Project Follow Through

Project Follow Through was the largest and most expensive federally funded experiment in education ever conducted. It was originally intended to provide a continuation of Head Start services to students in their early elementary years. (Head Start delivered educational, health, and social services to disadvantaged preschool children and their families.)

The most extensive evaluation of Follow Through data covers the years 1968-1977; however, the program continued to receive funding from the government until 1995. The results did not show how programs that showed little or no benefit could be improved, but some program types ("models") did show some indications of success. Stebbins, "et al." (1977, pp. xxiv-xxviii) reported the principal findings as follows:

*“The effectiveness of each Follow Through model varied substantially from site group to site group” (p. xxiv)
*“Models that emphasize basic skills succeed better than other models in helping children gain these skills” (p. xxv)
*“Where models have put their primary emphasis elsewhere than on the basic skills, the children they served have tended to score better lower on tests of these skills than they would have done without Follow Through” (p. xxvi)
*“No type of model was notably more successful than the others in raising scores on cognitive conceptual skills” (p. xxvi)
*“Models that emphasize basic skills produced better results on tests of self-concept than did other models” (p. xxvi)
*To the extent that Follow Through children have ‘caught up’ with their peers in arithmetic skills, they have tended to do it during the first two years of their involvement in the program” (p. xxvii)
*“Follow Through has been relatively effective with the most disadvantaged children it has served” (p. xxviii)

One outcome of Project Follow Through was that it clearly documented the most effective instructional approach. The Direct Instruction model placed first in reading, arithmetic, spelling, language, basic skills, academic cognitive skills, and positive self image. [Engelmann, S. (1992) War Against the Schools' Academic Child Abuse. Halcyon House, Portland, OR.]

Ernest Boyer, U.S. Commissioner of Education during the main Follow Through study implementation, wrote to Senator Robert (Bob) Packwood on March 31, 1978, in response to an inquiry about why the Direct Instruction model was not being funded at a higher level given that it was the only model that showed strong academic and affective gains at all sites. In his letter Commissioner Boyer acknowledges that "the evaluation found that only one (Direct Instruction) of the 22 models which were assessed in the evaluation consistently produced positive outcomes."

References

*Egbert, R.L. (1981). Some thoughts about Follow Through thirteen years later. Lincoln, NB: Nebraska University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED244733)
*Engelmann, S. (1992). War Against the Schools' Academic Child Abuse. Portland, OR: Halcyon House
*Stebbins, L.B., St. Pierre, R.G., Proper, E.C., Anderson, R.B., & Cerva, T.R. (1977). Education as experimentation: A planned variation model (Vol IV-A). Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates.
*Watkins, C.L. (1997). Project Follow Through: A case study of contingencies influencing instructional practices of the educational establishment. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.