Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

Head Start Report: Response to a Critic

March 02, 2010 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Your online article “Head Start Study Finds Brief Learning Gains” (Jan. 14, 2010) provides inaccurate information based on an interview with Craig T. Ramey, a professor of health studies and psychiatry at Georgetown University. As the authors of the report discussed, “Head Start Impact Study,” we would like to set the record straight.

According to the article, Mr. Ramey said that “the study reports only effect sizes and doesn’t provide information about the performance of children on average.” It appears that he read only the executive summary. Throughout the report, average child performance on cognitive, social-emotional, health, and parenting outcomes (as well as effect sizes) is provided. In addition, online tables give detailed information on average child performance for the outcomes measured in the study.

You also report that Mr. Ramey said that “it is not possible to tell by the study whether Head Start students are ‘humming along at the national average’ in terms of their cognitive learning, or if they are ‘at the 10th percentile’ on standardized measures of cognitive learning.” For discussion and illustration, selected percentiles are presented in both the executive summary and Chapter 4 of the final report. Chapter 4 also states that the percentiles for the standardized measures are available in the technical report. Both the final report and the technical report are available online.

It is our hope that readers will use the “Head Start Impact Study” final report as a basis for future research exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the Head Start program. This is a complex study, and to use it effectively requires a thorough review and understanding of both the final and technical reports.

Michael Puma

Chesapeake Research Associates

Annapolis, Md.

Stephen Bell

Abt Associates

Bethesda, Md.

Ronna Cook

Ronna Cook Associates

Bethesda, Md.

Camilla Heid

Westat

Rockville, Md.

A version of this article appeared in the March 03, 2010 edition of Education Week as Head Start Report: Response to a Critic

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 17, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read