Posted on 01/28/2010 5:54:30 PM PST by neverdem
Head Start, the most sacrosanct federal education program, doesn't work.
That's the finding of a sophisticated study just released by President Obama's Department of Health and Human Services.
Created in 1965, the comprehensive preschool program for 3- and 4-year olds and their parents is meant to narrow the education gap between low-income students and their middle- and upper-income peers. Forty-five years and $166 billion later, it has been proven a failure.
The bad news came in the study released this month: It found that, by the end of the first grade, children who attended Head Start are essentially indistinguishable from a control group of students who didn't.
What's so damning is that this study used the best possible method to review the program: It looked at a nationally representative sample of 5,000 children who were randomly assigned to either the Head Start ("treatment") group or to the non-Head Start ("control") group.
Random assignment is the "gold standard" of medical and social-science research: It gives investigators confidence that the treatment and control groups are essentially identical in every respect except their access to Head Start. So if eventual test performances differ, we can be pretty sure that the difference was caused by the program. No previous study of Head Start used this approach on a nationally representative sample of children.
When the researchers gave both groups of students 44 different academic tests at the end of the first grade, only two seemed to show even marginally significant advantages for the Head Start group. And even those apparent advantages vanished after standard statistical controls were applied.
In fact, not a single one of the 114 tests administered to first graders -- of academics, socio-emotional development, health care/health status and parenting practice -- showed a reliable, statistically significant effect from participating in Head...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
No surprise here. God,what a waste of money but lots of free child minding.
So: The NJ Supreme Court interprets this clause in the state constitution, “The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all the children in the State between the ages of five and eighteen years,” to mean that the state is obligated to fund pre-schooling for three and four year olds at a cost of $12,500 per pupil per year.
But if Head Start does not does not does not bloody well work, can we stop wasting our money and stripping the middle class and bankrupting ourselves??????
“Head Start, the most sacrosanct federal education program, doesn’t work. That’s the finding of a sophisticated study just released by President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services.”
and i stop reading right there.
does ‘Head Start’ work or doesn’t it?
i don’t know.
BUT, i HAVE LEARNED that anything/everything that comes from the likes of ‘President 0bama’s...whatever’ isn’t to be believed. if it comes from 0bama...it’s a lie.
what a shame.
That is, to fund pre-schooling for pupils in the poor districts.
In sum, $199 billion to discover “you can’t polish a turd.”
bump
So I’m sure the Dept of Ed or HHS or whoever administers the program will immediately end the funding...dont you think???/sarc.
NO, this topsy turvy Administration will probably double the funding!
Free daycare.
Oh now don’t be saying that what would those welfare Mom’s do if they had to take care of their kids 24/7! *sarcasm*
Bingo! We have a winner post number 2. Excellent work. I’ll bet it was easy.
Bill Bennett has been saying this for years. Guess he’s vindicated.
ROFL
Just another big waste of money.
More proof that government CANNOT take the place of decent parents.
but they have great intentions!
And DON”T YOU DARE propose cutting it!
/s
NO WAY
has anyone seen a school menue lately?
Your tax dollars at work.
“Oh, oh,” said Dick “this can’t be good for the NEA.”
“look Spot,” said Jane, the NEA and Dept of Education have been hiding these well-gnawed bones for years.”
“barf,” said Spot.
Head Start does not work. This has been known for decades. Any benefit demonstrated is temporary, a phenomenon known as "fade-out" in social science jargon.
Dick Cheney had the guts to vote against Head Start on grounds it was a flop. Almost no one else in Congress has demonstrated the same courage or principle. Consider it a permanent program; after all, making liberals feel good about themselves is more important than efficacious use of taxpayer funds.
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