One of the initiatives that Gov. Tim Kaine fought hardest for was expanded access to pre-K programs for at risk children. It was an “investment,” you see. Pre-K programs would better prepare children for Kindergarten and 1st grade. The kids would do better in elementary school, fewer would get discouraged and drop out of high school, and fewer would end up on welfare or wind up in jails. Twenty years later, taxpayers would reap the rewards in the form of lower social services costs.
What a wonderful theory. If only it were true.
The Obama administration has just issued a press release summarizing the results of a Congresionally mandated study on the impact of the 2002-2003 Head Start program. The study measured the cognitive and social development of 5,000 three- and four-year-olds assigned to Head Start and to a control group.
Here’s the good news: “The study showed that at the end of one program year, access to Head Start positively influenced children’s school readiness.”
Here’s the bad news: “When measured again at the end of kindgarten and first grade, however, the Head Start children and the control group children were at the same level on many of the measures studied.”
So much for all those savings we’ll reap down the road.
A compassionate society will never give up on finding ways to help underprivileged children live up to their full potential. But we aren’t doing the children, or the taxpayers, any favors if we continue “investing” money in programs like Head Start in the face of evidence that they don’t work. It’s time to look for new solutions.