Head Start, Prekindergarten, and Academic School Readiness: A Comparison Among Regions in the United States

ABSTRACT

Child care programs (including Head Start, prekindergarten [pre-K], and other center-based care) can differ, with patterns of use based on their location. Yet little research has examined how Head Start and pre-K programs affect children's academic school readiness, including vocabulary and reading skills at school entry, in the South as compared to other regions. To examine this further, secondary data (n = 2,803) collected in the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study were examined. Overall findings suggest, regardless of region, that Head Start and pre-K participants had higher academic skills at school entry than did their counterparts. In addition, when Head Start was compared to other center-based care and pre-K was compared to other care arrangements, both had larger effects on improving academic skills in the South compared with in other regions. These findings imply that Head Start and pre-K programs should target children who otherwise would receive nonparental non-center-based care. Future research should focus on why the effects of Head Start and pre-K vary between the South and other regions.

KEYWORDS:

• Head Start
• pre-K
• academic school readiness
• regional comparisons
• Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was supported with a grant from the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR) through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Grant 3 U01 PE000002-06S3. The authors also thank the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) through Grants R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD40421, and a consortium of private foundations for their support of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, as well as the NICHD Grant R24HD058486 to the Columbia Population Research Center. The authors are also grateful to Karen Chatfield for excellent research assistance. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policies of the UKCPR or any agency of the federal government.