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Citation:

Ohio State Legislative Office of Education Oversight. (1998). Head StartÕs impact on school readiness in Ohio: A case study of kindergarten students. Columbus, OH: Ohio State Legislative Office of Education Oversight. http://www.loeo.state.oh.us/reports/PreEleSecPDF/head_start_impact.pdf

Annotation:
The Legislative Office of Education Oversight conducted two studies of Ohio Head Start programs which provide medical, dental, nutritional, mental health, social, and educational services to low socioeconomic status (SES) families. This study evaluates the education component by examining the impact on urban kindergarten studentsÕ school readiness. Three groups of kindergartners were compared: 1) those who participated in Head Start, 2) those who participated in Title I preschool, and 3) those whose preschool experience was unknown. Results indicate that the Head Start participants did not do any better on school readiness measures than other students whose preschool experiences were unknown. The Head Start students scored lower on literacy readiness and social competence measures than students who participated in Title I preschool. When reviewing these results it must be kept in mind that there were no baseline measures to determine the ability levels of students before their preschool experience. Evaluators also found that while Head Start classrooms are well-organized caring environments, they place less emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, language, and writing skills. In addition, there was little consensus among Head Start and kindergarten teachers about academic expectations. The evaluators conclude that Head Start does not give high priority to the cognitive and language skills children need to succeed in school. The authors make several recommendations to improve the Ohio Head Start program: 1) Head Start should place higher priority on literacy readiness; 2) Head Start should work with the Ohio Department of Education who can provide leadership, technical assistance and staff development; 3) Head Start should work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop best practices and establish demonstration/ learning sites; 4) Head Start should provide progress reports to the General Assembly who can in turn remove obstacles to conducting evaluations (getting access to useful data) and improving the program. This was a case study of 1,230 kindergarten students in Dayton Public Schools. Measures included literacy readiness, social competency, and attendance rates. As a case study of one urban area in Ohio, the findings are not universally applicable or generalizable to all school contexts.