Head Start preschool program: A failure and waste of tax payer money?

Question

I read the 2010 research results that compared Head Start kids with children who did not attend Head Start. I found the findings to be so disheartening since it seems that Head Start really doesn't help their graduates to do better by the end of 1st grade. What do you think about the results of this study? I even read that the mother's of Head Start kids are MORE LIKELY to spank than do mother's of kids who do not attend Head Start!!!! What are your thoughts about the success or failure of this tax-payer funded preschool program?

Answer 1

Though you'll get some anecdotal success stories, Head Start does not make for better students. Parents, and their expectation of what their children must accomplish, is the key, not some expensive government program.

Answer 2

The Heritage Foundation is a notorious right wing group that is biased in its research. Look for some other studies. Head Start is not perfect but it does do what it says it will-give kids a Head Start. The problem is that the academic results don't last past about third grade. There are lots of reasons for this but it boils down to all the pressures on low income kids as well as the quality of the schools in poorer neighborhoods. But even if the academic results don't last the kids have had nutritious meals and the families have access to all kinds of help and information. Head Start is a federally funded program. Parents are not expected to pay. However, some Head Starts also offer day care to families that need more than half a day and they do charge for that. By the way, the best research on the long term effects of a good quality early childhood program is done by the Perry Preschool Project in Michigan. Look it up.

Answer 3

i think that the head start program is wonderful. my daughter who is now 14 yrs old went when she was 4 years old, and it was awesome. she learned so much in that first year. i used to volunteer myself to go in 1-2 days a week to help out with activities and field trips, and those teachers work just as hard as regular teachers do with those children and aren't paid nearly as much to do it either. i am not sure where everyone else lives, and i would assume that some states programs might not be as good as others, but i lived in WV at the time, and even though WV is usually considered one of the poorer states, their program and their school that my daughter attended was immaculate. they took very good care of everything. and she thoroughly enjoyed that. and now she is in the 8th grade, getting ready to start high school in the fall, and is a straight A student. she is also going to take some part time college courses over her summer break and by the time she is ready to graduate will already have an associates degree in whatever she chooses she wants to do.. not too shabby for a child who first attended a state funded free head start program hu? i can appreciate all the "studies" that they do on this subject, i guess in some places their findings are dead on, but you can't judge all of them based solely on what they find in some of the other places.. my son is now 2 yrs old and you can bet that when he turns 4 he will be attending the head start program as well.

Answer 4

You need to look up the Perry Preschool Project. If I remember correctly having attended Head Start actually increases the likelihood that a child will graduate from high school. Either way the Perry Preschool Project is the study to examine if you are feeling so down about it.

Answer 5

i know people who have kids in headstart and ive heard nothing but wonderful things, about how much fun the kids are having and how much they are learning, but maybe thats just my local one. even if it isnt giving the kids a boost intellectually, it is still doing a great service to the community by providing free childcare to parents who wouldnt be able to afford it otherwise. this would cause one of the parents to have to stay at home to watch the child, so by providing free safe childcare, that family can boost their income with both parents having a job, so the family will be more successful, and it can get them to a financial state where they no longer have to rely off the government, so its actually saving tax dollars. i dont understand the spanking thing though and why that matters so much, spanking works for some families and its not abuse.

Answer 6

Even a cursory look at the paper you read makes it pretty obvious that they cherry-picked the statistics. If the most damning conclusion they can make is "the benefits of access to Head Start at age four are largely absent by 1st grade for the program population as a whole" then perhaps the conclusion is that Head Start should be started earlier than 4, not that Head Start was useless, y'know?



The (real) research on Head Start and similar programs tend to consistently find that they make a real difference for children who start out at the bottom of the heap; if you are poor, poorly parented, with no advantages to speak of, a little bit of publicly-funded ABC with a sandwich makes a huge difference.



The first answerer, who feels that it is not taxpayer-funded, is very sweet...



Of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_Program#Effectiveness

Answer 7

My daughter went to 2 years of head start. She was reading at 1st grade level by the end of the last year of head start. Her program was always taking trips and having family outings. It was very well staffed and very nice.

Maybe it is because we live in a small town with only about 1,000 people.

Answer 8

unfortunately, it all depends on the child.



there are many children who will not benefit from this program as they are getting plenty of enrichment at home. these children are more likely to be from families with means.



there are, alas, far more children who do benefit because they are otherwise in the care of "drone"-type sitters, rather than ones who genuinely care about the children in their charge. these childresn are more likely to be from families where the parent or both parents are working all day and come home too tired and stressed to worry about playing dressup or read stories to their children.



it's not the end of first grade that even matters - i'm curious what the long-term results are.



how well will these children do in higher grades? in high school?

how many of these children will graduate, rather than drop out?

how well will these children be able to manage time and organize priorities?

how many go on to post-secondary education?

how many achieve scholarships compared to children who don't take the head start program?

what will the overall statistics be re: antisocial behaviour such as bullying?



who CARES what they're doing at the end of first grade and what on earth does spanking have to do with anything?



normally, i'd report this as a disguised rant but have chosen to treat it as a valid question for ppl who might be considering putting their children in.

Answer 9

I don't think that head start is intended to make kids do better than other kids. I think that it's there to help the kids do better than they would have done, had they not attended. Head Start tends to target kids living in situations where they do not get the early at-home reading, structure, educational foundations at home that other kids do.



I would like to see the research that you cited, to know how they're arriving at their conclusions. How would they know whether 'jimmy with head start' would have done just as good as 'jimmy without head start'? Now, they might have been able to figure out that 'jimmy with head start' did just as good as 'susie without head start'. But, did they then compare whether susie's parents are SAHP, with educational backgrounds & the income levels to spend lots of quality time with their child as compared to jimmy's parents who are divorced, both working two jobs, having barely passed high school themselves?



That's the kids that head start is aiming for - the ones who would not get preschool stimulation at home.

Answer 10

First of all the head start that my son attends is NOT tax payer funded unless you are unable to pay. If you are unable to pay they want you to volunteer a few times a week for just a couple hours. My son attends head start 4 times a week Mon-Thurs and he is doing great. He gets interaction with kids his own age and has a blast. They also have him in speech classes because he is almost 5 yrs old and despite working on his speech at home he still talks like a 2 yr old. Since attending head start his speech has gotten better and I can finally understand him. He comes home tired and is learning his colors and numbers, he also recognizes certain words and they are teaching him other things. Head start is NOT a waste of money.



And spanking your child is not bad. If you are spanking so hard that you put a bruise or even a red mark then that is going over the line. There is a difference between letting your kids hurt themselves, others or being just down right disobedient and abuse.



I would also like to add, that I am a college graduate working in the medical field as a nurse. My kids have both their parents, my husband also works in the medical field as an ultrasound technician. I work mostly hours when my kids are at school or when they are asleep, so I am there for their every waking hour but work if they aren't home or they are asleep. I also interact with my kids as much as possible, even though my life is more then stressful.

Answer 11

I don't know - here in Ontario, Canada, children currently start school at the age of 6, however, there is half-time Pre-Kindergarten for 4 year olds, and half-time Kindergarten for 5 year olds.



Having said that, my daughter is home schooled, and could count in 6 different languages before she was 5, has travelled to around 9 different countries, reads books from the adult section of our local library, has volunteered for a local organization for 10 years (meals on wheels, with me) and she is only 12 years old.



Putting her in school at 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 as far as I am concerned, would be such a waste of time, she is getting an excellent education - she has been a member of the Girl Guides for 8 years, sings in 2 Choirs, plays piano, plays soccer in the summer, is an active Church member.



One of my concerns about bringing the age of first school attendance is this - a hundred years ago, my grandmother went to school for probably 7 years, from the age of 6 until she was almost 13 at which time she started working full-time. My grandmother was well read, intelligent, knowledgeable about the world around her, hard working and was up to date on current events around the world,



There are people today who started school at 4 who can't find Botswana on the globe, who are incapable of writing a coherent letter, who can't spell (without spell-check), who have poor General Knowledge, who can't perform basic Mental Arithmetic ..... need I go on?



Despite the start of schooling getting earlier and earlier, standards are dropping. My suggestion would be to start children at school at 6 years old, but turn the darn TV off, unplug the video games, take away the X-boxes and DSIs, and have children learning about the world around them by taking them to Museums, Art Galleries, going to see how things are made, visiting local farms, and going to parks and beaches - there is so much for children to learn outside of school, but these days millions of children are cooped up in schools for the majority of their waking hours, for at least 14 years of their lives - what a shame for the poor kids.



Me, I teach my daughter at home, with the help of home school groups, where, in the past three years, she has learnt Cooking, Archery, Chess, Knitting, Logic, Woodworking, Ballet, Highland Dancing and I wouldn't trade what we do each day for the freedom of sending my child to school at 4 years old,

Answer 12

Both of my kids went to headstart. My daugther is almost 7 and she reads on a 4th grade level. And my son is 3 and he loves going to school. He is one of the smartest kids in his class. He has learned alot this first year of school for him. I am very happy with how he is doing. I am glad that my kids get the chance to go to school and learn more at a young age. My daugther can do 3rd and 4th grade math.

Answer 13

There is a headstart center not too far from my house and it was an option I considered...until I actually did some research. I don't know if it's just the center where I live or what, but I wouldn't send my dog there. It was dirty and nasty and a glorified day care center. I just dropped in to take a tour of the center and get some information and all the kids were dirty and sitting in front of a tv while the "teachers" sat at a table and played on their cellphones, not to mention the center itself was dirty and had nothing but outdated and broken toys. It's sad because I live in a really rural area and it could be a great option for low income families, but I wouldn't trust that place with one of my houseplants.

Answer 14

First, Head Start is effective. The whole point is that these children are 'at risk' and would be behind by the time they started 1st grade and never catch up.



Secondly, I COMPLETELY object to taxpayer funded school for preK for all kids. Our taxes are already used to fund child care to enable poor moms to work. We don't need to fund children who are not at risk and provide free babysitting. That is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. Districts are already stretched to handle what they have already and most of those programs pushed by the federal government are not supported by the federal government - instead taking needed moneys from other students.



Studies in my state from 3 or 4 years ago found that most Head Start students are on par with other kids in the 3rd grade. That is SUCCESS! The goal is not making kids smarter, but to prevent those at risk from falling behind. My cousin's son, who is autistic, really benefited from Head Start. He was able to get a lot of speech therapy early on as well. Students who move from place to place My neighbor, who is a kindergarten teacher, said the majority of students in Head Start in our district were born premature. Many have attention issues which can be helped by properly trained Head Start teachers.



Head Start does not benefit students whose parents move them from school to school, district to district. The lack of consistency and the usual lack of support at home is at fault, not the program.

Answer 15

My husband went to that and he turned out great. Very bright, can fix anything, has solved every problem I have thrown at him.