Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Head Start Dealt Another Blow

More facts won't sway the Church of Head Start congregation:
Head Start’s benefits fade quickly and disappear by third grade. Advocates say that’s because the quality of Head Start programs varies significantly.

“How much does program quality really impact children’s learning and development in Head Start classrooms? asks Kristen Loschert on EdCentral.

Not much, concludes a recent study by the Department of Health and Human Services.

5 comments:

allen (in Michigan) said...

If effectiveness were the measure Head Start would have been gone decades ago. Instead it just continues on as if there are other, more important, considerations then how well the public's money is spent.

And there are. For instance, the desire by lefties to feel they're heroic defenders of the underdog without taking any nasty risks. Or that they're generous without parting with a nickel. Or that they're forcing their moral inferiors to be as elevated as lefties believe themselves to be.

Lots of good reasons. If you're a lefty.

maxutils said...

a REAL Head Start is parents reading to their kids. That's really all it takes.

allen (in Michigan) said...

No, a real Head Start would be accepting that society's a lousy substitute for parents and the more society attempts to impose itself on the parent-child relationship the more tragic will be the consequences.

maxutils said...

allen - I'm not sure how that contradicts what I wrote, because ... that's exactly my point, except that i specified something that parents -- not society-- could do for their kids.

pseudotsuga said...

I was a Head Start child, very soon after it began. What did I learn there? I have no idea. I didn't learn to read there--I learned that from my older brother bringing stuff home from school and reading it with my mother. Head Start is actually more of a government day care program than an actual school. There are some children who may actually benefit from Head Start type things, but I don't think it needs to be Federal in scope. This is much better handled on the community level.