Third Grade Study Talking Points
NHSA Third Grade Study Talking Points
Third Grade Head Start Impact Study (download pdf)
Background - The Head Start Impact Study was mandated by Congress in 1998 amendments to The Head Start Act. The Head Start Impact Study evaluated the effects of Head Start's intervention on children and families through the children's first years of school. The study followed a nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 children in 84 Head Start programs. Findings of the study, which began in 2002 and ended in 2006, were released January 13, 2010 and a follow-up set of findings was released on December 21, 2012.
Suggested Talking Points
- The Impact Study shows that Head Start gets results - at Kindergarten entry, Head Start children are more ready for Kindergarten in every aspect that the Study measured than their peers who did not attend Head Start.
- It is clear from hundreds of studies over four decades, that Head Start participants have long-term success in preparation for both life and education compared to their peers.
o These gains include a reduced need for special education[i], better health and wellness[ii] as teens and adults and higher high school and college graduation rates[iii]. Head Start also increases the amount of time parents[iv] spend supporting their children's education.
- While the study shows Head Start's significant impact on children, it is particularly troubling that the benefits of Kindergarten readiness seem to flatten out from Kindergarten through third grade. We suggest more work needs to be done in the kindergarten - 3rd grade continuum to figure out how to better keep the advantages the children gain in Head Start.
o Our work with students ends when they graduate from Head Start, but it is clear that for many, their circumstances continue to hinder their success; circumstances including, but not limited to, the quality of their primary and secondary education.
o Head Start children, like all children, benefit greatly from attending high-performing schools. Unfortunately, Head Start children too often end up in low-performing schools where they face even more adversity. [v]
o Greater investment in the schools that Head Start graduates enter is necessary to retain the advantages they gain while in Head Start.
- As the HHS-sponsored, random assignment study on Head Start, its findings seem to many to be definitive; however, the study does not reflect today's Head Start programs or outcomes.
o Since the study was conducted in 2002-03, Head Start has already implemented an extensive set of program quality improvements, many of them resulting from the 2007 reauthorization of the Head Start Act.
- The bottom line is - Head Start Gets Results.
o The study's number one finding is that Head Start children enter Kindergarten performing above their peers in all measurable categories.
- In conclusion, the Head Start community is fully committed to improving the quality of Head Start programs, through both adherence to high standards and relentless insistence on excellence.
- There are challenges ahead for all of us serving at-risk students from birth to age eight, but through partnerships, commitment, and collaboration with our K-12 colleagues, we can ensure that the gains realized by Head Start are sustained in every grade.
[i] Zhao, H. & Modarresi, S. (2010, April). Evaluating Lasting Effects of Full-day Prekindergarten Program on School Readiness, Academic Performance and Special Education Services. Office of Shared Accountability of Montgomery County Public Schools.
[ii] Johnson, R.C. (2010). The Health Returns of Education Policies from Preschool to High School and Beyond. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 188-194.
[iii] Deming, D. (2009). Early Childhood Intervention and Life-Cycle Skill Development: Evidence from Head Start. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1:3, 111-134.
[iv] National Bureau of Economic Research. (2011, December). Children's Schooling and Parents' Investment in Children: Evidence from the Head Start Impact Study (Working Paper No. 17704). Cambridge, MA: A. Gelber & A. Isen.
[v] Johnson, R.C. (2011). School-quality and the long-run effects of Head Start; Unpublished paper.