[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: If Only Head Start Did Work

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
If Only Head Start Did Work
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1242607462.shtml


   Early on in his administration, President Obama vowed to end programs
   that don't work. Finally, I thought, the end of Head Start, which even
   the Washington Post reports as having no lasting effects. But of
   course, he did the opposite, ending the highly successful voucher
   program in Washington DC.
   Via my friends at [1]District 279 United, [2]Chester Finn reports in
   The Washington Post that Obama is a believer in "zero to five"
   education and is spending accordingly.
   As I've posted here, ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) as it's
   known here is very popular with parents. It's deceptively intuitive,
   and the absence of measurable results seems to bolster these feelings
   in "what's not to like?" sense. Public school districts are eager to
   provide such services beyond whatever educational benefit they
   themselves believe, to capture and build parent relationships and
   support.
   I'm fine with good old-fashioned American marketing and customer
   service, but only if the districts are being honest about the
   educational merits of these programs. Finn says there are four myths
   about ECFE.
    1. Everybody needs it.
    2. Preschool is educationally effective.
    3. Existing programs are shoddy.
    4. Head Start is terrific but doesn't serve enough kids.

   You can read the article for the details, but let me quote Finn on
   Head Start:

     This iconic, much-loved federal program, now costing more than $7
     billion annually, has spent four decades denying that it's an
     education program, refusing to embrace a pre-K curriculum and being
     staffed by people -- now a major interest group -- many of whom are
     themselves ill-educated (and ill-paid). Though its statute pays lip
     service to "school readiness," Congress has forbidden Head Start to
     use readiness measures to evaluate program effectiveness.

   In other words, success is prohibited by law. This is not what Art
   Rolnick of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis had in mind.
   I'm not all that worked up about this. It would do more harm than good
   given its popularity and the dollars are small. I will say only with
   regret that it fits the "inputs only" template of contemporary K-12
   public school thinking, and as such, has no reasonable chance of
   success.

References

   1. http://www.district279united.com/
   2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/14/AR2009051403600.html