Teach Effectively!

Isabel Sawhill and Jon Baron published an editorial in Education Week calling for a new approach to the venerable Head Start program, one founded on evidence about effectiveness. They argue that in the wake of the discouraging Head Start Impact Study reported by US Department of Health & Human Services, it’s time to bring research into the nation’s play pre-schools.

A new approach is needed. One that has been suggested—defunding these programs—would amount to giving up the fight against major social problems such as educational failure and poverty that damage millions of American lives. A far better alternative is to use rigorous evidence about “what works” to evolve Head Start and other federal efforts into truly effective programs over time, and to use sophisticated models to trace their longer-term effects on children’s life prospects.

I vaguely remember that a somewhat similar argument was advanced in the late 1960s or early 1970s. When researchers revealed that a few weeks of pouring juice and sitting in circles in the morning wouldn’t reverse the effects of poverty of young children, the US government funded a planned test of different early education models. What was it…? Wait! I remember. It was called “Follow Through.”

Some of the primary education approaches approximated what I fear happens in most Head Start programs these days. And lots of kids continued to fail. However, a couple (may I say “Direct Instruction?”) reduced failure rates markedly. Sadly, those results didn’t seem to make much of a dent in educational practice. I hope Ms. Sawhill’s and Mr. Baron’s call for evidence-based education will reach more ears.

Read We need a new start for Head Start. Isabel Sawhill co-directs the Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families and Jon Baron is the president of the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy. For more on the HHS study, see a < a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/18headstart.h29.html" target="_blank">story for mid-January in Ed Week and the Web site for the Head Start Impact Study.