Progress Report
Head Start and School Readiness
As the Nation’s premier early childhood education program, Head Start is leading the way in accountability for program outcomes and services to more than 800,000 young children and their families each year. New findings from a study of 3,200 children and families show that Head Start narrows the gap between disadvantaged students and all other children in key components of school readiness. Students in the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), who entered Head Start in fall 1997 in a national random sample of Head Start programs, began the year at a great disadvantage compared to other children. This was…