112 STAT. 2726 PUBLIC LAW 105-285—OCT. 27, 1998 children and families to needed community services; and "(II) how receipt of services described in subclause (I) enriches the lives of children and families participating in Head Start programs; "(B) examines the impact of Head Start programs on participants on the date the participants leave Head Start progrgmis, at the end of kindergarten and at the end of first grade (whether in public or private school), by examining a variety of factors, including educational achievement, referrals for special education or remedial course work, and absenteeism; "(C) makes use of random selection from the population of all Head Start programs described in paragraph (4) in selecting programs for inclusion in the research; and "(D) includes comparisons of individuals who participate in Head Start programs with control groups (including comparison groups) composed of— "(i) individuals who participate in other early childhood programs (such as public or private preschool programs and day care); and "(ii) individuals who do not participate in any other early childhood program. "(6) CoNsroERATioN OF SOURCES OP VARIATION. —In designing the research, the Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, consider addressing possible sources of variation in impact of Head Start programs, including variations in impact related to such factors as— "(A) Head Start program operations; "(B) Head Start program quality; "(C) the length of time a child attends a Head Start program; "(D) the age of the child on entering the Head Start program; "(E) the type of organization (such as a local educational agency or a community action agency) providing services for the Head Start program; "(F) the number of hours and days of program operation of the Head Start program (such as whether the program is a full-working-day, full calendar year program, a part-day program, or a part-year program); and "(G) other characteristics and features of the Head Start program (such as geographic location, location in an urban or a rural service area, or participsmt characteristics), as appropriate. " (7) REPORTS.— " (A) SUBMISSION OP INTERIM REPORTS.—The organization shall prepare and submit to the Secretary two interim reports on the research. The first interim report shall describe the design of the research, and the rationale for the design, including a description of how potential sources of variation in impact of Head Start programs have been considered in designing the research. The second interim report shall describe the status of the research and preliminary findings of the research, as appropriate.
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