Inequality In Preschool

from high school?” This is one shocking statistic from Teach for America among many that show how poverty is related to education inequality. According to WKNO front line, “The average dropout can expect to earn an annual income of $20,241, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s a full $10,386 less than the typical high school graduate, and $36,424 less than someone with a bachelor’s degree.” So just looking at those numbers alone, it is obvious how poverty and education relate and it is obvious we need to do something to keep these kids in school and make sure they are getting the best education available to reduce their likelihood of being in poverty.

The research finds that participants with the lowest initial skills are the most beneficial from public Head Start programs. But this study also states that Head Start program has lots of limitation. At the beginning of this research paper, the author introduces the history and definition of Head Start program and its main purpose. He states, “The federal Head Start program is the largest early childhood education initiative in the United States, giving matching grants to preschool centers that provide parent training, early education, and health services to poor children and their families” (Healy, 2015, para. 1). As the author emphasis, the Head Start program is not suitable for all children but only offers to children from the low-income families. There are still many families left who need the public

Head Start was created in 1965, during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential administration, as part of the Great Society plan and the War on Poverty (Currie , 2001). After observing the quality discrepancies between low income and high income educational settings, Johnson realized that “Five and six year old children are inheritors of poverty 's curse…(Johnson, 1965)” As a result, he called for the creation of a program that would allow “…preschool children of poverty [to] get a Head Start on their future (Johnson, 1965).” Soon, Head Start was established, with the goal of “enhance[ing] children’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development (Mississippi Head Start Association, 2012).”

Early childhood education is crucial for success in the formalized education system. Many children born into lower income communities do not obtain this advantage. According to Kozol, simply based off accident of birth a child will lead completely different educational lives (2005). For example, a white toddler in an upper middle class neighborhood might attend a prestigious educational preliminary kindergarten. These respected early education schools are often referred to as “baby ivies” (Kozol, 2005). The child participates in pre-numeracy skills along with pre-writing skills. Conversely, a child of minority descent living in an underprivileged neighborhood may not initiate school until they are five years old. In the three previous years a

Statement of Issue: Many minority children and children from low-income families enter kindergarten without the academic skills they need to succeed. Math and reading abilities at kindergarten entry are powerful predictors of later school success. Research shows kids who start school already behind are unlikely to ever get caught up to standards. Hispanic and African American children are anywhere from 7 to 12 months behind in reading and 9 to 10 months behind on math when they enter kindergarten. Access remains extremely low to high-quality early education do to a couple of problems. First, rates of access to early education vary widely as a function of children’s socioeconomic backgrounds. Secondly, the quality of most early education programs is not high enough to substantially improve academic readiness. Considering the tremendous potential for high-quality preschool to improve children’s outcomes, this policy brief will consider how a universal publicly funded pre-kindergarten program in the United States could decrease both disparities in access to early learning and achievement gaps at kindergarten entry.

The classroom sites that were studies were state preschools, Head Start, Title 1, Tuition-based programs, full-day programs, and half-day programs. Eighty-one percent of the children were 4-year old, 19% were 5-year-olds. “The gender was balanced, and included 36% African American, 31% White, 20% Hispanic/Latino, 10% multi-race, and 3% Asian. Approximately 23% of the children were ELLs. The mean percentage of children eligible for early childhood special education (with IEPs) was 11%. This also varied across program types with 15% of children in Head Start programs having IEPs and 3% of children in Tuition-Based programs. Regarding parent/caregiver educational attainment in the overall sample, 22% of parents reported having less than high school, 23% had high school diplomas or general education development (GED),

In a long time since its initiation, Head Start has enhanced the lives of more than 32 million youngsters and their families. Notwithstanding life and school readiness, Head Start is likewise the country's research center for early learning development. Head Start offers an exceptional children and family program configuration combined with a conveyance framework that incorporates nearby projects, national models, observing, proficient improvement, and family interactions. This has been the reason for some resulting statewide and group

Since the creation of the head start program, several researchers have published about the ineffectiveness of the program. For example, according to Currie & Thomas (1993), head start programs have no impact on African American students' academic success in elementary school. To explore Currie and Thomas's research findings, a program evaluation of the program will be carried out on Aaron E. Henry Head Start Program. Aaron E. Henry Head Start Program, which is located in Clarksdale, Mississippi, is being selected because majorities of its residents are African Americans. According to the United States Census Bureau (n.d.), over 75% of the individuals living in Clarksdale, Mississippi are African Americans. In order to evaluate this head start

Recent studies on early childhood education have shown that children who have access to quality pre-kindergarten education tend to have higher educational attainment than those who do not have the opportunity. While the literature is by no means uniform on this, the bulk of current evidence suggests that such policies will likely be helpful, especially for students in low - income and minority school districts. Only time will tell, of course, if such programs can help to make inroads into the seemly intractable achievement gaps, but based on current evidence, it is a policy worth

The answers to academic success for disadvantaged children may not be smaller class sizes, better-prepared teachers, tougher standards, more accountability, or greater choice as admirable as these goals may be. They may instead center on a single factor: preschool. Lyndon Johnson in 1965 wanted to “break the cycle of poverty” by raising poor children’s levels of competence with the Head Start program. Since it began, the Head Start program has been the most widely applied and most heavily researched prevention effort in the US.

To be clear, income and wealth inequality are not the only reasons for this achievement gap that continues to persist. Access to childcare, preschool programs, proper nutrition also play a roll, as do physical and

According to the Administration for Children and Families (2010), “Head Start is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families” (para. 3). Based on this mission subject, it is possible to subject Head Start to a program evaluation based on the following questions: (a) Is Head Start provisioning educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families? (b) Is the provisioning of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services leading to an enhancement of the social and cognitive development of children? (c) Is the social and cognitive development of children a social good for which taxpayers should pay $7 billion a year? These questions will be addressed, both directly and indirectly, later in this overview.

Early childhood education has many benefits and there is the potential for many significant outcomes if universal preschools were put into place. Some feel that children who start kindergarten without previously attended preschool sometimes lack certain skills such as social and communication skills and an inability to follow routines. There were also studies done that found attending preschool could help to close the achievement gap in the grade school years. A child’s first few years of life are most important, and they absorb the most during those years. By providing universal preschool, all children would be benefiting, especially those who are in at-risk families or part of the lower class. As a society, we have a responsibility to help the children in our communities and provide them with the education they need in order to help them succeed in life.

The hippocampus is a small piece of the brain that is part of the limbic system, and is located in the temporal region. The hippocampus helps regulate emotions and long term memory. (http://www.news-medical.net). With the hippocampus malfunctioning, that would explain the reason why children in impoverished

To demonstrate this gap numerically for the state of Iowa, the DailyHerald has compiled a working database on the test-score differences, depending on the individual grade of the child and income bracket of the child’s family (Broderick, 2014). Additionally, sociologists Geoffrey Wodtke and David Harding conducted a study to measure the high school graduation rate of high-poverty, versus low-poverty children and found that the chances of finishing high-school are far lower for children whose families are in the lowest income bracket than for more economically privileged children (Wodtke & Elwert, 2011).