Early Steps to School Success™—Home Visiting
Last updated: 2019
In brief
Evidence of model effectiveness
This model does not meet the criteria established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for an “evidence-based early childhood home visiting service delivery model” for the general population or for tribal populations because there are no high- or moderate-rated effectiveness studies of the model.
Model description
Early Steps to School Success™ (Early Steps) is an early childhood development model that serves low-income families with children from birth until the child’s fifth birthday. The model provides twice-monthly home visits for children from birth until the child’s third birthday, parent support groups, referrals to center-based early childhood programs, a book bag exchange to supply families with children’s books, and transition to preschool and kindergarten support. The HomVEE review focuses on the home visiting component of the model (Early Steps-Home Visiting), including other activities facilitated by the home visitor, such as toddler storybook hours, parenting education groups, and family nights. Early Steps-Home Visiting strives to foster children’s school readiness skills, help parents support their children’s growth and development, and facilitate positive parent–school relationships. For more information, please read the Model Overview.
Extent of evidence
For more information, see the research database. For more information on the criteria used to rate research, please see details of HomVEE’s methods and standards.
Criteria established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Notes: If the model does not meet criterion 3 but meets criteria 1 and 2 based on findings from subgroups, the impacts must be replicated in the same domain in two or more studies using non-overlapping analytic study samples. HomVEE assesses and reports criteria 4 and 5 for all models that have well-designed research, but meeting those two criteria is only required of models for which all findings are from randomized controlled trials. Please read the HHS criteria for evidence-based models for more information.