Development and Social Policy.

From its inception, Head Start's legislative mandate called for "maximum feasible participation " of parents in all programmatic efforts and policy decisions. Nevertheless, there has been little research done on the benefits of Head Start to parents and on the role of parents as mediators of child and family outcomes. The Head Start Parent Involvement Project in 1990 explored this virtually untapped area. This five-year initiative consisted of three parts: (1) a parent survey exploring life events and experiences that might function as barriers to parents ' participation in Head Start; (2) a longitudinal study of parent involvement in Head Start assessing its impact on parents, Head Start children, and their siblings; and (3) an intervention focused on staff development and training to enhance staff's work with Head Start parents. The executive summary and final report describe each part of the initiative and its results. Major findings on parental participation in Head Start include: (1) that it improves family life throug