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 program’s 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, Children’s 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.