Head Start shows no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for 4-year-old children¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr3·q3
Currency · newest study 2015 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? No statistically significant or substantively important difference was found between the Head Start and comparison groups on the Counting Bears Test for the 4-year-old cohort. → What Works Clearinghouse 2015
Evidence¶
What Works Clearinghouse 2015¶
What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. (2015). Head Start: WWC intervention report. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs
q3 · i? · causal · r3
In the DHHS ACF (2010) randomized controlled trial, the Counting Bears Test, measuring counting ability and one-to-one correspondence, was administered to the 4-year-old cohort only. The average improvement index was +3 percentile points; the WWC characterized the effect as indeterminate because it was "neither statistically significant nor substantively important."
"The authors reported, and the WWC confirmed, no statistically significant or substantively important difference between the Head Start and comparison groups on this measure."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- The evidence base for Head Start's school-readiness effects is small: only one of 40 eligible studies met WWC group design standards — related
- Substantial crossover occurred in the Head Start impact study comparison group, with 17.3% of the 3-year-old and 13.9% of the 4-year-old comparison groups enrolling in non-study Head Start programs — related
- Head Start shows no discernible effects on social-emotional development for 3- and 4-year-old children — related
- Head Start has potentially positive effects on general reading achievement for 3- and 4-year-old children, based on parent-rated emergent literacy — related
- Supplemental analyses show statistically significant positive Head Start effects on one social-emotional subscale and two mothers' race/ethnicity subgroup comparisons for the 3-year-old cohort — related
- Chambers et al. report a statistically significant expressive language effect for 3-year-olds but not 4-year-olds, which WWC recalculation does not confirm — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
head-start-no-discernible-mathematics-effects |
title |
Head Start shows no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for 4-year-old children |
description |
Head Start shows no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for 4-year-old children |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2015 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-07 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — what-works-clearinghouse-2015 |
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