TY  - JOUR
AU  - Currie,Janet
AU  - Neidell,Matthew
TI  - Getting Inside the "Black Box" of Head Start Quality: What Matters and What Doesn't?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10091
PY  - 2003
Y2  - November 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10091
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10091.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Janet Currie
International Affairs Building
Department of Economics
Columbia University - Mail code 3308
420 W 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212/854-4520
Fax: 212/854-8059
E-Mail: jc2663@columbia.edu

Matthew J. Neidell
Department of Health Policy and Management
Columbia University
600 W 168th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10032
Tel: 212/342-4522
Fax: 212/305-3405
E-Mail: mn2191@columbia.edu
AB  - Critics of Head Start contend that many programs spend too much money on programs extraneous to education.   On the other hand, Head Start advocates argue that severely disadvantaged children need a broad range of services.  Given the available evidence, it has been impossible to assess the validity of these claims.   In this study, we match detailed administrative data with data on child outcomes from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, including test scores, behavior problems, and grade repetition.   We find that former Head Start children have higher reading scores and are less likely to have been retained in grade where Head Start spending was higher.   Holding per capita expenditures constant, children in programs that devoted higher shares of their budgets to education and health have fewer behavior problems and are less likely to have been retained in grade.   However, when we examine specific educational inputs holding per capita expenditures constant, only pupil/teacher ratios matter.
ER  -