Lessons Learned from the Evaluation of Pennsylvania’s Federally Funded Home Visiting Programs
Home visiting services are voluntary, in-home services provided to under-resourced pregnant moms and families of young children. To understand how these programs are faring in Pennsylvania, PolicyLab has partnered with Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) on the evaluation of Pennsylvania’s MIECHV-funded home visiting programs since 2011. This large-scale, mixed-methods study includes a comprehensive examination of these programs’ impact on the lives of the families they serve that has led to an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of wide-spread implementation of home visiting services. Following the completion of this rigorous evaluation and the publication of several journal articles detailing individual findings, PolicyLab produced a webinar about the discoveries and how the Commonwealth is using the evaluation to ensure these programs meet the needs of families.