Research on Sure Start

About the National Evaluation of Sure Start
The National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) is being conducted by the Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues, part of Birkbeck, University of London. It is funded by the Sure Start Unit. The evaluation will study the effectiveness of all Sure Start Programmes in England and will last for six years.

It falls into five sections, or modules:

The Impact Study will assess children, families and communities to investigate all aspects of the children's development, as well as demographics, health and risk factors within the family.

The Implementation Study aims to paint a comprehensive picture of the process and components of the first 260 Sure Start programmes across England, which will ultimately link together programme activity and outcomes for individual users and communities.

The Local Context Analysis describes the community backdrop for Sure Start and
documents change over time in the nature of the Sure Start communities.

The Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation asks two key questions:
· What is the total level of resources being spent on Sure Start?
· What are the benefits of Sure Start for children, their families, the local
community and the wider public, which can be quantified in monetary terms?

The Support to Local Programmes module aims to facilitate local programmes' own evaluations and to act as a conduit for information between local evaluations and NESS as a whole.

Link:
For more information and for the reports produced by NESS visit www.ness.bbk.ac.uk

Towards understanding Sure Start local programmes
Summary of findings from the national evaluation
Department for Education and Skills, June 2004

This is a six-page summary, based on selected findings of the different strands of the National Evaluation of Sure Start (see above) after three years. Many of the points it makes come from studies summarised elsewhere on this page, but some key findings are:

• Home visiting and outreach are the most important means of reaching families; it is usually midwives and health visitors who facilitate initial access to Sure Start's services
• Designated workers are effective in reaching vulnerable groups, such as fathers and specific ethnic minority groups
• Sure Start is perceived as being mainly for non-employed parents and mothers, largely because its services are available during office hours. It is more difficult to engage with employed parents and fathers
• There are early indications that mothers in Sure Start Local Progamme (SSLP) areas are more likely to treat their child in a warm and accepting manner than mothers in comparison areas. It is hoped that this finding will prove consistent with the Sure Start principle that it is first necessary to influence parenting and family behaviour, which will in turn affect child development
• Collaboration between SSLPs and Jobcentre Plus is one of the main ways of improving employability of parents in SSLP areas. However, the overall proportion of parents taking part in SSLP employment and training activities is low
• Some other agencies do not see working with SSLP to tackle employability as a priority

Link:
This summary can be downloaded from www.surestart.gov.uk/research/evaluations/ness

The second implementation of the Sure Start language measure
F. Harris, J. Law, P. Roy and S. Kermani
City University, London, February 2004

Background
One of Sure Start's targets is "an increase in the proportion of young children with satisfactory speech and language development at age two years". The Sure Start Language Measure (SSLM) is a tool to measure change in the language skills of two-year-old children, conducted by means of interviews with parents. Sure Start local programmes used the SSLM to collect data on 1615 children in November 2001, to set a national baseline, and again with 2866 children in February-March 2003, for which this report is an overview. More on the SSLM

Key findings

• There was a small increase from the baseline in the percentage of children with higher word count scores (from a list of 100 words, parents report which their child can say) and no parental concerns about language.
• There are small positive changes between the baseline and the second implementation figures, although these are not statistically significant. The average word count score rose from 46 to 47 out of 100, while parental concerns fell from 22% to 20%.
• The local programmes which were established earlier have a higher average word count score than later-established ones, although this could be due to differences in the sample profiles of the two groups.
• Children from families speaking only English had an average word count score of 49; for bilingual children with English the average score was 42, and for children from families speaking no English it was 40. Similar results were found in the baseline data, and they are interesting in the light of the fact that the word list can be translated by the interviewer into any language.
• As in the baseline, girls had a higher word count score than boys, and their parents had fewer concerns about their general and language development.

Fathers in Sure Start
The National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) - Nigel Lloyd, Margaret O'Brien and Charlie Lewis
Department for Education and Skills, August 2003

Background
This research, part of the NESS Implementation Study, took place when local programmes had been operational for about one year, and looked at:

• Different approaches to involving fathers in Sure Start local programmes
• The experiences and attitudes of staff and of fathers
• The roles of the fathers both in their families and in Sure Start, and their feelings about these
• The implications of focusing on fathers, both for the local programmes and for all kinds of interventions to help families

Key findings

• The majority of local programmes reported low levels of father involvement, but many fathers did have 'arm's length' contact with programmes, through their partners.
• Fathers were inclined to attend activities designed specifically for them, especially outdoor, 'fun' activities. Holding events at weekends and evenings helped to bring in working fathers. Events for fathers and children together could be 'stepping-stones' into whole family and other activities. Mothers could also be used to persuade fathers to join in.
• Most fathers felt welcome to join in, although being in a conspicuous minority among larger numbers of women could be daunting. Mothers generally supported the idea of fathers using the local programme's services, and of male staff working with them.
• The programmes which had high levels of father involvement were ones which:
  • had decided early in the planning stages to make fathers central
  • attempted to spread commitment to fathers to all aspects of the programme and to everyone involved, and took a joined-up approach
    
• Among the benefits that fathers reported after involvement with the programme were being better able to cope with discipline, friendship networks, improved confidence and getting access to services for which their children had been waiting.
• The presence of a staff member dedicated to involving fathers was an important encouraging factor for them. Such workers helped local programmes discover and respond to issues that affect fathers, such as bereavement and loss, anger management, concerns about child development, and feelings of isolation. They were able to run drop-in centres for fathers, to provide support in such areas as job-seeking, basic skills and parenting advice. Some fathers had become employed by local programmes after getting involved in their activities.
  

Link:
A summary of this research, and the full report, can be downloaded from www.ness.bbk.ac.uk/implementation.asp

Sure Start: A guide to evidence-based practice
DfEE Publications, Nottingham
Revised July 2002

This guide is designed to help local Sure Start programmes develop services that are effective in meeting their objectives, but may also be of interest to a wide range of people working with children and families. It provides examples of evidence-based practice and services for children under four, for which evaluation has been carried out that provides at least some positive evidence for their effectiveness. The examples are set out under five headings:

• Outreach and home visiting (includes ante-natal contact and support; home contact; targeted outreach)
• Parenting information and support (befriending and social support; parenting information and support (support for parents who would like to find work)
• Services that support good quality play, learning and childcare experiences (play and early learning; childcare)
• Primary and community health and social care (access to help and advice about child health and development; access to family health advice)
• Help to get access to specialised services, including support for people with special needs (tailored support; advocacy)

Details for each example are listed under the headings Aims, Participants, Content, Delivery, Providers and Research Evidence, and contact details are given for the experienced practitioner(s) running the service, who are able to provide advice and training as necessary.

National Evaluation: Getting Sure Start Started
Report 02, July 2002
DfES Publications, Nottingham

This is a companion report to Early Experiences of Implementing Sure Start (below), and is a qualitative study looking at the experience of designing and setting up local programmes up to September 2001 (covering rounds 1-4). The research finds that the principles and content of Sure Start have remained consistent over this period, and that in general progress has been made in achieving Sure Start's goals, although more time is needed before all programmes are running at "full throttle".

The most significant factor in the success of a local programme is the nature of its managing partnership; in the best of these, members were willing to sublimate their interests to the expressed needs of local families, who had high levels of involvement in and "ownership" of the programme.

Other key factors were the initial consultation, the programme manager and other staff, the premises and the ability of the management to learn from experience. The report considers the problems of parental involvement in programme management, as well as the various reasons why programmes may not be reaching their targets.

Sure Start National Evaluation: Early Experiences of Implementing Sure Start
Report 01, June 2002
DfES Publications, Nottingham

This quantitative research covers Sure Start programmes set up before the end of 2001 (rounds 1 and 2; a further report covers rounds 3 and 4, and a separate, qualitative study contains case studies of individual programmes).

It considers how programmes have been set up and run, rather than their impact on children and parents. It points out that the task of setting up a programme is more complex and time-consuming than was envisaged - a particular problem is equally engaging the mainstream agencies in the partnership - and that projects' effectiveness cannot yet be fully evaluated.

The research finds that the main ways in which Sure Start centres support families are through extending existing home visiting and family support services, and running parenting programmes and drop-in centres. Most people are reached using links with health practitioners, but health information systems, housing departments, social events and publicity (which may be placed in venues such as pubs and football grounds) are just some of the other methods used.

The groups which programmes find hardest to reach are parents under 20, fathers, families with literacy problems and families with mental health problems. It is especially hard to tailor services to specific groups without being perceived to stigmatise them.

The Impact of Sure Start - one year on
DfES Publications, Nottingham
July 2001

A survey of parents (in focus groups in eight areas) conducted in February-March 2001 found that 9 out of 10 parents thought that services for young children had improved significantly in the past year, which was largely attributable to Sure Start. The main benefits they identified were the provision of high quality play and learning experiences for children, and support and advice for parents. Parents also felt that Sure Start had led to a new "community spirit", with parents working together to improve the local community, and they identified community involvement as a key component of the programme's success.

One of the main problems encountered was that of access, both in rural areas and in terms of the programme's being accessible to different cultures. Solutions that were suggested included the improvement of the bus service, and "open house" sessions where Asian women could bring their husbands to see what was going on and so gain their support. It was felt that some parents were still slipping through the net and unaware of the services available to them.