by CDF President Marian Wright Edelman Head Start works
When Joey was 3, his mother had a second baby. Shortly thereafter, Joey's grandmother, who had cared for him during the day, passed away. To make ends meet, Joey's mother, who is raising her children alone, had to give up college and go to work. Joey became very moody, was confused at times, and had fits of anger. "I often wonder what would have happened to Joey if he weren't in Head Start," says Martha Watford, who directs La Peninsula's five Head Start programs in the South Bronx. "I know he would have been suspended as soon as he got into kindergarten, and possibly would have been placed in special education. I'm not sure anyone would have had the time to see what his potentials are." Instead, Watford says, Head Start has helped give Joey a sense of self-worth and "the feeling that someone cares for him and that he is not alone," which has brought out his natural creativity and inquisitiveness. There are so many young children like Joey in the United States whose lives could be turned around if only they could get Head Start's early education, nutrition, health and social services, and support for their parents. But right now, only slightly more than one-third of all eligible children can attend Head Start, despite the program's 32 years of strong bipartisan support and proven track record of helping children learn and stay in school, be safe and healthy, and ultimately become productive, taxpaying citizens. While some states with strong gubernatorial leadership on early childhood—Ohio, Georgia, and Kentucky, for example—are investing significant resources in prekindergarten or Head Start programs, other states invest relatively little. Now the Administration has proposed in its budget to increase Head Start funding by $324 million in Fiscal Year 1998, allowing an additional 36,000 children to get a Head Start. The Administration says that this investment would put Head Start on track to serve an additional 1 million children by the year 2002. While every increase helps, this still would leave 1 million children unserved, and represents a major step back from the Administration's 1993 commitment to fully fund Head Start by FY 1999. Head Start works. Research shows that children who participate in Head Start are less likely to be held back in school or be assigned to special education classes, and they tend to be healthier. Studies also show that Head Start has immediate effects on children's self-esteem, achievement, motivation, and social behavior. The children of low-income working parents, including those leaving welfare under the 1996 welfare law, are extremely vulnerable. Their poverty or near-poverty places them at greater risk for educational failure, and they need the boost provided by good early education programs like Head Start. In 1997, Congress will make important decisions on Head Start funding, and in 1998 Head Start is up for reauthorization. Let us begin working together now to bring attention to the children served by this extraordinary program, and at the same time encourage our leaders to make good on their promise to give all eligible children a Head Start in life. This article originally appeared in the April 1997 issue of CDF Reports, the monthly newsletter of the Children's Defense Fund. |
Four-year-old Joey (not his real
name), a lovable, intelligent little boy from the
South Bronx, N.Y., will be ready for kindergarten
this fall, thanks to the La Peninsula Head Start
program. But one year ago, Joey's success in the
classroom would not have seemed possible.