What is Head Start?
Head Start is a program that is funded by the federal government. The overall goal of Head Start is for children to gain social competence and for parents to become self-sufficient. Head Start and Early Head Start are comprehensive child development programs which serve children from birth to age 5, pregnant women, and their families. They are child-focused programs, and have the overall goal of increasing the social competence of young children in low-income families.
The Head Start program, started in 1965, provides comprehensive health, nutritional, educational, social and mental health services to children from birth to age 5 who meet federal poverty guidelines. Head Start and the Early Head Start Program, which started in 1995, help enrolled children achieve their full potential and succeed in school. The program also provides parents with training and education to foster their understanding of, and involvement in, the development of their children. Head Start currently serves 923,000 children across the nation.
The ACFI Head Start Program serves three to five year old children from economically deprived families who cannot otherwise provide day care for their children while working or in a training program. Income guidelines serve as the criteria used for the selection of children to be served. Head Start is a comprehensive child development program with the overall goal of bringing about a greater degree of social competence in children in of low income families. Head Start seeks to improve the child’s health and physical abilities; to encourage self-confidence, spontaneity, curiosity and self discipline, and to enhance the child’s mental processes and skills with particular attention to conceptual and verbal skills.
Head Start is US program designed to help children from birth to age five, who come from families with incomes below or at the poverty level. The goal of Head Start is to help these children become ready for kindergarten, and also to provide needed requirements like health care and food support. President Lyndon Johnson approved Head Start in 1965 as part of his more comprehensive program that he termed the War on Poverty. The Head Start Program has several facets and is now administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Early Head Start services include access to prenatal care and to food programs for mothers of newborns and for children under five. Most are more familiar with Head Start programs that provide preschool education for children aged three and over. In order to participate in a Head Start preschool, a family must qualify financially. As well, all children who are in foster care qualify for Head Start preschools regardless of the foster family’s income. If
A. Head Start is a Federal program for preschool children from low-income families. The Head Start program is operated by local non-profit organizations in almost every county in the country. Children who attend Head Start participate in a variety of educational activities. They also receive free medical and dental care, have healthy meals and snacks, and enjoy playing indoors and outdoors in a safe setting. Head Start helps all children succeed. Services are offered to meet the special needs of children with disabilites. Most children in Head Start are between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. Services are also available to infants and toddlers in selected sites.
