13.7: Preschool and Head Start

Providing universal preschool has become an important lobbying point for federal, state, and local leaders throughout our country. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama called upon Congress to provide high-quality preschool for all children. He continued to support universal preschool in his legislative agenda, and in December 2014 the President convened state and local policymakers for the White House Summit on Early Education (White House Press Secretary, 2014). Democrat hopeful Elizabeth Warren made universal preschool one of the rallying cries of her campaign to be on the Presidential ticket in 2020. However, universal preschool covering all four-year-olds in the country would require significant funding. Further, how effective preschools are in preparing children for elementary school, and what constitutes high-quality preschool have been debated. To set criteria for designation as a high quality preschool, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) identifies 10 standards (NAEYC, 2016). These include:

• Positive relationships among all children and adults are
• A curriculum that supports learning and development in social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive areas.
• Teaching approaches that are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically
• Assessment of children’s progress to provide information on learning and
• The health and nutrition of children are promoted, while they are protected from illness and injury.
• Teachers possess the educational qualifications, knowledge, and commitment to promote children’s learning.
• Collaborative relationships with families are established and
• Relationships with agencies and institutions in the children’s communities are established to support the program’s goals.
• Indoor and outdoor physical environments are safe and well-
• Leadership and management personnel are well qualified, effective, and maintain licensure status with the applicable state agency.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Children making crafts at preschool.[1]

Primary caregivers should review preschool programs using the NAEYC criteria as a guide and template for asking questions that will assist them in choosing the best program for their child. Selecting the right preschool is also difficult because there are so many types of preschools available. Zachry (2013) identified Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, High Scope, Parent Co-Ops, and Bank Street as types of preschool programs that focus on children learning through discovery. Teachers act as guides and create activities based on the child’s developmental level (Zachry, 2013).

Head Start

For children who live in poverty, Head Start has been providing preschool education since 1965 when it was begun by President Lyndon Johnson as part of his war on poverty. In 2013, research revealed that Head Start served nearly one million children and annually costs approximately 7.5 billion dollars (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2015)

However, concerns about the effectiveness of Head Start have been ongoing since the program began. Some research claims that the program which today spends about ten thousand dollars per child per year (and there are about 900 thousand enrollees) needs to be worthwhile. (It infuriates me when you put this in context that our US spent at least 801 billion dollars on the military!)

Anecdotally to start, consider the following excerpt from a blog by Amanda Bryans - the research and education to practice supervisor at Head Start -

"Over the last 57 years, there have been countless efforts to describe us and ongoing debates about whether the program works, how it works, and if it works well enough to justify its cost. The Head Start program works! Why? Because it is rooted in the strength of families and has the unique capacity to do different things for different children and families.

How would you respond to the question?

The Head Start program works because parents and guardians are recognized as the experts about their own children. They have a seat at every table, and they help govern the programs their children attend. It works because the staff knows children need adults who keep them safe, ensure they have good nutrition, health, and dental care, and support their social and emotional development and well-being. Children’s interests, curiosity, and joy are recognized as they experience individualized teaching and learning. The program offers parents opportunities to set goals and supports to meet them. Parents have access to assistance acquiring a GED diploma or a college degree, finding a job, or locating secure housing.

Once after I spoke at a conference in Region IV, a woman approached and introduced herself as a Head Start director. She said she started with the program as a parent. She had gotten a position first as a teacher assistant and then worked her way up to director, obtaining a master’s degree along the way. I asked about her Head Start child, and she said, “Oh my daughter who went to the Head Start program is doing great. She is getting a master’s in educational administration and wants to be a principal. My older daughter though, did not get a Head Start experience and she is struggling.” She thought for a moment and then said, “The difference was my younger daughter was so loved at the Head Start program. She knew she was somebody.” This story stuck with me. So when I have a chance to talk about the program, this is what I say —

The Head Start program means:

• Children and families come first.
• All people are included and respected.
• Children’s basic needs are met, and their ideas and interests are important.
• School readiness includes academic skills and social and emotional competence for children, advocacy skills for parents, and kindergarten partnerships.
• Families can get help with their goals and with basic needs and are valued partners."

Zhang and Dobbes-Oates (2019) research has found a positive relationship between length of Head Start participation and children's performance in receptive language and math in elementary school. Johnson and Jackson (2019) did an economic analysis to show that the investment in this federal program is more than justified (especially when combined with improvements in K-12 spending) because participating low-income children are more likely to graduate from high school, earn higher incomes and are less likely to be incarcerated. There are other positive health and parenting outcomes of head start that are listed by Jancart et al. (2021) and Douglass et al. (2021).

Nonexperimental designs are a significant problem in determining the effectiveness of Head Start programs because a control group is needed to show group differences that would demonstrate educational benefits. Because of ethical reasons, low-income children are usually provided with some type of preschool programming in an alternative setting. Additionally, Head Start programs are different depending on their location, and these differences include the length of the day or qualification of the teachers. Lastly, testing young children is difficult and strongly dependent on their language skills and comfort level with an evaluator (Barshay, 2015).

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): A photograph from when Head Start began – a program meant to equalize educational opportunity and thereby IQ.[2]

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Head start students learning in class

References:

Douglass, A. G., Roche, K. M., Lavin, K., Ghazarian, S. R., & Perry, D. F. (2021) Longitudinal parenting pathways linking Early Head Start and kindergarten readiness, Early Child Development and Care, 191(16), 2570-2589. doi: 10.1080/03004430.2020.1725498

Jancart, K., Vecchiarelli, J., Paolicelli, A. M., & McGoey, K. (2021). Long-Term Outcomes of Early Childhood Programs: Evidence on Head Start, Perry Preschool Program, and Abecedarian [Research summary]. National Association of School Psychologists.

Johnson, R. C., & Jackson, C. K. (2019). Reducing inequality through dynamic complementarity: Evidence from Head Start and public school spending. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 11 (4): 310-49. doi: 10.1257/pol.20180510

National Association for the Education of Young (2016). The 10 NAEYC program standards. Retrieved from http://families.naeyc.org/accredited-article/10-naeyc-program-standards

United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2015). Head start program facts fiscal year 2013. Retrieved from http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/data/factsheets/docs/hs-program-fact-sheet-2013.pdf

White House Press (2014). Fact Sheet: Invest in US: The White House Summit on Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/10/fact-sheet-invest-us-white-house-summit- early- childhood-education

Zachry, A. (2013). 6 Types of Preschool Programs. Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/starting - preschool/preparing/types-of-preschool-programs/

Attributions:

Child Growth and Development by Jennifer Paris, Antoinette Ricardo, and Dawn Rymond, 2019, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

[1] Image by Seattle City Council is in the public domain

[2] Image by Children’s Bureau Centennial

Building Family Strength: the Head Start Approach by Amanda Bryans in the public domain