A Head Start for Poor Children? heritage.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from heritage.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Since its inception, Head Start has enrolled over 21 millionchildren at a cost of over $66 billion, but there is littleevidence of long-term impact, and poor children enter kindergartena step behind their middle-class peers and never catch up. Congressshould focus on improving Head Start programs by enacting higherstandards, requiring stronger accountability, and spurringinnovation.
Abstract: Recently released results from the Head Start Impact Study indicate that the benefits of participating in Head Start almost completely disappear by first grade. While other studies have previously assessed Head Start's effectiveness, this is the only study that used a rigorous experimental design. Given this strongly negative evaluation, Congress should reconsider spending more than $9 billion per year on a program that produces few positive lasting effects.