APA Dictionary of Psychology

a U.S. government-funded program to develop and evaluate a variety of effective models for educating primary-school children from low-income families. A complement to Head Start, Project Follow Through began in 1967, involved more than 100,000 students, and lasted 10 years. Direct instruction was shown by various measures of achievement, cognitive skills, and self-esteem to be the most effective method of teaching. Psychologists had major responsibilities in all phases of Project Follow Through: planning the project, administering it, designing and implementing programs, reviewing and critiquing the total effort, and evaluating outcomes.