I have to say that the recent coverage of Head Start’s National Reporting System in the Washington Post was exciting. Of course as a Head Start teacher I really want to give my boys and girls the best education I can. But, the NRS was not created to help me teach. In fact, we never even recieved results to disaggregate the first two years we administered it. After that we only recieved scores a year later, after the students had left the program.
But the whole nation has gotten a taste of what it is like to have congress as your local school board with NCLB.
The NRS could never assess the effectiveness of a Head Start program because the education component is only one part of the program. There is family outreach, mental health, physical health, nutrition, dental, social services. It goes on and on but, it works. Head Start children are better off for having these services. I know because I see kids from the same circumstances who don’t recieve Head Start services. I wish they could.