Head Start: Making a Popular Program Work

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Abstract
Head Start, the federal government's preschool program for low-income children, is one of the nation's most popular domestic initiatives. In 1980, President Carter praised it as "a program that works." President Reagan included Head Start in the "safety net" and has presided over a substantial funding increase. Head Start began in 1965 as a 6-week summer experiment in using child development services to improve the future prospects of disadvantaged children. It quickly became a full year program. Now, 20 years old, it serves about 450,000 children, at an annual cost of more than $1 billion. The program's popularity is based on the widespread impression that it lifts poor children out of poverty by improving their learning ability and school performance.

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