The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does area-based early intervention work?
Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) was a major strategic effort by New Labour towards ending child poverty. By changing the way services were delivered to children under four and their families, through targeting and empowering highly-deprived small geographic areas, SSLPs were intended to enhance child, family and community functioning. Following 5 years of systemic research exploring the efficacy and impact of this grand experiment, this book pulls together, in a single volume, the results of the extensive National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS). 

The book reviews the history of policies pertaining to child health and well being which preceded and set the stage for Sure Start. It provides insight into how SSLPs were expected to function and how they actually operated, both in terms of their strengths, weaknesses and costs. The contributors examine the nature of the communities in which these programmes were situated and how they changed over time; present the early effects of SSLPs on children and families, with evidence highlighting some small beneficial effects and some small deleterious ones and extract specific features of SSLPs that contributed to whether individual programmes benefited children and families, providing a guide for the revision of programmes and policies.

With a foreword from Naomi Eisdenstadt, former Director of the Sure Start Programme and concluding chapter by Prof. Sir Michael Rutter, member of the government's scientific advisory board overseeing NESS, this book provides an insightful critique of SSLP policy and NESS that will be of interest to students of child development, families and communities, as well as policymakers and policy scholars, local and national providers of services to children and families and evaluation specialists.

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The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does area-based early intervention work?
Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) was a major strategic effort by New Labour towards ending child poverty. By changing the way services were delivered to children under four and their families, through targeting and empowering highly-deprived small geographic areas, SSLPs were intended to enhance child, family and community functioning. Following 5 years of systemic research exploring the efficacy and impact of this grand experiment, this book pulls together, in a single volume, the results of the extensive National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS). 

The book reviews the history of policies pertaining to child health and well being which preceded and set the stage for Sure Start. It provides insight into how SSLPs were expected to function and how they actually operated, both in terms of their strengths, weaknesses and costs. The contributors examine the nature of the communities in which these programmes were situated and how they changed over time; present the early effects of SSLPs on children and families, with evidence highlighting some small beneficial effects and some small deleterious ones and extract specific features of SSLPs that contributed to whether individual programmes benefited children and families, providing a guide for the revision of programmes and policies.

With a foreword from Naomi Eisdenstadt, former Director of the Sure Start Programme and concluding chapter by Prof. Sir Michael Rutter, member of the government's scientific advisory board overseeing NESS, this book provides an insightful critique of SSLP policy and NESS that will be of interest to students of child development, families and communities, as well as policymakers and policy scholars, local and national providers of services to children and families and evaluation specialists.

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The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does area-based early intervention work?

The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does area-based early intervention work?

The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does area-based early intervention work?

The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does area-based early intervention work?

Overview

Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) was a major strategic effort by New Labour towards ending child poverty. By changing the way services were delivered to children under four and their families, through targeting and empowering highly-deprived small geographic areas, SSLPs were intended to enhance child, family and community functioning. Following 5 years of systemic research exploring the efficacy and impact of this grand experiment, this book pulls together, in a single volume, the results of the extensive National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS). 

The book reviews the history of policies pertaining to child health and well being which preceded and set the stage for Sure Start. It provides insight into how SSLPs were expected to function and how they actually operated, both in terms of their strengths, weaknesses and costs. The contributors examine the nature of the communities in which these programmes were situated and how they changed over time; present the early effects of SSLPs on children and families, with evidence highlighting some small beneficial effects and some small deleterious ones and extract specific features of SSLPs that contributed to whether individual programmes benefited children and families, providing a guide for the revision of programmes and policies.

With a foreword from Naomi Eisdenstadt, former Director of the Sure Start Programme and concluding chapter by Prof. Sir Michael Rutter, member of the government's scientific advisory board overseeing NESS, this book provides an insightful critique of SSLP policy and NESS that will be of interest to students of child development, families and communities, as well as policymakers and policy scholars, local and national providers of services to children and families and evaluation specialists.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781861349491
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Publication date: 11/21/2007
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jay Belsky is Director of the Institute of for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues and Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck University of London; he is Research Director of NESS.

Jacqueline Barnes is Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck with special interest in families and communities; she directed two of the five core research components of NESS.

Edward Melhuish is Professor of Human Development at Birkbeck with special interests in early child care and early intervention; he is Executive Director of NESS.

Table of Contents

Foreword ~ Naomi Eisenstadt; Part One: The historical and policy context: The policy background to Sure Start ~ Edward Melhuish and Sir David Hall; Part Two: The local context of Sure Start Local Programmes: Targeting deprived areas: the nature of the Sure Start Local Programme neighbourhoods ~ Jacqueline Barnes; The challenge of profiling communities ~ Martin Frost and Gillian Harper; Part Three: The implementation of Sure Start Local Programmes: The methodologies for the evaluation of complex interventions: an ongoing debate ~ Pamela Meadows; Sure Start Local Programmes: an overview of the implementation task ~ Jane Tunstill and Debra Allnock; Living with Sure Start: human experience of an early intervention programme ~ Angela Anning and Mog Ball; The costs and benefits of Sure Start Local Programmes ~ Pamela Meadows; Part Four: The impact of Sure Start Local Programmes: Impact on Sure Start Local Programmes on children and families ~ Jay Belsky and Edward Melhuish; Variation in Sure Start Local Programmes: consequences for children and families ~ Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky, Angela Anning and Mog Ball; How Sure Start Local Programme areas changed ~ Jacqueline Barnes; Part Five: Conclusion: Sure Start Local Programmes: an outsider's perspective ~ Sir Michael Rutter.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This complex and comprehensive evaluation is written with admirable skill and diplomacy. For those of us in health, education and social care, it focuses on raising the profile of preventive action in the early years." Mitch Blair, River Island Paediatric and Child Health Academic Centre, Imperial College

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