13.2: The History of Head Start and At-Risk Programming
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- 178884
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In the 1960s, Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, influenced by research on the effects of poverty on children, assembled a group of experts to develop a program that supported the needs of young children living in poverty who were at risk of school failure. This program was called Head Start, and it promoted the school readiness of young children from low-income families through agencies in their local community. Currently, Head Start grants are administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Head Start, 2022a).
Since Head Start’s inception, researchers have continued to examine factors that contribute to a child’s being identified as at-risk for developmental delay and school failure. In 1994, the Carnegie Foundation published a report, “Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children,” that highlighted the importance of the first 3 years of life for subsequent healthy development and cited factors that were contributing to a “quiet crisis” that included rising rates of child abuse and neglect (Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1994).
In 2000, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies published a report, “From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development,” that concluded there are “striking disparities in what children know and can do [which] are evident well before they enter kindergarten. These differences are strongly associated with social and economic circumstances, and they are predictive of subsequent academic performance” (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development, 2000). These two reports spurred policymakers to support Head Start and other early childhood programs focused on early intervention services for at-risk children.
Directions: Learn more about Head Start programs in Illinois by visiting the Illinois Head Start Association. Search for a local Head Start program near you. What services does Head Start provide to children and their families?
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Head Start. (2022a). Head Start history. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ohs/about/history-head-start
Carnegie Corporation of New York. (1994). Starting points: Meeting the needs of our youngest children. https://www.carnegie.org/publications/starting-points-meeting-the-needs-of-our-youngest-children/
National Research Council and Institute of Medicine Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25077268/