Study finds Head Start helps with dental access

Feb 25, 2010

The Head Start program provides a boost to young children's learning and health, including access to dental care, according to a recent government study.

The Head Start Impact Study was conducted for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of the reauthorization for the program, and was released in January.

The study evaluated the impact of Head Start on 3- and 4-year-old children, as measured against a control group who went to other programs or stayed at home.

For 4-year-olds, gains were seen in language and literacy, as well as access to dental care. The program also helps improve parenting, the study authors found.

"There are statistically significant differences between the Head Start group and the control group on every measure of children's preschool experiences measured in this study," according to the authors.

Head Start is one of the keystones of the 1960s-era War on Poverty. It envisioned what it calls a "whole child" model that combines preschool education with medical, dental, mental health, and nutritional care, as well as parenting help to adults.

The researchers gathered a nationally representative sample of 84 agencies that included nearly 5,000 children, ages 3 and 4, who were randomly assigned to either a Head Start program or a control group of some other kind of early childhood program selected by their parents.

Data collection began in fall 2002 and continued through 2006. Researchers followed the students through the spring of first grade.