Programs include:

• Building strong relationships as the foundational driver for early learning

• Engaging families in their child’s learning and recognizing parents as a child’s first and most influential teacher

• Implementing effective practices to promote children’s growth in five key domains: approaches to learning, social and emotional development, language and literacy, cognition, and physical development

• Encouraging learning through play, creative expression, and guided activities with schedules and lesson plans that include the cultural and language heritage of each child and family in relevant ways

• Creating welcoming learning environments in indoor and outdoor settings that are well-organized and safe

• Conducting ongoing screenings and assessments to ensure each child is making progress, and collaborating with parents and community agencies when further assessment is needed

• Supporting the full inclusion of children with disabilities and building on their strengths

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Outcomes

Since 1965, Head Start programs have reached 40 million children and their families. Children who enrolled in Head Start programs are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, have improved social, emotional, and behavioral development, and are better prepared to be parents themselves than similar children who did not attend the program. Children enrolled in Early Head Start programs have significantly fewer child welfare encounters related to sexual or physical abuse between the ages of 5 and 9 than those who don’t attend.

Research consistently shows a broad pattern of impacts for children at the end of their Head Start enrollment. While these benefits may appear to diminish in the early grades, economic benefits emerge as children become adults. The Head Start program’s two-generation design — coupled with research-based, high-quality comprehensive services — has the power to change the trajectory for children’s outcomes.