Synopses & Reviews
Are we failing the children most at risk? 52 of America's leading experts weigh in.
The future of Head Start depends on how well we learn from and apply the lessons from its past. That's why everyone involved in early education needs this timely, forward-thinking book from the leader of Head Start. The first book to capture the Head Start debates in all their complexity and diversity, this landmark volume brings together the research and personal experience of 52 top experts in a wide range of fields—including education, research, medicine, and social work. This powerful compilation of voices mines Head Start's 38-year history for lessons learned, turns a critical eye on where the program is headed, and offers readers distinct and often contrasting viewpoints on three major issues:
- Goals. Explore three crucial questions about the goals of the program: cognitive development vs. school readiness, short-term vs. long-term progress, and Head Start as an antipoverty tool vs. Head Start as a child development program
- Effectiveness. Investigate the impact of Head Start on children's literacy, cognitive skills, health, school readiness and success, and parent participation—and learn how research might be improved so outcomes can be assessed more accurately
- Future directions. Examine ways that Head Start might evolve to improve program quality, explore how to meet the child care needs of particular families, provide universal access, address administrative and funding challenges, and prepare children for lifelong learning
This compelling, urgently needed book will help readers understand the complexity of Head Start, shape future policy, and ensure that all young children will arrive at school ready to succeed.
Review
"Brings into clear focus the significant impact of Head Start on our nation's preschool population . . . truly a tour de force for those policymakers and educators who want to make a major difference in insuring the development of our nation's most important resource—its youngest children!" Gerald N. Tirozzi, Ph.D.
Synopsis
The first book to capture the debates surrounding Head Start in all their complexity, this landmark volume will help you understand the role of these controversies in the program's past and their influence on its future. Two Head Start experts gather the research and personal experience of leaders in a wide range of fields. This powerful compilation of voices mines Head Start's history of mistakes made and lessons learned, reflects on where the program should be headed, and gives you contrasting viewpoints on three major issues:
Goals. Consider different opinions about three ways of thinking about Head Start's goals: cognitive development vs. school readiness/social competence, short-term vs. long-term progress, and antipoverty tool vs. child development program.
Effectiveness. Examine the impact of Head Start on children's school readiness and success, health, and family functioning--and explore how research might be improved so outcomes in these areas can be more meaningfully assessed.
Future directions. Consider opinions on quality improvement, the timing and duration of early intervention, administrative changes, and Head Start's capacity for meeting child care needs and expanding access to preschool services.
This comprehensive, forward-thinking book will help you understand the complexity of Head Start, clarify the multiple sides of the debates that have long surrounded it, and shape effective social policy for America's most at-risk children and their families.
Synopsis
The first book to capture the Head Start debates in all their complexity and diversity, this landmark volume mines Head Start's 38-year history for lessons learned, turns a critical eye on where the program is headed, and offers readers distinct and o
About the Author
Dr. Barnett is the Board of Governors Professor and Co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. His research includes studies of the economics of early care and education, including costs and benefits, the long-term effects of preschool programs on children's learning and development, and the distribution of educational opportunities. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan and got his start in the early childhood field working on the Perry Preschool Study at the HighScope Educational Research Foundation.
Barbara T. Bowman, M.A., Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development, Erikson Institute, 451 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60654. Dr. Bowman is one of the founders of the Erikson Institute and served as its president from 1994 to 2001. In addition, Professor Bowman is Chief Officer in the Office of Early Childhood Education, Chicago Public Schools, where she administers a program for 30,000 preschool children, including 24,000 3- and 4-year-olds in an educational program and 5,000 infants and toddlers in a prevention program.
John T. Bruer, Ph.D., has been a foundation executive for more than 20 years, administering programs in education, psychology, and neuroscience. He is the author of Schools for Thought (MIT Press, 1993) and The Myth of the First Three Years (Free Press, 1999).
James A. Griffin, Ph.D., Deputy Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Director, Early Learning and School Readiness Program, 6100 Executive Boulevard, Suite 4B05, Rockville, MD 20852-7510. Dr. Griffin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in psychology from the University of Cincinnati and a doctoral degree with honors in child clinical psychology from the University of Rochester. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychiatric epidemiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Dr. Griffin's career has focused on research and evaluation efforts related to service systems and early intervention programs designed to enhance the development and school readiness of children from at-risk and disadvantaged backgrounds.
The late Jane Knitzer, Ed.D. was Director of the National Center for Children in Poverty, and Clinical Professor of Population and Family Health in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.
In addition to her work with the National Center for Children in Poverty, Dr. Knitzer was also a Clinical Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. As a psychologist, Dr. Knitzer focused her own research on improving public policies related to children's mental health, child welfare, and early childhood. Her work on mental health included the ground-breaking policy report, Unclaimed Children: The Failure of Public Responsibility to Children and Adolescents in Need of Mental Health Services (Children's Defense Fund, 1982). Most recently, she was a leader in calling attention to the importance of addressing social and emotional issues in young children. Dr. Knitzer was on the faculty at Cornell University, New York University, and Bank Street College of Education. She was a member of the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children and a past president of Division 37: Child, Youth, and Family Services of the American Psychological Association, and a member of the American Association of Orthopsychiatry. She was the first recipient of the Nicolas Hobbs Award for Distinguished Service in the Cause of Child Advocacy from the American Psychological Association.
Arthur J. Reynolds, Ph.D., Professor, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 51 East River Parkway, M
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Lisbeth Schorr
Debate I: The Goals of Head Start
IQ versus Social Competence
1. Early Educational Interventions and Intelligence: Implications for Head Start
Craig T. Ramey and Sharon Landesman Ramey
2. Familiar Concept, New Name: Social Competence/School Readiness as the Goal of Head Start
Rebecca D.A. Schragg, Sally J. Styfco, and Edward Zigler
Long- versus Short-Term Effects
3. When Psychology Informs Public Policy: The Case of Early Childhood Intervention
Martin Woodhead
4. Head Start-Revisiting a Historical Psychoeducational Intervention: A Revisionist Perspective
Irving E. Sigel
Poverty Warriors versus Child Developmentalists
5. Three Core Concepts of the War on Poverty: Their Origins and Significance in Head Start
Polly Greenberg
6. Was Head Start a Community Action Program? Another Look at an Old Debate
Carolyn Harmon
7. An Early Administrator's Perspective
Julius B. Richmond (with Jule M. Sugarman)
Debate II: Does Head Start Work?
Impact on School Readiness and Success
8. The Head Start Classroom as an Oral Language Environment: What Should the Performance Standards Be?
Catherine Snow and Mariela Páez
9. A Community-Based Approach to School Readiness in Head Start
Chaya S. Piotrkowski
10. Head Start and Evidence-Based Educational Models
David P. Weikart
Impact on Health
11. Head Start's Efforts to Improve Child Health
Robert W. O'Brien, David B. Connell,and James Griffin
12. The Challenge of Mental Health in Head Start: Making the Vision Real
Jane Knitzer
Impact on Families
13. A Persistent Pattern of Progress: Parent Outcomes in Longitudinal Studies of Head Start Children and Families
Peggy Daly Pizzo and Elizabeth Edwards Tufankjian
14. A Parent's Views on Head Start
Delores Baynes
15. A Former Head Start Student's Views
U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez
Research Must Be Better
16. Does Head Start Have Lasting Cognitive Effects? The Myth of Fade-Out
W. Steven Barnett
17. How Well Does Head Start Prepare Children to Learn to Read?
Grover J. Whitehurst and Greta M. Massetti
18. New Possibilities for Research on Head Start
Deborah A. Phillips and Sheldon H. White
Debate III: The Future of Head Start
Quality
19. Head Start in the 1990s: Striving for Quality Through a Decade of Improvement
Joan Lombardi and Amy Stephens Cubbage
20. Quality in Head Start: A Dream within Reach
Gregg Powell
21. Head Start: A Decade of Challenge and Change
Judith A. Chafel and Heather L. Sugioka
22. Professional Social Work Involvement in Head Start
Arthur J. Frankel
Child Care
23. Head Start and Child Care: Programs Adapt to Meet the Needs of Working Families
Helen Blank and Nicole Oxendine Poersch
24. Are There Better Ways to Spend Federal Child Care Funds to Improve Child Outcomes?
Douglas J. Besharov
Universal Access
25. The "Failure" of Head Start
John Merrow
26. A Head Start for All Children
Gwen Morgan
Timing of Intervention
27. Dosage-Response Effects and Mechanisms of Change in Public and Model Programs
Arthur J. Reynolds
28. The Transition to School: Building on Preschool Foundations and Preparing for Lifelong Learning
Sharon Landesman Ramey, Craig T. Ramey, and Robin Gaines Lanzi
29. Early Head Start, Child Care, Family Support, and Family Policy
Sheila B. Kamerman