Suchergebnisse

Head Start is the oldest and largest federally funded preschool program in the United States. From its inception in 1965, Head Start not only provided early childhood education, care, and services for children, but also sought to promote parents' success. However, almost all evaluation studies of Head Start have focused solely on children's cognitive and social outcomes rather than on parents' outcomes. The present study examines whether children's participation in Head Start promotes parents' educational advancement and employment. We use data from the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), a randomized trial of over 4,000 newly entering three- and four-year-old children. We find that parents of children in the three-year-old cohort (but not the four-year-old cohort), who were randomly assigned to and participated in Head Start, had steeper increases in their own educational attainment by child age six years compared to parents of children in the control group. This pattern is especially strong for parents who had at least some college experience at baseline, as well as for African-American parents. We do not find evidence that Head Start helped parents enter or return to the workforce over time. Results are discussed in the context of using high-quality early childhood education as a platform for improving both child and parent outcomes. [Copyright John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.]

Background: Recent growth in subsidized preschool opportunities in the United States for low-income 4-year-old children has allowed federal Head Start programs to fund more slots for 3-year-old children. In turn, when Age-3 Head Start participants turn four, they may choose to switch into one of the many alternative care options or choose to stay in Head Start for a second year. Objectives: We analyze a nationally representative sample of Age-3 Head Start participants to examine whether children who stay in Head Start for a second year at Age 4 exhibit greater school readiness and subsequent cognitive and behavioral performance compared with children who switch out of Head Start into alternative care. We also examine differences between children who stay at the same Head Start center at Age 4 with those who switch to a different Head Start center. Research Design: Child fixed effects analyses coupled with inverse probability of treatment weights to remove observable, time-invariant differences between Head Start stayers and switchers. Subjects: Cohort of Age-3 Head Start attendees from the Head Start Impact Study. Measures: Child cognitive and behavioral skills assessed by trained administrators annually at ages 3–7. Results: Age-3 Head Start participants' outcomes do not differ at the end of preschool, kindergarten, or first grade based on their choice of Age-4 program. Staying at the same Head Start center for 2 years may be beneficial for behavioral skills. Conclusions: For low-income families, there exist many equally beneficial options to support their children's school readiness through public preschool programs.