitate or inhibit delivery of the CHS program, and a community outcomes study to assess the long-term effects of the CHS program in the communities where the centers are located. 

Full description of project work

Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning (CHS) is an initiative to develop six Early Childhood Education Centers in Pennsylvania. CHS provides year-round weekday care and education to children from age 6 weeks to 5 years from underresourced and overburdened backgrounds, with all costs covered for participating families. SRI Education is serving as the network evaluator to examine the implementation and short-, mid-, and long-term effects of attending CHS on children, families, and communities. SRI’s evaluation includes three distinct but related studies: an implementation study, a child and family outcomes study, and a community outcomes study.  

Together, these studies will broaden the knowledge base about the critical features of a high-quality early learning program that supports young children’s development and learning, as well as the effects on families, caregivers, and broader communities. The studies also examine how, why, and for whom such programs are most effective. Findings will inform researchers, program developers, and practitioners about children’s development in high-quality early care and education programs and identify the critical features that can set children on a trajectory for long-term success. 

Three interrelated studies 

The implementation study examines the factors that facilitate or inhibit the successful delivery of the CHS model, with a focus on policies, access, equity, and quality. SRI is gathering implementation information from surveys, interviews, and focus groups with a variety of CHS educators and leaders at multiple points to understand program delivery from different perspectives and over time.  

The child and family outcomes study uses a quasi-experimental design to examine the short-, mid-, and long-term effects of CHS on children and their families. SRI is collecting direct assessments, parent reports, and teacher reports from up to 1,000 children and families attending CHS and a matched comparison group of up to 1,000 children and families. After the first 5 years of the study, SRI will have collected a rich longitudinal data set to track CHS and comparison children in order to examine the effects of attending CHS on child and family outcomes. 

Finally, the community outcomes study uses a quasi-experimental design to examine the extent to which the effects of CHS spread beyond child and family participants to the communities where CHS centers are located. SRI researchers plan to leverage longitudinal extant data sources to examine relevant outcomes among CHS communities compared to a “synthetic” comparison community. We plan to examine outcomes such as adults’ participation in the labor force, household income, use of social services, educational attainment, and families’ access to early care and education programs. 

Associated fields of research