The Even Start Family Literacy Program addresses the basic educational needs of parents and children of low-income families by providing a unified program of: (1) adult education and literacy programs for parents; (2) early childhood education for their children; and (3) assistance for parents to effectively promote their children's educational development. This report describes the Even Start Program at the end of the third year of its second national evaluation. Following an executive summary of the evaluation, the chapters cover: (1) principal components of the Even Start approach; (2) Even Start national evaluation, including the scope of the 1995-96 evaluation; (3) characteristics of Even Start families; (4) services provided to participants by Even Start projects; (5) extent of participation in Even Start services; (6) services provided to the neediest Even Start families; (7) educational and developmental outcomes of Even Start participants; (8) relationship of program outcomes to participant and project characteristics; and (9) resources that best support Even Start services. Among the findings noted in these sections are that: about 85% of 1995-96 enrollees had neither completed high school nor earned a GED; over half of Even Start projects were located in rural areas; across all educational components, projects commonly relied upon individualized instruction using curriculum materials externally developed by other programs; and major challenges to program implementation included improving attendance, improving participants' retention or motivation, obtaining sufficient financial resources, and obtaining adequate transportation. The report's three appendices detail Even Start legislation, provide additional data tables, and present content validity of measures used in the sample study. Contains 32 references. (HTH)