Nationally, statistics show Head Start programs work

Dressed in a rainbow of pint-sized graduation caps and gowns, more than 100 preschoolers marched into the Great Hall at the Institute of Advanced Learning & Research on Friday, some beaming and some balling.

By the numbers
Based on Danville’s Head Start in 2007-2008, according to a NHSA program report in Nov. 2008
228: total number of children served
221: children were black
2: children were white
5: children were multi-racial
172: number of families served
100: percent of families enrolled that are below the poverty line
161: single-parent families
85: families that have less than a high school graduate level of education
24: families that received adult education through Head Start
67: families that received job training
83: families that received parenting education

About 300 people celebrated as the Community Improvement Council’s Head Start Child Development presented its latest group of children to complete the pre-kindergarten education program for at-risk, low-income families.

Those involved with Head Start — from its director to the grandmother of a child enrolled — spoke highly of the program’s opportunities for families who may not have the proper resources for child development. But although there is plentiful research on a national level showing the benefits of Head Start compared to children who were not enrolled in a preschool program, data on a local level was not available.

Research and assessments

There is, however, research from a 2008 Virginia Tech study documenting the statistically significant progress made by Danville children enrolled in Head Start while in the program. But, it is unclear on a local level how those children compare to others once in kindergarten and beyond.

Danville Public School elementary students must take a Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening test, which assesses the level at which students enter — and progress through — the primary grades. Joan Robbins, director of the Danville Head Start program, said Head Start collaborates with the school system to track their former enrollees’ progress.

“The children (who attended Head Start) register higher than children that did not come to Head Start (or a similar program),” Robbins said.

However, the results from the PALS assessments were not readily available. Andy Tyrrell, assistant superintendent for instruction for Danville Public Schools, could not be reached for comment. Robbins was able to provide some data, which showed that Head Start children surpassed the Virginia PALS benchmarks in 2007-08. But results for children who were not enrolled in a preschool program was not included.

A national Head Start impact study by the Society for Research in Child Development for the Department of Health and Human Services found evidence of the program’s benefits on low-income fami-lies. The study found nationally, Head Start reduced the achievement gap by 45 percent in pre-reading skills between Head Start children and the national average for all 3- and 4-year-olds. 

“We try not to do is to get in that mode of saying that Head Start children shine above other preschool programs,” Robbins said. “We like to say that Head Start children are right there with any other preschool program. That is the way that we like to look at it.”

Head Start students do not have to pass a test in order to move on to kindergarten, but instead are assessed three times a year by staff to track progress made. Children are screened in areas of social, emotional, physical, cognitive and language development, based on the federally approved “creative cur-riculum” that the local program follows.

“We set a benchmark for the children to reach their goal,” Robbins said. “It’s a general rule that all kids move on.”

Community impact

The Danville Head Start program has been in existence since 1968 and has served more than 6,000 children in the area. Federally funded through the Department of Health and Human Services, Danville’s program serves 204 children each year based on income eligibility and 10 percent of those spots are open to children with disabilities.

According to a summary report from the National Head Start Association, the Danville program served a total of 228 children during the 2007-08 year, though only 204 are enrolled at any given time. Of those children, 221 were black, two were white and five were multi-racial.

Of the 172 families served, 161 were single-parent families and all the Head Start families were below the poverty line.

What makes Head Start different from a traditional preschool program is it involves the entire family, which is why it is administered under the Department of Health and Human Services rather than the Depart-ment of Education, Robbins said. All families must participate in a family goal-setting process, resulting in an individualized family partnership agreement.

“It’s incorporating the whole family when we work with the kids,” said Kathleen Kilgore, education manager. “We’re so much more than (just education), and that’s why it works. It’s all the different services that the families and the kids get.”

Head Start provides home visits, parenting workshops, health services such as dental screenings and education and job training to parents and guardians.

“Isn’t it better to work with the whole child than just one little piece?” Kilgore asked. “We can do all we want to do with the kids here at school, and it’s not going to make a bit of difference unless they’re doing the same thing at home.”

Danville Head Start received more than $1 million in federal and state funding and donations for the 2007-08 fiscal year. The program is evaluated by the Department of Health and Human Services every three years, and was most recently evaluated at the beginning of May. Those results have not yet been made public, but Kilgore said the program passed hundreds of standards with only five “minor” citations.

“It’s a really hairy experience,” she said of the weeklong audit. “It’s grueling. They send in a whole team and they go through every little piece of paper we have … We did very well on our review this year.”

Sitting in the back of the Great Hall at Friday’s ceremony, Evelyn Graves eagerly awaited her granddaughter Nyjah Brisco, 5, to deliver the invocation.

“I love it,” Graves said of Head Start. “I think it’s great. It’s helped my daughter a great deal. I see the different things they do; I like that they had the dentists come out to the schools. That helps the parents out so they don’t have to take time off work to make appointments.

“It’s much needed in the community and we need to keep it here. If it benefitted her, it’ll benefit every-body.”

Catherine Amos is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee in Danville, Va.