Project Follow Through

Project Follow Through was a federally funded study comparing the effects of nine major educational approaches to instruction. The first part of the study was begun in 1967 and included some of the major curricula and teaching strategies of the time. Project Follow Through continued as a service project through 1995, but most references to the project are to the initial large study and the discussion of those results. Project Follow Through was tied to President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society educational reform efforts and was used to identify programs that could extend the skills gained by young children after they exited Head Start programs—a project to “follow through” with educational improvement. The results of the Project, however, were controversial because they did not reflect the then-current trends in educational philosophy. Today, educators are looking back at the results of Project Follow Through as they search for an evidence base for teaching strategies and curricula. This large and expensive study continues to be referenced today as educators look for programs based on empirical support.

In the mid-1960s, the government was in the middle of the War on Poverty led by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Because of research indicating a link between poor reading achievement and poverty, a goal of early education programs was to reduce, if not eliminate, the educational gap between underachieving children and children achieving at or above grade level. Head Start programs were introduced to preschool-age children across the country. The government was also searching for appropriate educational programs that could support and bolster the academic performance of young children in the early elementary years, specifically, in Grades K-3.

As part of that search, the U.S. Department of Education sponsored a large experiment, Project Follow Through, designed to compare how effective certain programs would be in addressing the needs of underachieving students. The Project has been called the largest educational experiment in history. Nine programs, sponsored by developers, universities, and/or publishers, became candidates for the project. Schools across the country were asked to choose one of the nine programs. Each school then was matched with a control school that received none of the experimental interventions.

The programs used for the study fell into one of three categories: basic academic skills models, cognitive conceptual skills models, and affective skills models. The nine programs evaluated in Project Follow Through are shown below.

Basic Academic Skills Models

• 1.
  Direct Instruction: This model was sponsored by the University of Oregon and was based on explicit, sequenced instruction; controlled materials; and behavioral principles.
• 2.
  Behavior Analysis Model: This model was sponsored by the University of Kansas and used systematic classroom management based on reinforcement principles applied to academic learning.
• 3.
  Language Development Model: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory sponsored this programmed curriculum that focuses on language development of children and bilingual education.

Cognitive Conceptual Skills Models

• 4.
  Tucson Early Education Model: The University of Arizona sponsored this program that was based on the language experience approach and the unique learning styles of children.
• 5.
  Parent Education Model: This model was sponsored by the University of Florida and focused on training parents to be parent [Page 747]educators and included placing parent educators in classrooms.
• 6.
  Cognitively Oriented Curriculum: Sponsored by High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, this model was based on Piaget's theories of child development and focused on encouraging the reasoning and concept development of children.

Affective Cognitive Skills

...