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 For more than 35 years, no other early childhood
development program has been more extensive and successful than Head Start in meeting
the needs of the children, families, and communities it serves. Research has unequivocally
demonstrated that Head Start makes a difference in the lives of children, families,
& communities.
Some
of the proven benefits of Head Start are: children are better prepared to learn &
have higher self-esteem and social behavior at school entry; children show positive
school achievement and motivation; and, Head Start provides jobs and services in
most communities and makes those communities more responsive to the needs of low-income
people.
Many
positive outcomes for children have been demonstrated, including: positive
long-term effects on parent & teacher ratings of anti-social behavior and/or
actual delinquency records and Head Start children score higher on such school readiness
measures as verbal achievement, perceptual reasoning, and social competence than
children who have attended other preschools or no preschool.
Parents
involved in Head Start are found to have: greater quality of life satisfaction, increased
confidence in coping abilities, and decreased feelings of anxiety, depression, and
sickness. They also report positive changes in their personal lives, behaviors, &
attitudes, including an increase in knowledge of available social services &
resources and a decrease in negative attitudes towards public schools.
Head
Start benefits communities
in strong ways: by providing employment
to thousands of people, and providing countless Head Start-related job opportunities;
by providing leadership in successful community partnerships to maximize resources
for more coordinated services; and, by working to reduce the predictors of later
juvenile delinquency - childhood anti-social behavior, low cognitive abilities, and
poor parenting - by providing family support and education.
Effective
evaluation of Head Start has long plagued researchers. Improved social competence
and children's preparedness for school are more elusive than evaluating IQ increases.
However, the evidence is convincing that these goals are achieved in Head Start.
The program is also difficult to evaluate due to one of its strengths — its flexibility.
But in fact, the General Accounting Office (1995b) used Head Start as the standard
by which to evaluate other preschool initiatives.
Several
major reports have shown Head Start to be more comprehensive & more developmentally
appropriate than most others (Zigler, 1997).
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