Giving Needy Young Children a Real Head Start
When you ask parents what they want to accomplish in life, their answers always include opening doors of opportunity for their children, so they can grow up healthy and safe, graduate from high school and college, and achieve the American dream.
Head Start was enacted as part of the war on poverty 42 years ago. Its goal is to give disadvantaged children ages three to five the foundation they need for success in school and in life. It’s based on the fundamental principle that education has the power to overcome the destructive forces of poverty, and that the earlier it begins, the better the results will be.
Since its launch in 1965, Head Start has helped more than 24 million children, including more than 900,000 now in the program. It’s currently up for reauthorization by Congress—and we’re using this opportunity to improve it to help millions more.
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives approved our bill by a vote of 381-36, and the Senate approved it 95-0. It’s now on President Bush’s desk, awaiting his signature. The bill builds on the successes and the lessons learned from the current program, and it will enable Head Start to offer better services and reach more children.
Here’s how it achieves those goals:
Stronger Support for Teachers: Head Start teachers currently earn only half the salary of public school kindergarten teachers, which makes it difficult to recruit and retain qualified teachers. The new legislation commits 40 percent of its new funding to increasing teacher salaries. It also establishes higher standards for teacher education, to ensure that Head Start teachers are well qualified.
Coverage of Additional Needy Children: Under the legislation, eligibility requirements would expand to include children in families up to 130 percent of the poverty level, which is $26,800 for a family of four. Head Start will also give priority to especially needy children for enrollment in programs, and provides additional outreach and services to children with special needs, homeless children, and those who are learning English as a second language.
Stronger Early Head Start: Children in high-quality early education programs are more likely to do well when they reach kindergarten, are less likely to be held back a grade in school, and are more likely to graduate from high school and go on to college. To help bring these benefits to even younger children, Congress created Early Head Start in 1995 to help children from birth to three years of age. The new legislation will enable it to serve an additional 8,000 children and guarantee them a full range of health and behavioral services. It will also designate specialists in every state to make sure the program meets the needs of infants and toddlers.
Accountability: Although the vast majority of Head Start programs provide quality services, some programs have serious deficiencies. The legislation will implement a new system for allocating grants and creates state advisory councils to give better direction for local Head Start programs. And if a local program is unable to meet high standards, the legislation allows others to take over in a manner that is transparent, fair, and more responsive to the local needs of families and children.
There’s no question that Head Start works. Studies have found that it expands vocabularies, develops writing skills, strengthens social skills and improves behavior. In this age of globalization, every citizen deserves a chance to obtain the skills to compete in the modern economy. We still haven’t won the war on poverty, but thanks to Head Start, we’re getting closer.
Cross posted at Huffington Post
