Head Start and School Readiness

The effect of compensatory education was studied as it influences school readiness in preschool children . The research was conducted in the Logan and Providence areas of Cache County, Utah, with 44 children who had completed the kindergarten year of school. Twenty-two of the children had participated in the compensatory educational experience of Head Start prior to their kindergarten experience. It was found that there was not a significant difference between the Head Start children and their neighbors in terms of their performance on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts. Therefore, in terms of school preparedness, the Head Start children seem to be equal to their peers in basic concept knowledge as they enter the first grade. The findings also indicate that additional studies will be needed to determine if the Head Start children in this study have maintained an ability level comparable to their nearest-neighbor peers