Lower income and uneducated parents have a higher risk to have a child who performs poorly on test. However, the federal government had attempted to aid these underfunded and undereducated families. Head Start, a federal preschool program, has the purpose to raise test scores in the long term; however, “it has repeatedly been proven ineffectual.” By observing the in efficacy present in a Head Start class, it is apparent why the program is failing.
The existence of the education achievement gap between white, Hispanic, and African-American, students has been a lingering problem across the United States. To close this gap it requires action that focuses on early childhood education programs that help in the preparation of students that will enter the system on grade level and ready to learn. One program developed for preparing children living in poverty for school is Head Start. Head start is a federal corresponding endowment program that offers the underprivileged children with admission to pre-kindergarten education. Head start program started as of fight on poverty and currently serving approximately 900,000 children yearly at the cost of $6.9 million yearly, and the number has increased
There is nothing as beneficial as being ready for school from a young age. Fortunately, the National Head Start Association gives young people and their families an opportunity to develop and grow. Young people from the age of five get the chance to develop their cognitive, social, and emotional skills, which ultimately prepares them for the challenges that inevitably lie ahead. The benefits of this program are monumental; for instance, young children get the opportunity to develop their language and literacy skills. Such children ultimately enjoy school and proceed to make a meaningful impact in their societies.
The Head Start program is a free preschool for low income families who are disadvantaged. The Head Start program is in question in regards to its success in preparing children for future school success. In the article titled “How should we Interpret the Evidence about Head Start?” by Janet Currie claims “It is one of the most successful known interventions for poor children”. She claims Head Start is associated with being low quality, however, there are positive results that are surprising to the skeptics. She continues to argue that Head Start is operating at a local level and are held at high standards.
Ms. Maloney said that the majority of their students would not receive any type of pre-school education if not for the Head Start center. When asked if she believed that the programs offered through the Head Start profited the targeted groups, Ms. Maloney emphatically stated “yes, children who receive early educational intervention go on to perform better in school.” The U.S Department of Health and Human Services website offers testimony to support this belief. Oscar Dominguez writes this; “Head Start has offset many of the challenges I faced early in my life, including a father in prison and a mother on welfare raising two boys in public housing. With a hand up from programs like Head Start, I was able to graduate near the top of my Texas public high school class, from Stanford University, and from the Master in Business Administration program at San Francisco State.
It was pleasant to read that my work as a preschool teacher will actually make a difference my student’s lives in both social behavior and academic success. The Head Start REDI program is not just a place where kids get dropped off to play. In fact, they still get a lot of social-emotional benefits just by playing. It is a program where kids learn and shape themselves. I knew that preschool and Head Start REDI programs were beneficial for kids but, I never knew the extent of the benefits until after reading this study and the exact skills they learn in a preschool of Head Start REDI
Early Education can help shape the foundation of a child’s life, by tapping into their mental development, and academic development. Children who that attend preschool programs are more likely to graduate high school, and go onto college. According to Education Zone, The most significant impacts seem to be with “at risk” children. At risk stands for children who come from families with lower incomes. Children under the category “at risk” are 25% more likely to drop out of high school, 40% more likely to become a teen parent, 60% more likely not to attend college, and are 70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime, by not attending preschool programs.
The effects are particularly strong amongst certain subgroups of children, particularly Hispanic and African-American children, dual language learners, children who are homeless or in foster care, those who qualify for free lunch, and those whose mothers didn’t graduate high school. Head Start children performed considerably better on social skills and have better approaches to learning. In addition to academic boost, their problem behaviors, such as aggression and hyperactivity are also decreased, they had fewer attention problems and exhibited fewer negative behaviors. Head Start participants may benefit physically as well; there are skilled professionals that carefully examined children for any health problems, have a better chance of eating healthy foods, seeing a dentist and having a lower BMI. Thus, children who attends Head start are less likely to be in poor health.
Head Start is a federal funded program for children between ages three to five who are underprivileged and come from low income families. A child’s mind when they first go to school is rapidly developing and at school teachers are responsible for guiding their students and helping them develop throughout the school year. If a child gets a bad teacher they can’t develop like they are suppose to. For many low income families public schools are their only option and before Head Start public schools didn’t really have a good preschool option. If a child attended preschool it regularly costed money and poor, low income families couldn’t afford to send their children to a private preschool.
Introduction “The sooner the better” is the ideal tag line for early childhood education. The experiences of children in their early years
Undoubtedly, the effectiveness of the Head Start program is inconclusive depending on whether the researcher is looking at the long or short-term effects of the children who participate in the program. Unquestionably, this paper will examine the various factors such as social factors, geographic location, teachers, etc. to see if meets the goals or the main objective that Head Start set forth to ensure participants are successful in life. This paper will examine what theoretical and ideological underpinnings the Head Start program was developed on, then describe the theory with the major components and arguments of the theory. Assuredly, the evidence of each of the researchers discussed in this paper will demonstrate the parts of the Head Start
(refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). All of them focus on the development of complex thinking skills. First at all, Piaget’s cognitive development theory is the most essential theory among others (Müller et al., 2009 and Scholnick et al., 1999 as cited in Lourenço, 2002, pp.281-295). This theory aims to explain the mechanisms and processes of children in understanding and discovering the world. There are 3 basic elements in theory of cognitive development which are schema, assimilation and accommodation.
His greatest strength was his research which has allowed educators, psychologists, and parents to have a greater understanding of a child’s developmental level. According to Lourenco (2012), Piaget believed that children would find the most benefit by working and learning in an educational setting that was at their own level (p. 284). As a result of his research, Piaget encouraged a comprehensive educational system that focused on the understanding of children. Thomas (2005) describe some of the weaknesses of Piaget’s theory, which include the fact that he often underestimated the ability of a child’s intellect.
There continues to be a misinterpretation about the short-term and long-term gains. “There was strong evidence that the Head Start group demonstrated better skills on the following six child outcomes related to children’s language and literacy development: vocabulary, letter-word identification, spelling, pre-academic skills, color identification and letter naming” (Puma et.al 11). With long-term gains “finds long-term impacts of Head Start on outcomes such as educational attainment, crime, and mortality”. (Deming 114)
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Cognition is a process where different aspects of the mind are working together that lead to knowledge. Piaget’s cognitive development theory is based on stages that children go through as they grow that lead them to actively learn new information. Cognitive change occurs with schemes that children and adults go through to make sense of what is happening around them. The change that occurs is activity based when the child is young and later in life correlates to mental thinking. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development start from birth to adulthood
