2054	Assessment
Abstract	Okay (except the writing needs to be improved) One specific issue is that the term “internalizing disorders” is not standard or familiar.  Since the proposal does not define it clearly early on, the research question is difficult to understand. “Socioemotional development” or simply “mental health” might be better. What term do other scholars in this subfield use?
Research Question	Conceptually okay.  As written, hard to follow.
Literature Review	Conceptually, a fair start.  It could benefit from a fuller review of findings from research on the impact of the Head Start program.  Also, given the research goals, the proposal probably should have some review of the literature on emotional development and the conditions that produce or protect against the development of behavioral disorders.  The proposal should show what previous work implies about the possible links between Head Start programs and behavioral disorders, not just review the general research on the Head Start programs.
Data	The data seem appropriate.  As written, the present discussion of the data and how it would be used are too difficult to follow for us to evaluate or make suggestions. How will the research account for the fact that families self-select into Head Start, that is that the research has a potential selection bias issue?
Causal Interpretations	The proposal does not seem to present any causal arguments and no clear derivation for its main research hypothesis.  Given the amount of work in this area, we would normally expect a review of the competing causal arguments and a commitment either to test, expand, or counter one or more of them.
Research Value	Okay (except the writing needs to be improved)
Timetable	Okay
Citations & Biblio	Overall, okay. Note that in the main text citations we do not usually include full lists of authors when there are many.
Quality of writing	The writing displays language issues making the paper too difficult to read.  These need to be addressed.  One result at this time is that it is more difficult to provide effective feedback.
Priorities for Revising for Final Draft	The proposal appears to have a reasonable research project, but details, argument, and presentation call for improvement.  The language difficulties need to be addressed.  The motivation or logic behind the research agenda should be filled in better, both in terms of the literature and the intended data analysis.
Miscellaneous Notes