The Birth of Head Start: Preschool Education Policies in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations

摘要

While Head Start proponents clearly had the best of intentions, Vinovskis suggests that political pressures may have reduced planning efforts and, thus, the effectiveness of the program. Millions of dollars were spent for research and evaluation. Some results were encouraging, but Head Start received failing marks in its evaluations and made little change. Nevertheless, program funding continued probably for political reasons. Vinovskis gives us blow-by-blow descriptions of these early years of Head Start. One cause for concern was the lack of academic focus of the early Head Start program. In the initial stages, self-esteem was one of the top goals. Medical, nutritional, and social outcomes also were promoted strongly, while academic achievement and even the learning of the alphabet were entirely missing. Indeed, the program lacked a recommended preschool curriculum.