Head Start and Prekindergarten Programs

In his 1964 State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Poverty. President Johnson's vision for the Great Society produced an array of legislative reforms aimed at combating poverty and social injustice. One of the first pieces of legislation to emerge out of the Great Society was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. This act created a variety of social programs including Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), the Job Corps, and Project Head Start.

Seeing education as a pathway to end poverty, the Johnson administration commissioned a team of academics, pediatricians, and civil rights activists with the task of designing a social program that would address the inequities in early childhood education. Research revealed that children entering kindergarten from low-income families lagged significantly behind their more affluent peers in early language and literacy skills as well as in their overall school preparedness. This deficit had the potential for long-lasting implications on students’ future academic performance and eventual economic and work opportunities. Advocates maintained a poor start in early education would contribute to the continuation of the cycle of poverty. As a result of their efforts, the team of experts led by Sargent Shriver proposed Project Head Start, a federally funded program aimed at bridging the kindergarten readiness gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged 3-and 4-year-old children. The underlying philosophy was to give children living in poverty a head start on their futures.

By design, the Head Start program created a preschool learning environment focused on developing the whole child. In addition to providing an academic curriculum, Head Start was designed to help foster the social, emotional, and physical development of the child. Its goal was to provide children with access to medical, dental, and mental health, nutrition, and social services, in addition to traditional lesson plans. Its structure was also designed to empower the parents of the preschoolers through education, training, and parental involvement in [Page 615]the program. Head Start was intended to meet both short-term and long-term objectives that would benefit children, their parents, and society as a whole. Project Head Start commenced in summer 1965, with an eight-week pilot program that premiered in more than 2,000 child development centers across the country. This first summer Head Start project served approximately a half million children from low-income families who were preparing to enter kindergarten in the fall.