In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared The War on Poverty. The following year, a panel of experts designed Project Head Start, aimed at helping break the cycle of poverty by providing low-income preschoolers a comprehensive program of education.
Head Start was based on the recognition that middle-income kids were entering school light years ahead of their low-income counterparts. The theory was that, if disadvantaged children could get some of the benefits of better-resourced kids, they would be better prepared for school success.
And the research bears out a fiscal benefit to taxpayers for such an effort. The Perry Preschool Study, a landmark study published in 2004 that tracked preschoolers throughout their lives to age 40, and other studies like it have all found by age 40 there is a $14 return on dollars spent on educating low-income preschoolers.
Head Start was charged with providing for the all-around needs of children and their families. This funding now supports year-round, full-day programs for children at risk in all 50 states. Recent reauthorization continues to raise the bar on program quality.
In 1995, a new component of Head Start for children birth to age 3 was launched as a result of the research that indicates this time of life as being most critical for human development. “Early Head Start” programs work with low-income families from the very beginning, providing resources for children and parents alike in their goal of establishing healthy homes.
Our country has come to view Head Start as one of its primary tools to ensure that low-income kids have opportunities for success in school and in life. As Head Start observes its 50th anniversary and Early Head Start honors its 20th, there is much to celebrate.
Head Start programs have improved the lives of 30 million children since 1965 and continue to serve a million children and families every year. The Head Start story may be one of America’s greatest successes. The concept of compensatory education for our youngest children is necessary in a First-World country in which many citizens are living a Third-World existence. Making sure children have access to education from the beginning of life pays dividends to us all.
