"Elusive Longer-Run Impacts of Head Start: Replications Within and Across Cohorts"

Doctoral candidate Remy Pages is first author of an article in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis replicating and extending earlier assessment of Head Start’s life cycle skill formation impacts.

The title of the article is “Elusive Longer-Run Impacts of Head Start: Replications Within and Across Cohorts.”

Co-authors are Dylan Lukes from Harvard University, Associate Professor Drew H. Bailey, and Distinguished Professor Greg Duncan.
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Pages’s research interests include program evaluation, assessment, research design, and longitudinal analysis. He specialized in Educational Policy and Social Context (EPSC) and is advised by Duncan.

Abstract
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Using an additional decade of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults (CNLSY), this study replicated and extended Deming’s evaluation of Head Start’s life cycle skill formation impacts in three ways. Extending the measurement interval for Deming’s adulthood outcomes, we found no statistically significant impacts on earnings and mixed evidence of impacts on other adult outcomes. Applying Deming’s sibling comparison framework to more recent birth cohorts born to CNLSY mothers revealed mostly negative Head Start impacts. Combining all cohorts showed generally null impacts on school-age and early adulthood outcomes.