Treatment effect heterogeneity in the head start impact study: A systematic review of study characteristics and findings

Sun Yeop Lee; Rockli Kim; Justin Rodgers; S V Subramanian

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100916

Treatment effect heterogeneity in the head start impact study: A systematic review of study characteristics and findings

SSM Popul Health. 2021 Sep 8:16:100916. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100916. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Sun Yeop Lee¹, Rockli Kim^{2

3

4}, Justin Rodgers⁴, S V Subramanian^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Boston, MA, USA.
² Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ Division of Health Policy and Management, College of Health Science, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Harvard Center for Population & Development Studies, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

There have been consistent efforts to assess treatment effect heterogeneity (TEH) of Head Start using the data from the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), a randomized controlled trial of a federally funded child development program for a nationally representative sample of low-income parents and their 3- and 4-year-old children in the United States. Including 28 studies on TEH of Head Start, this review found that multiple high-risk subgroups (e.g., children with lower cognitive abilities, Spanish-speaking dual language learners) experienced larger gains across a range of developmental and parental outcomes, but mixed results for several subgroups. Most studies focused on subgroup analyses, cognitive and social-emotional outcomes, and short-term effects. Further studies on distributional effects, health and parental outcomes, and long-term effects are warranted. Finally, suggestions for future research on TEH of Head Start are discussed, which are applicable to other child development programs and policy evaluations.

Keywords: Child development; Childhood intervention; Head start; Head start impact study; Heterogeneous effect; Treatment effect heterogeneity.

Publication types

Review