“FATHER OF HEAD START” WARNS OF DANGERS OF PROPOSALS TO DISMANTLE HEAD START

Receives Award from NHSA for Nearly Four Decades of Leadership

NEW YORK CITY ///May 27, 2003/// Edward Zigler, PhD, the man widely known as the “father of Head Start,” will be recognized tonight with an award at the opening night of the National Head Start Association’s 30th annual national training conference. In accepting the honor in recognition of his four decades of pioneering work in early childhood education, Dr. Zigler will caution that White House and Capitol Hill proposals to dismantle Head Start and turn it over to the states are “ill conceived and unjustified.”

Dr. Zigler is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology and director of the Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University. Professor Zigler is often referred to as the “father of Head Start” due to his leadership role as a member of the National Planning and Steering Committee of Project Head Start.

Dr. Zigler’s statement to be delivered tonight includes the following passage: “My reading of the by-now voluminous evidence is that Head Start is clearly successful in achieving its primary mission, which is to prepare at-risk children for school … There is a real and palpable danger to children if you throw out the comprehensive services, parental involvement and community focus of Head Start in trade for an exclusive, cognitive and literacy focus. Learning is not a purely cognitive exercise; to learn, children need to have good physical and mental health and have families whose needs are met.”

Dr. Zigler added: “I see none of the needed focus on these non-literacy issues in the ill-conceived proposals now being circulated to hobble Head Start. Instead, I see a waiving of standards in exchange for the promise that such standards will be instituted within two years, which is an astonishing approach to stewardship of federal tax dollars. I have researched the question of whether or not the states can do a better job of running Head Start. We compared state-run preschools to Head Start as it exists today and found the latter a clear winner in almost every category. At this time, Head Start will be a better program if it is in the federal government rather than up to 50 other places.”

The prepared award ceremony statement of National Head Start Association President Sarah Greene, reads, in part, as follows: “Edward Zigler occupies a special place in the pantheon of America’s outstanding system of early childhood education. Among his many other accomplishments, he founded Head Start, helping the program to get up on its feet and grow. But he also has been a demanding father, refusing to simply give the program he helped to create a ‘pass.’ This dual role as Head Start’s father and its toughest critic has deepened and enriched the contribution made by Dr. Zigler to the betterment of the lives of literally tens of millions of children over the last 38 years. We salute him and vow to redouble our efforts to make certain that his outstanding legacy is not destroyed by this Congress.”

In his remarks, Dr. Zigler also notes: “I have been the first in the past to criticize Head Start when the reality fell short of the ideal. However, quality improvements have become a major reality in recent years and the effect of the improvements is increasingly visible. One example of the improvements is the recent thrust to improve pre-literacy skills through curricula and teacher training.”

The National Head Start Association warned last week that a House bill introduced on May 22, 2003 to dismantle Head Start would cause serious damage to the program by turning it over to states, of which only three have any track record with providing Head Start’s comprehensive services. An April 16, 2003 report issued by NHSA concludes that, far from "improving" Head Start, such proposals would make a "dead end" of Head Start in five years or less, due, in part, to the plan's reliance on budget-deficit crippled states that currently are slashing funds for early childhood development and education.

ABOUT DR. ZIGLER

Dr. Edward F. Zigler is a Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University and the director at the Yale Bush Center. Dr. Zigler received a B.S. at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and obtained his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1959. He taught at the University of Missouri at Columbia for one year before coming to Yale University in 1959. At Yale, Professor Zigler directs a distinguished laboratory engaged in a variety of basic and applied studies of child development and family functioning.

In 1970, Dr. Zigler was named by President Nixon to become the Chief of the U.S. Children’s Bureau and the first director of the Office of Child Development (now the Administration on Children, Youth and Families) where he oversaw the nation's Head Start program and led efforts to create other innovative programs such as Home Start, Education for Parenthood, the Child Development Associate, and the Child and Family Resource Program.

His scholarly work encompasses the fields of mental retardation, psychopathology, intervention programs for economically disadvantaged children, and the effects of out-of-home care on the children of working parents. He headed a national committee of distinguished Americans charged with examining the possibility of making infant care leaves a reality in America, work that inspired the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Professor Zigler is the author or editor of 32 books and has written over 600 scholarly articles. He is a member of the editorial boards of over 10 professional journals. He has received the Heinz Family Foundation Award in Public Policy; the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education; the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Award, and many others.

ABOUT NHSA

The National Head Start Association is a private not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start family by advocating for policies that provide high-quality services to children and their families; by providing extensive training and professional development services to all Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that impact Head Start program delivery. NHSA represents more than 900,000 children and their families, 200,000 staff, 1,900 Head Start programs, and 600 Early Head Start programs in America. NHSA provides a national forum for the continued delivery and enhancement of Head Start services for at-risk children and their families.

CONTACT: Christine Kraly, for NHSA, (703) 276-3258 or ckraly@hastingsgroup.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To see a round-up of newspaper editorials and commentary pieces opposing White House and Capitol Hill plans to dismantle Head Start, go to the SaveHeadStart.org Web site at http://www.SaveHeadStart.org/understand.html.