We know the sobering headlines on the economy and the implications of the District's local budget shortfall on services for your children and families. The message is clear and profound: Safety nets are being slashed and we will have to do more with less. I hear it from providers, parents and fellow advocates. There is a real risk of federal...

A great man died last week. Jule Sugarman was 83. A half-century ago, he launched Head Start, a signature effort of President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" that gave low-income preschoolers an extra boost as they started school through comprehensive early learning wrapped with social services. (Read the obituary in the New York Times.)The question of how to break the...

When it comes to early learning, research has shown that comprehensive programs that combine education, health, nutrition and other social and emotional supports give at-risk children the boost they need to succeed in school. That's the basis for Head Start, of course, and it's why DCPS is now expanding comprehensive early learning to all children in preschool and Pre-K classrooms...

In case you missed it: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius issued a strong defense of Head Start in yesterday's issue of USA Today. Her letter was in response to an editorial by the paper urging the administration to "fix Head Start before throwing more money at it." She writes: "The Obama administration agrees, and Head Start...

Opponents of federal funding for Head Start found new ammunition in the results of the most recent study of the program by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The study released earlier this year followed 5,000 children between 2002 and 2006 and found no difference in academic achievement by the end of the first grade between students who...

In the District, as in many states, child care, pre-kindergarten, special education services, Early Head Start, Head Start and early intervention operate in separate programmatic and policy silos, each with myriad—even conflicting—objectives and funding streams. The consequence is uncoordinated early childhood policy, which can often degrade access, quality and the return on investment of such programs.I can’t tell you how...

Fifty-six years after the District of Columbia moved to desegregate its schools, a new wave of integration will quietly sweep DCPS this fall with the incoming preschool class. This time it's not about race, but income. For the first time, in the District's Title I schools, three- and four-year-olds will be assigned to blended classrooms that include both low-income students...