The Alexandrian: The Alexandria School Board Should End Head Start - Permanently

The Alexandria School Board and the City of Alexandria both recently authorized the construction of a new campus for the Jefferson-Houston School (even though the school has failed accreditation).

Included in the new campus's plans are new classrooms for Head Start. Both the School Board and the City should do away with Head Start permanently and here's why.

Politicians at all levels of Government love Head Start because they say they're concerned about early pre-K education and the only way to assure quality pre-K education for underprivileged kids is through a BIG Government program like Head Start.

These same politicians should read the federal government's own research on the benefits of the Head Start program.

The ‘Head Start Impact Study‘ followed and compared underprivileged children who attended Head Start, and underprivileged children who didn’t. The study found no difference in the quality of education received between the two groups of kids.

None, zero, nada, not one difference.

You see, to summarize the study, the kids that went to Head Start did better while they were there but, the benefits they attained in the classroom were gone less than one (1) year after leaving the program.

If the new School Board members like Kelly Carmichael Booz and Karen Graf  really care about the kids, they should be for eliminating programs that aren't beneficial for them.

As the federal government's own research shows, Head Start is an excellent place to begin.

Read more of The Alexandrian at this link.