Dumping money into Head Start is ineffectual
In the running for worst idea of the year, the National Head Start Association is pressing its members to lobby hard in coming days for Congress and the Obama administration to include $4.3 billion for Head Start in the forthcoming economic stimulus package. Among other things, they want higher pay for Head Start program directors.
Head Start is, of course, an iconic program revered by many. But it’s no education program. Forty years of evaluations have demonstrated that Head Start does next to nothing to prepare its young charges–needy three- and four-year-olds–to succeed in kindergarten and beyond, and that whatever gains it yields quickly dissipate once the kids enroll in school.
The major reason it’s ineffective as a pre-school program is because it has no curriculum and little cognitive content, because most of its staffers are “child care workers”, not teachers, and because the National Head Start Association itself has defied every effort by policymakers to transform it into the pre-literacy program that it ought to be and that these kids truly need.
Dumping more money on it–flooding the Congress with pleas for that–is, to put it mildly, a genuinely ineffectual investment.
Photograph of teacher and children from New York Public Library on Flickr
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January 6th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
What would be the reaction to increased funding for Head Start pursuant to it being relocated from HHS over to ED, along with the focus on instructional building blocks necessary?
February 5th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
your just a greedy white collar feeding off the poor and would rather the money go to you
February 11th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
That is a completly wrong comment. I am a Early Head Start teacher and I have two degrees in the early childhood field. All of Head Start staff is very qualified, teachers have a degree in ECE and so do the Teacher aids or they are required to have a CDA. Head Start is very effective in not only helping the children but there whole family, The parents are taught to become better parents and more self sufficient. Many parents often become staff or move on to get good jobs and get of public assistance. There is also a very good curriculum. Who ever wrote this should really look into the facts not just the gossip of those who do not understand the program. There is also a program through Early Head Start that services pregnant women. Head Start is a great program and deserves all the support it can get. The more support the better the numbers you are talking about would be. These children are the future and the first five years shape you’r whole life. These children need Head Start and so do the Families.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Sorry, to inform you, but the children that I have taught through head start, had no previous language arts experience. They did not know how to retell or recall information read to them via a text book. Those going to kindergarten have excelled in reading process and reading application. They will be ready and prepared to mainstream with their peers when the get to kindergarten. So much for ineffectual teaching in head start. Ask the teachers next time, and not one hour observationlist!