Former President Lyndon B Johnson declared efforts to combat poverty in January 1964 during his state address. This decision was informed by research demonstrating the adverse consequences of poverty, including its negative impact on education (Bartlett et al., 2019). Specifically, the research guiding President Lyndon B Johnson’s actions exemplified the paramountcy of aiding groups in the society that were disadvantaged economically or socially in order to mitigate these adversities. The Head Start Program was founded on this premise, aiming to break the cyclical loop of poverty via an initial eight-week demonstration. During this program, preschool children from low-income households entered a comprehensive program tailored to cater to their nutritional, health, educational, social, and emotional needs (Bartlett et al., 2019). The Head Start Performance Standards, the set of regulations governing the Head Start Program, were initially published in 1975. Since its inception, the Head Start Program has fostered the rise of other programs like the Early Head Start Grants awarded to expectant families and children aged three years old and below born in low-income families (Bartlett et al., 2019). Additionally, the Head Start Program was reauthorized in 1998 to expand to full-year and full-day services and, more recently, in 2007. This paper discusses how the Head Start Program has evolved to mitigate socioeconomic disparities via education.
Evolution In Terms of Populations Served
As postulated by ECLKC (2022), the Head Start Program catered to more than 1 million toddlers and expectant women in family child care homes, family homes, and other centers in 2016 alone, in rural, suburban, and urban regions in all the 50 states of America, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. territories. This number has accumulated to over 34 million children aged five and below, demonstrating the number of lives it has impacted. Funded enrollment is also a crucial aspect of the program, which refers to the number of pregnant women and children supported by the Head Start funds allocated by the state annually. Funded enrollment figures comprise the enrolment slots the state and other stakeholders offer. According to ECLKC (2022), the Head Start Program has evolved to cater to diverse populations like ethnic minorities via programs like the American Indian/Alaskan Native (AIAN) program and the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) program. The program also caters to native Americans in urban communities and reservations via numerous centers.
Improvements in Programs and Services Offered
The Head Start Program currently offers health services like dental check-ups, health check-ups, and health screening. Specifically, Early Head Start fosters toddler development as early as birth, healthy families, and healthy prenatal outcomes (Bartlett et al., 2019). The program also aids in the creation of early healthy development and childhood education among children from low-income backgrounds between 3 and 5 years old. Community-based and family-based partnerships have been formed to enable parents to meet individual goals, such as career goals, nurture their children in a wholesome manner, and champion communities that do the same. Another relatively recent development was the 2007 re-authorization that sought to identify and serve homeless children of all ages promptly and explicitly. An excellent example of this activity is embodied in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 2001, which ensures homeless families and children access to early childhood education (Shaw et al., 2020). In states like California, Early Start was a response to federal legislation to ensure that eligible infants were served in a family-centered and coordinated manner. Public school districts and regional centers are typically at the forefront of coordinating this program, but only eligible toddlers are catered to.
Eligibility
Eligibility for the Head Start Program is typically income-based, but local programs can include additional eligibility criteria like disabilities and familial needs. According to ECLKC (2022), families whose earnings are 100% below the federal poverty level are eligible. This threshold is absolute and does not change except when accounting for inflation. There are additional categorical eligibility criteria, such as ( SNAP) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and (TANF) Assistance to Needy Families aimed at supplementing security funds in accordance with the McKinney-Vento Act. These improvements have enabled early childhood centers to cater to children with disabilities due to the rule that they must make up at least 10% of the total enrolment (ECLKC, 2022). Eligible children and their families are assigned service coordinators to enable early interventions which are family-centered and focused on family resources, priorities, and concerns. Nevertheless, the program serves children in their natural settings offering behavioral services, family resource centers, occupational, physical, and speech/language therapy, and infant stimulation.
Head Start’s Support for Early Childhood Educators
The Head Start Program is committed to creating a diverse and effective early childhood education environment comprising qualified professionals. Unsurprisingly, the program has led in advancing the early childhood education profession at a national level, stemming from the Child Development Associate, founded initially for the Head Start itself (Shaw et al., 2020). However, this program has been augmented via its most recent authorization to ensure that educators are highly qualified by requiring them to hold a bachelor’s degree in relevant fields, along with adequate training in early childhood education. According to Gerde et al. (2018), the program has made significant strides in achieving this goal of increasing the number of qualified teachers since over 70% of Head Start educators have B.A. degree qualifications. This achievement is the result of significant financial investments, intensive support, provision of professional development facilities. Ultimately, early childhood educators, operating both within and without Head Start, can access the vast training, learning materials, and technical aid created by national centers, thus improving the quality of education in early childhood centers.
Head Start and Quality Preschool Programs
The paramountcy of quality preschool programs cannot be overstated, primarily because in most cases concerning children from low-income households, the alternative to quality preschool is lower quality child care. That is, children aged under 4 months are typically placed in nonmaternal care environments, that adversely impacts their well-being. Cordoba and Sanders-Smith (2018) postulate that Head Start programs ensure infants are placed in quality preschool programs by evaluating the institutions’ inherent structure and classroom processes. Structure alludes to the measurable attributes of the learning environment like teachers’ academic background and experience, class size, and teacher/pupil ratio. On the other hand, classroom processes are the less easily quantifiable characteristics like the developmental appropriateness of learning activities offered, layout of study materials, and nature of teacher/child interactions (Cordoba & Sanders-Smith, 2018). Since these two measures are correlated, the Head Start Program has significantly improved the quality of preschool program by ensuring children are placed in cleaner, safer, more mentally and physically stimulating environments, and overseen by educators in a better child-teacher ratio.
This approach leads to better outcomes for children since better classroom practices and structures, characterized by caregivers who are sensitive to children create a more cognitively stimulating environment. Nevertheless, the amalgamation of maternal cognitive stimulation, home environment, maternal vocabulary, and family income have a more pronounced impact on the children’s behavior and cognitive development (Cordoba & Sanders-Smith, 2018). Since the Head Start Program caters to children in their natural environments and promotes socioeconomic wellbeing, it leads to better behavioral and cognitive development.
In sum, it is commonplace that communities and states face significant challenges in supporting the needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged. Some of these needs, including competing demands, absenteeism, and limited access to educational facilities stem from homelessness and racial disparities. The Head Start Program has played a crucial role in alleviating this situation, by ensuring that the disadvantaged children and their families access educational and health resources in an aim to break the seemingly unending loop of poverty. Nevertheless, the program has also contributed to the betterment of the education sector, by promoting and facilitating the further education and qualification of educators.
References
Bartlett, M., Mickelson, A., & Brown, C. (2019). The changing landscape of education for young children receiving early intervention and early childhood special education. Handbook of early childhood care and education, 239-258. http://dspace.fudutsinma.edu.ng/jspui/bitstream/123456789/2402/1/The%20Wiley%20handbook%20of%20early%20childhood%20care%20and%20education%20%28%20PDFDrive.com%20%29.pdf#page=261
Cordoba, T. E., & Sanders-Smith, S. C. (2018). A closer look: Socio-structural influences on teacher–child interactions during project work. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 16(4), 407-420. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X18804849
ECLKC (2022) Head start program facts: Fiscal Year 2016, ECLKC. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20220918213711/https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/about-us/article/head-start-program-facts-fiscal-year-2016.
Gerde, H. K., Pierce, S. J., Lee, K., & Van Egeren, L. A. (2018). Early childhood educators’ self-efficacy in science, math, and literacy instruction and science practice in the classroom. Early Education and Development, 29(1), 70-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2017.1360127
Shaw, S., Hirilall, A., & Halle, T. (2020). Facilitating Access to Early Care and Education for Children Experiencing Homelessness. https://earlyeducationresearch.net/sites/default/files/pdf/rc38042.pdf
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