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A Head Start for Poor Children? |
| Section: CURRENT ISSUES / ANALYSIS |
| Author: Krista Kafer |
| Publication: The world & I online |
| Issue Date: 2/1/2004 |
| Size: 2,045 Words, 13,775 Characters |
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As the 39-year-old federal Head Start program once again comes before Congress for reauthorization, several unanswered questions that have dogged the program since its inception should be considered. First, does it work?
Twenty-two years after the creation of the preschool program for low-income 3- and 4-year-olds, its cofounder, Edward Zigler, acknowledged, "We simply cannot inoculate children in one year against the ravages of a life of deprivation." Nevertheless, Zigler remains confident that Head Start brings some benefits to the children it serves.
On average, poor children enter school with far fewer vocabulary, literacy, math, and social skills than their middle-class peers. They start off a step behind and never catch up; the gap in academic proficiency follows them to the en...
. . .
...utcome of the recent legislation is anyone's guess. In the meantime, the academic gap between poor and middle-class students remains a stubborn blight on the American education system. Perhaps no government program can ever sufficiently make up for what a hard life takes away. After the publication of the National Head Start Impact Study, we will know whether Head Start is better than nothing.
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