Head Start¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 5 claims (2 for, 1 mixed, 2 against) · 1 study (1 causal),q3· 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study
Description¶
Head Start is a federally funded U.S. programme providing education, health, nutrition, family-engagement, and related services to promote school readiness for children from birth to age five, administered through local grantees.
Components¶
Claims¶
- The evidence base for Head Start's school-readiness effects is small: only one of 40 eligible studies met WWC group design standards [~W]
- Head Start shows no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for 4-year-old children [-M]
- Head Start shows no discernible effects on social-emotional development for 3- and 4-year-old children [-M]
- Head Start has potentially positive effects on general reading achievement for 3- and 4-year-old children, based on parent-rated emergent literacy [+M]
- 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 [+M]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. (2015). Head Start: WWC intervention report. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
head-start |
title |
Head Start |
description |
Head Start is a federally funded U.S. |
status |
review |
moved_from |
element/head-start-program-element |
product_kind |
programme |
generated |
by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — what-works-clearinghouse-2015 |
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