Preliminary Data Point to Promising Gains, Potential Problems

It may take several years to sort out how successful Even Start is in breaking down barriers that block the path to literacy for some parents and children, experts believe.

Although studies of other efforts to help children by bolstering their parents' literacy skills have been promising, Even Start's particular blend of early-childhood education, parenting training, and adult education has never been tested on such a large scale.

"The true test of the effectiveness of these programs,'' said Robert Popp, the director of research for the National Center for Family Literacy, will be "the persistence of effects as children go through...