ABSTRACT
This chapter examines evaluation of integrated, innovative services for young children and families in elementary schools. Services are integrated in two ways: by providing combined services such as parenting support, childcare, and kindergarten education; and by providing service that integrates parents and community through various forms of involvement. These integrative initiatives may foster innovation when they are adapted or designed in local context through learning communities that bring all parties into service delivery change and design. We emphasize approaches that may be universal and thus inclusive of all children, not targeted solely to children at risk. We note the ideas and social forces behind these approaches and the methodological challenges in understanding how they are designed and implemented and how well they work in different contexts. We address the challenges of developing an evidence base that informs program improvement, professional practice, and policy in these complex approaches to early childhood supports. We illustrate the issues by describing a series of four studies we have carried out on schools as community hubs serving young children and their families.
