TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gibbs,Chloe
AU  - Ludwig,Jens
AU  - Miller,Douglas L.
TI  - Does Head Start Do Any Lasting Good?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 17452
PY  - 2011
Y2  - September 2011
DO  - 10.3386/w17452
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17452
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17452.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Chloe Gibbs
Department of Economics
University of Notre Dame
444 Flanner Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Tel: 574.631.4963
E-Mail: chloe.gibbs@nd.edu

Jens Ludwig
University of Chicago
1155 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/834-0811
Fax: 773/834-1582
E-Mail: jludwig@uchicago.edu

Douglas L. Miller
Department of Policy Analysis and Management
MVR Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
E-Mail: dlm336@cornell.edu
AB  - Head Start is a federal early childhood intervention designed to reduce disparities in preschool outcomes. The first randomized experimental study of Head Start, the National Head Start Impact Study (NHSIS), found impacts on academic outcomes of .15 to .3 standard deviations measured at the end of the program year, although the estimated impacts were no longer significant when measured at the end of kindergarten or first grade. Assessments that Head Start is ineffective based on the NHSIS results are in our view premature, given our currently limited understanding of how and why early childhood education improves long-term life chances. Many of the specific changes to Head Start that have been proposed could potentially wind up doing more harm than good.
ER  -