Head Start Parenting
Does parent involvement in Head Start predict changes in parenting practices over time? Are the observed changes in parenting the mechanism for the association between parent involvement and gains in children’s academic achievement and behavioral skills?
Those questions are important because many parents and children that participate in Head Start are from low-income families. Therefore, the child’s development is already at risk because of the situations the family faces such as the parent(s) not having support, lacking education, etc. In order to find the answers to the questions, FACES 2006 collected a sample of 2,020 three year olds and 1,295 four year old enrolled in the program to the end of kindergarten. An equal probability-proportional-to-size design was used with four stages, program, center, classroom, and children. Sixty programs were chosen, for every center there was three classrooms making a total of 415, and 10 kids were chosen from each class. In order to guarantee equal representation stratification was included. However, a few restrictions occurred leading to 1,020 children, predominately female, enrolled in 118 centers, 87% parents were mothers, 41% of those were African American, 27% Hispanic, 22% White, and 10% other. Unfortunately, 66% …show more content…
There are positive, negative, and neutral results; therefore companies can use that as a way to critique what they are doing so they can have an even greater impact. After reading the article, I gained a new perspective of Head Start. Prior to the article, I only knew Head Start was for young children, and I know a couple of people who participated. After reading it, I am grateful for what the program has done and the impact it has on millions of individuals. There is a large number of single parent and low-income households that are automatically placed in a position where the odds are not in their favor because of their circumstances. I believe everyone should be given a fair shot to be successful, and that is what Head Start is trying to do, which is inspiring to