Head Start and Early Head Start initiatives offer various service models, which are dependent upon the desires of the local society. Head Start programs endorse school preparedness of the young ones that are aged between birth and five years (“Head Start Programs”). These children come from the low-income groups, and, by comprehensively supporting their development, the program affirms that it will reduce the income inequality gap. In America, income inequality or the difference between the wealthy and other people has been rising noticeably; every major numerical measure (for about 30 years) points to this fact (“Income Inequality…”). Many Head Start and Early Head Start initiatives are based in different schools and centers. Income inequality may be perceived as the extent to which income is dispersed in an uneven way among a group of people. Other initiatives are situated in child care centers and family child care establishments. Some initiatives offer home-based services that have assigned devoted employees who carry out weekly trips to children in their homes and work with the parents or close relatives as the young ones’ primary educators (“Head Start Early Learning…”). The following discussion reveals how head start programs started and the various issues that surround the program.
Over fifty years ago the Head Start started as an initiative for preschoolers. In the modern day, three and four-year-olds comprise over 80 percent of the young ones that are typically served by the Head Start programs every year (“Head Start Early Learning…”). Early Head Start was developed to serve infants, pregnant women, and toddlers. Early Head Start initiatives are accessible to every family until a child turns three years and can transition into another pre-K program. Recently, various Early Head Start initiatives have been financed to associate unswervingly with the current infant and toddler care programs; this has resulted in the provision of higher quality services to all young ones that are registered in the child care initiative (Office of Head Start).
Head Start programs hold up children’s development and growth in active learning settings through various services. Such services include early learning: Children’s preparedness for education, which is fostered through customized learning experiences (“Head Start Early Learning…”). Through associations with play, adults, and premeditated and unstructured instruction, young ones grow in many ways of development. Children development in emotional well-being and social skills, alongside literacy and language learning, and the idea of development Health is intended to result in each child’s motor, perceptual, and physical development. The program supports this endeavor to permit children to function and explore in their surroundings completely. All children obtain development and health screenings, oral health, nutritious meals, and psychological support. The programs attach families with dental, medical, and psychological services to make sure that children get the services that they need. In terms of family well-being, families and parents are usually supported in realizing their objectives; such goals include continued education, housing stability, and financial constancy (“Head Start Early Learning…”). The programs hold up and reinforce parent-child associations and connect families around children’s’ education and development.
Although the head start program has numerous positive outcomes, it also has some negative impacts on the lives of young children. The head start program is typically delivered through 1,700 groups in local communities. The Head Start and Early Head Start initiatives give services to more than a million young ones annually (Office of Head Start). The program is executed in each American territory and state, farmworker camps, and more than 155 tribal communities. Head Start programming is receptive to the cultural, ethnic, and linguistic legacy of each youngster and family. Nevertheless, studies indicate that the head start initiative has failed to prepare children for standard education. In 1969, the Westinghouse Learning Corporation and Ohio University printed the first evaluation of Head Start (“The Problem Of Head Start”). The organization affirmed that, while the program did excellent things for deprived children through health care and socialization, its cognitive effect on these young ones was zero because they all attained the primary grades. This verdict started a four-decades-long scuffle over how to view Head Start’s efficiency and if it should be considered to be an education initiative. Different studies showed that the cognitive effects of the program were transitory and feeble. In a rejoinder, Head Start’s boosters and defenders that the initiative is about school readiness; they indicated that the program should not be viewed in such a way.
Nevertheless, various studies affirm that the head start program has a constructive impact on the lives of young ones. Research suggests that one of the most impactful child-focused policy movements in recent history has been the growth of preschool prospects for the low-income children; this trend is supported by converging empirical and theoretical activities across different disciplines (Crosnoe et al. 599-612). To begin with, conceptual theories from sociology and psychology have insisted that socioeconomic differences in school preparedness are essential to the spread of socioeconomic standing and inequalities athwart generations. The dispute is that children from low-income groups enter the K-12 educational organization with less developed educational skills that are then precipitated by the informal and formal systems of schooling to develop more significant end-of-school inequalities that weaken their decisive socioeconomic achievement.
In a recap of the above discussion, the head history of programs reveals that the initiative is intended to offer different benefits to the lives of children. The initiative uses different service models that depend on the desires of the local society. Head Start initiatives encourage school readiness by supporting comprehensive development. Numerous Head Start and Early Head Start initiatives are based in schools and centers. Moreover, these programs are intended to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, as discussed above.
- Crosnoe, Robert et al. “The Selection Of Children From Low-Income Families Into Preschool..” Developmental Psychology 52.4 (2016): 599-612.
- “Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework | ECLKC.” ECLKC. N.p., 2018. Web. 19 Jan. 2018.
- “The Problem of Head Start.” Hoover.org. (2018): 65. Web. 19 Jan. 2018.
- “Income Inequality – Inequality.Org.” Inequality.org. N.p., 2018. Web. 19 Jan. 2018.
- “Head Start Programs.” Office of Head Start | ACF. N.p., 2018. Web. 19 Jan. 2018.