Please read the article submission and view the video posted by student presenter Ashley Bruner and after posting, respond to at least two other students.
Ashley Bruner, Referred Journal Article Assignment Head Start
Article A:
Happy Birthday, Head Start
This article was written by Sara Mead.
This article was published by U.S. News.
This article addresses the original vision of President Lyndon B.
Johnson when he began the program 1964. The program was aimed to
help young children receive the education that they need even if they
are living in poverty. Today the program is not funded enough to
reach half of the children that needs its services.
The article discusses several main points. One such point is that the
work of Head Start is more difficult to achieve today than it was
before as the numbers of children born out of wedlock increase. More
studies done today on early childhood does show the incredible
importance of early development in children and the need for
programs like Head Start. The program has also now changed to be
partly federally funded while also sometimes being a part of privately
funded schools in order to reach more children. The program also
shows benefits for children in comparison to those that do not attend
a preschool at all but does not provide better test scores at the end of
first grade when compared to other preschool programs. However,
some researchers have found links showing that students that
attended the program as a preschooler showed benefits as a middle
schooler in comparison to other students that did not take part in the
program. The article also addresses some key areas that the program
could do better on and how they have already made steps to make
their teaching strategies better.
The larger issue this article addresses is the need for children in
poverty to have access to resources during this important
developmental time period (early development).
My personal reaction to the article is overall satisfaction. I feel that
the article told me what I needed to know and I feel that the program
is beneficial and I am glad that it is in place. At the same time, I feel
that the article provided me with the programs issues as well and
some specific areas that it could improve in. It still does not seem to
me to be as good of a program as some of those offered privately, but
I am glad that they are trying to make it top of the line and make it a
resource for children in poverty. I believe more needs to be done for
those children in poverty and that the funding towards this issue
should be a bigger priority.
Article B:
Let Rich and Poor Learn Together
This article was written by Clara Hemphill and Hailey Potter.
This article was published by The New York Times.
This article addresses how programs like Head Start can actually
segregate children based off their income level (based on whether or
not they are eligible for subsidized care). This leads to segregation of
different income levels and potentially even colors based off the
neighborhoods and the specific layout.
The article discusses how one program at the Park Slope North-Helen
Owen Carey Child Development Center in Brooklyn uses blended
classrooms to integrate the students into the same classrooms so
there is no segregation based off of their income level or status.
However, the Department of Education told them they had to
segregate the subsidized children off, and when the program refused
it received less funding. The article states that the city should try to
blend the funds from Head Start, Childrens Services, and the
Department of Education in order to achieve the blended classrooms
and that the city should offer more Pre-K classrooms in public schools
in the parts of the city that are more disadvantaged. The article also
stresses that while it is good that Pre-K enrollment is up, high quality
care should be focused on next and that it should be available to all.
The larger issue this article addresses is that Pre-K classrooms that
have subsidized children like Head Start are segregating children
based off of their levels of need and that this can lead to many types
of segregation and that high-quality care needs to be available to all,
regardless of income level.
My personal reaction to this article is surprise. I feel that subsidized
children do not need to be separated out from the better off
children and I am surprised that the Department of Education would
ask that they be segregated. Those teachers should not be paid less or
given less resources, so it makes no sense to me as to why they would
be segregated unless it was to save money somehow. It is also
disappointing that there is such limited funding for subsidized
children and for these programs. I always want to feel that my son is
receiving high quality care, no matter what my income level is (and it
is low, which is why daycare and Pre-K has always been such a
concern for us).
https://youtu.be/ZFdAJWX12i0 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
