Early Childhood Education - Head Start

Early Childhood Education - Head Start

The policy identified in this research paper is Head Start which is an important Early Childhood Education (ECE) initiative. Early childhood is a time of great opportunity. Federal policymakers have recognized this and have used resources strategically to promote healthy development and school readiness in our children.

Today, Head Start is a popular government program. However, this program has been ongoing since 1964. The program began as part of “War on Poverty,” and was created to allow low-economic families the advantage to enroll their 3 and 4 year old children in a preschool program. The goals of the program are to improve the learning skills, social competence and health and nutrition of children belonging to low-income families. The underlying objective of the policy was to help the children in need who do not have economic independence and face social inequality through an academic component, nutrition /health screening, and support services for parents and families (Zigler & Styfco, 2001, p.238). However, during each presidential administration following President Johnson's, focus of the policy has evolved. The intentions of the policy were guided by assessments and/or evaluations, such as the Westinghouse Learning Corporation and Head Start Impact Study.

This paper traces the history of Head Start, starting from President Lyndon B. Johnson to President Obama's administration, identifies policy intentions, assesses achievement of goals, and finally speculates on the future of the policy.

The Johnson Administration: 1963-1969

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson stated that he would change US into a “Great Society” whereby there will be no place for inequality and poverty. President Johnson believed that education was the key to breaking the cycle of poverty (Kagan, 2002a). During the State of the Union address, President Johnson called on Congress to enact a package of measures creating programs that would eliminate poverty “in our lifetime”. But President Johnson found a way. In 1964, Congressional appropriations made funds available to launch the Economic Opportunity Act. One of the programs was Project Head Start, which offered preschool education (an eight week summer program) for preschool children from low-income families (Styfco & Zigler, 2004).

The Nixon Administration 1969-1974

The Head Start was shifted to Office of Child Development (OCD) under Nixon's administration. This was moved to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Edward Zigler was appointed the first director of OCD. Soon after his appointment, Zigler found out the Nixon administration was planning to phase out Head Start over the course of three years (Zigler & Styfco, 2004, p.517). The main reason behind Nixon's phase out plan was the results from the Westinghouse Learning Corporation; the first federally commissioned research evaluation of the program's effectiveness.

Westinghouse Learning Corporation; the first federally commissioned research evaluation of the program's effectiveness. The results were mainly negative: the assessment concluded that summer programs had no lasting impact; and the full year programs showed language and cognitive gains at the first grade level but which gains appeared to “fade out” by second and third ...