Research Continues to Find Head Start Has Positive Long-Term, Multi-Generational Effects
New research compendium highlights several recent key studies
For over 50 years, Head Start has provided early learning opportunities for our country’s most vulnerable children and comprehensive supports to families that address long-term economic stability and better health prospects.
As members of the Head Start community, we all know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Head Start is impactful. In today’s busy world, building a better understanding among decision-makers and the general public of what Head Start does and just how effective it is has never been more important.
With this in mind, the National Head Start Association has created The Head Start Advantage Research Compendium 2.0 to summarize several of the key recent studies that represent the best knowledge to date about Head Start’s effectiveness.
Within the Compendium 2.0, you will find information regarding Head Start’s impacts on vocabulary, cognitive skills, parent involvement, high school graduation rates, college enrollment and completion, absenteeism, grade retention, classroom quality, self-control, and self-esteem. The studies also point to particularly impactful effects of Head Start on certain populations, including children with low initial skills, Hispanic children, and African American children.
What makes these recent research studies so revolutionary is exactly how much they reveal the long-term impacts of Head Start — not only in evaluating Head Start children as adults but also the intergenerational impacts as those adults have children of their own.
How can you leverage Compendium 2.0?
Compendium 2.0 is an excellent resource that can improve stakeholders’ abilities to communicate the specific impacts Head Start and Early Head Start have on children, families, and communities. Here are two ways to leverage the Compendium 2.0 today.
- Members of the Head Start community can utilize this resource to improve their advocacy efforts. Sharing findings from the compendium with local, state and federal policymakers has the potential to strengthen the level of support Head Start programs receive. Policymakers care about results — so when one uses numbers to connect an individual story to a broader trend, the message being shared will be met with stronger, more confident feedback.
- This Compendium can also serve as a powerful resource to improve collaboration between differing service agencies within communities. Some community agencies that could partner with Head Start might not understand the breadth of the program’s services and impacts. In situations like these, the Compendium 2.0 can help bridge this informational divide. Building connections across local communities is a critical component of extending the reach and raising awareness of Head Start, and the compendium can help streamline communications, with the ultimate goal of better serving at-risk families and children.
The Compendium 2.0 is a new resource from NHSA to provide the Head Start community with strong, reliable, and concise information regarding Head Start impacts. We hope you leverage its findings to build on Head Start’s successes for decades to come.
