The New Head Start

From Cradle to Classroom A troubling finding emerged from a series of studies in the late 1960s: children who were less well prepared for kindergarten tended to fall further behind as they progressed through the grades. Disadvantaged children who had fewer opportunities for early education than their more affluent peers faced the greatest risk. The finding led to the creation of a federally funded preschool program, Head Start, in a national attempt to break the cycle of poverty. Today, Head Start serves almost 1 million preschool-age children; research has shown that it lives up to its name, giving low-income children a much-needed boost that leads to improved academic performance in their school years. [caption id="attachment_8980" align="alignleft" width="185" caption="Associate Professor Catherine Ayoub and (with camera) lecturer Barbara Alexander Pan (© 2003 Andrew Brilliant)"] [/caption] Many children, however, have not received enough of a head start, says Catherine Ayoub, associate professor of education and the co-director of HGSE’s Risk and Prevention Program. “It has become clear that a significant number of children coming into Head Start at age three or four were already behind their peers in terms of their cognitive and social skills,” says Ayoub. But can one- or two-year-olds benefit from educational programs? In a new study, Ayoub and HGSE lecturer Barbara Alexander Pan joined a national team of researchers to find that, indeed, they can. The two served as investigators in the study of Early Head Start—a federal initiative that aims to help expectant mothers and families find the services they need to create the best environment possible for their children’s development. Since its inception in 1995, Early Head Start has been providing one-stop shopping for some 62,000 children and families who are below the poverty line and in need of social services. Families in the program receive weekly home visitations with professionals who connect them to doctors, therapists, and counselors, as the need arises, and provide information about children’s developmental needs. The program also helps families learn about and afford child care.

Can one- or two-year-olds benefit from educational programs? In a new study, a national team of researchers found that indeed they can.

In 1995, working in concert with other researchers at 17 sites across the nation, Ayoub and Pan’s team interviewed parents, observed home environments, and analyzed parent-child interactions at their research site in Brattleboro, Vermont, for the children’s first three years. They also administered task-based tests to track the youngsters’ cognitive and language development. Their findings offer overwhelmingly positive and surprising insights into the efficacy of programs that target young children. Compiled data from all 3,001 children and their families showed that Early Head Start children scored higher, on average, than their peers on standardized tests of cognitive and language development; and far fewer children tested as requiring remediation. The children also showed increases in important social skills, such as relating to parents, paying attention, and behaving appropriately. The program also appeared to foster more positive behaviors among parents, who became more likely to read to their children, support their children emotionally, and participate in education- and employment-related activities. “We saw small-to-moderate impacts across the vast majority of the domains,” says Ayoub. “This means that the program really is making a difference for children and families.” The study also discovered that Early Head Start helps families that other social service programs had difficulty reaching—specifically, teenage mothers and parents who are depressed. Although researchers have yet to determine why, African Americans and families who enrolled during pregnancy benefited the most from the program. “In these challenging financial times, there is strong debate about the most cost-effective ways to spend tax dollars,” says Pan. “Our findings indicate that Early Head Start is a wise investment because fewer children will need costly services down the line.” Ayoub and Pan plan to follow the children in their part of the study through their entry into kindergarten to gauge the longer-term impacts. About the Article A version of this article originally appeared in the Spring 2003 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.