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Mixed Reviews on Head Start Study
June 13, 2005
We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take us or spare us.
-Marcel Proust
-Marcel Proust
Mixed Reviews on Head Start Study
Last week the federal government released "Head Start Impact Study: First Year Findings," which includes results of the first year of Head Start attendance in 2002 of 3- and 4-year old children. The results were treated to quite different spins by proponents and opponents of Head Start.
A Department of Health and Human Services press release offered this interpretation of the results:
"The report...indicates that while children in Head Start reap positive benefits, on most measures Head Start graduates and enrollees continue to lag significantly behind children from economically advantaged families."
A press release from Congressman George Miller, on the other hand, interpreted the results as follows:
"Rep. George Miller (D-CA) today welcomed a new report on the Head Start program from the Department of Health and Human Services, noting that the report documents the important role that Head Start makes in closing the achievement gap between poor children and their more advantaged peers. Notably the report shows that, in less than one school year, Head Start was able to nearly cut in half the achievement gap in pre-reading skills and resulted in parents reading to their children more often -- two factors that, according to researchers, lead to later success in school...This report joins an overwhelming body of research that clearly shows that children who attend Head Start are better prepared to succeed in school than they would be if they had not attended the program."
To form your own opinion on the results, you can access the full report at:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/acf_news.html
After you have reviewed this report, share your opinion with the early childhood community in the Sound Off feature of our web site at http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0645
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Comments (8)
Displaying 5 of 8 Comments [ View all ]United States
It is unfortunate that the control group included children who may have been in child care or other non-parental care arrangments--as this appears to me to compromise the results.
Head Start of Greater Dallas
Dallas, Texas, United States
If it were not for the Head Start program we would have even more children graduating high school at a fourth grade reding level. H.S. lays the foundation that is so desperately needed for young children, espically those that come from a low income background. If the tehachers are given the opportunity to teach and learn with these children, and the children are given the opportunity to come to a place created just for them-catered to them, an amazing thing will happen. As you can see this amazing thing has already begun to reveal itself. Tomorrow's future is becoming stronger in reading skills, math, and social skills. This all attributed to the Head Start Programs in the United States.
Baltimore, MD, United States
I have to respond to the GA respondent who stated we should start giving preschoolers seat work and work sheets. I don't know about you, but I have an education and a background that is in early childhood, and not one early childhood association, college or group would agree with what you are saying. This is not developmentally appropriate practice (see NAEYC)! Do we, as ECED educators, do what we truely know is not good for young children because the public school is doing it different? I know that we prepare children for K in my center and we do not have dittos or seat work. I didn't want to work in the public schools specifically for this reason. It is disheartening and troubling for me to hear ECED educators compromise what we believe and what we know about young learners. I am thankful I am not a 4 year old in a school full of seat work and dittos! I have trouble doing both of these things as an adult!
San Marcos, CA, United States
As a site supervisor at an early head start program I see firsthand the importance of our program. Children who have been enrolled in ehs from an early age and stay in the program are given experiences they would never have other wise. Allowing these children to continue into head start at the age of 3 only increases their ability to prepare for kindergarten. The only problem is that we are unable to serve the number of children who qualify, due to lack of funding, and that the actual guidelines for qualifying for the program are very unrealistic in San Diego County. Early Head Start and Head Start are working due to the dedication of the teachers, supervisors and supporting staff of the grantees.
Campus and Community Children's Center
Fredonia, NY, United States
I am a proponent of mixed grouping (including ethnicity, ages, and economic levels) hwever, Head Start meets a need and I challenge critics to see where the children would be without it. The gap may not be closed but it is smaller because of Head Start.
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