Head Start

HEAD START IS A FEDERALLY funded U.S. preschool education program, one of the War on Poverty [Page 469]social programs enacted during the presidential term of Lyndon Johnson. Its key goal is to improve the school-readiness of low-income or otherwise eligible at-risk children by providing early educational experiences, parental education and involvement, and healthcare and screening. Head Start began in 1965 as an eight-week summer program for children ages 3 through 6 offered with funding from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).

Head Start has expanded into a comprehensive child development program for eligible families with children under age 6, including women who are expecting a child. Local agencies receive federal funding to provide services in early childhood education and development, augmented with medical, nutritional, dental, mental health, and parental education programs. In addition to providing funding, the federal government monitors local programs using the Head Start Program Performance Standards, which are designed to ensure that enrolled children receive services of uniform quality that are consistent with Head Start goals and objectives.

Head Start is now administered by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to locations in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., Head Start centers are found in Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories, and altogether have an annual budget of more than $6.5 billion.

Support activities such as training, research, and monitoring add more than $230 million to the total cost of the Head Start program. In fiscal year 2004, the average cost per child was $7,222, and more than 900,000 children received services. Most children are served in classroom settings in the more than 20,000 Head Start centers, although about five percent received home-based services.

During much of its history, Head Start has enjoyed considerable public and political support in the U.S., and it has served as a model for preschool programs in other countries. Enrollment in the mid-1960s began in the neighborhood of 700,000, and then fell almost by half during most of the 1970s. The number of children served rose each year from 1988 to 2002, and then fell slightly, while the program's budget has increased each year since 1986.

In 1994, a new program for children less than 3 years old, Early Head Start, was added. Overall program growth since 1990 has increased the number of children served by about 70 percent and the budget by more than 400 percent. Despite its growth in enrollment and funding, Head Start has never had the resources to serve all eligible children or to ensure the highest-quality preschool education in every jurisdiction.

Almost since its inception, Head Start has been the focus of research and evaluation studies to try to assess whether and how well it accomplishes its goals. Numerous studies, some funded by the federal government as part of the overall Head Start program, have sought to measure the short-term and long-term effects of participation in Head Start programs. In general, short-term studies assess participants’ initial adjustment to and performance in school, usually up to about the third grade. Long-term studies have examined outcomes including high school graduation rates, arrest and incarceration rates, and women's age at first child-bearing. Conclusions based on numerous research studies suggest mixed results for Head Start.

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