Providers Advancing School Outcomes (PASO) Final Impact Study
Prepared for Mile High United Way and the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund grant in 2017
This report represents the culmination of a five year evaluation of the Providers Advancing School Outcomes (PASO) program operated by the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition. The PASO program strives to fulfill the following theory of change: by providing high-quality professional development through training sessions and in-home coaching visits to Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) childcare providers in low-income, Latino communities, PASO will improve the quality of early childhood education in these settings to enable children served to enter kindergarten ready to learn, leading to improved early literacy outcomes and reducing the achievement gap.
This multi-year study that was conducted from 2012 to 2017 included several components: (1) a feasibility analysis to determine the most appropriate measures to use in assessing the program’s impact on children, (2) an implementation analysis to ensure the program is operating with fidelity to its stated design, and (3) a program impact evaluation to establish a moderate level of student impact evidence, as defined by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Findings are summarized below:
Program Implementation: PASO successfully delivered professional development and in-home coaching to family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) providers in low-income Latino communities.
Provider Outcomes: Providers showed large gains in quality of care, with PEPEI scores rising from 17% to 83% on average across all CDA competency areas.
Child Outcomes: Children demonstrated significant improvements in school readiness, with DP-3 scores increasing by 11 NCE points (effect size 0.52), especially in cognitive development.
Study Strengths: Quasi-experimental Short Interrupted Time Series design with children serving as their own controls; robust internal validity.
Study Limitations: No separate comparison group, no direct child assessments, and loss of one site in the final year.
Contribution: Provides moderate evidence of PASO’s effectiveness, supports FFN provider coaching strategies, and informs future research and program replication.