Extended Bibliography 1
Promising Practices Network. Head Start, March 2010. Web. 30 Jan 2011.
A Little About Me
What to say…. Well I graduated from Melba High, Which is in an itty bitty town in Idaho. Most people have never heard of it. My graduating class had a grand total of 60 students. Although I wasn’t born there it is where I really grew up. I owe that little town a lot. It is where I leaned to be strong. I learned to buck hay, ride horses, cut cattle, birth foals, trap gophers, and the list goes on. Despite all this I don’t think of myself as a cowgirl. My passion lies with books, writing, art, and culture. I am currently an English major, but I don’t know if I will stick with this. I am leaning toward a career in anthropology. I have always been fascinated with culture, religion, and archeology. It would be full of great opportunities to explore the world, and write about my favorite topic, people.
Promising Practices Network. Head Start, March 2010. Web. 30 Jan 2011.
Basically Head Start is a government program put in place to give children from low income families a chance to learn, get heath care, and have social interaction with others. It is a free preschool for low income families that are eligible. According to the Promising Practices Network several studies have been done on the Head Start program, but few of them are considered accurate, or meet their standards. Because of this they based their analysis of the program on a study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Unfortunately this study was done about 7 years ago. Head Start has since made several changes and improvements. However, the study done at this time did suggest significant improvement in all the groups tested, especially in social and emotional categories. In the end Head Start classrooms were rated to be of higher quality than other “center based” programs. Even those that were state funded.
Still The Promising Practices Network only gave Head Start a rating of “promising.” They say this is due to the fact that although improvements were seen, they didn’t see any significant improvement after the first grade, and there were a few negative impacts observed by the study. Because this program was so hard to do studies on, there were no clear patterns in the research to go off of, creating an inconsistency.
In reading this website I found myself asking whether or not the people who did the studies were actually a part of these communities. They seemed very detached. The studies were based more on statistics and control groups than anything else. Is there really anyway of accurately measuring not only human intellect, but also social and emotional abilities? There was no explanation as to how each of the categories were assessed in the study funded by Heath and Human Services. I am curious as to how they did this. On top of this no two corporations are going to be a like. The fact that they were assessing Head start facilities all over the U.S. at once decreases the dependability of the study for me. I think instead, each individual facility should be assessed, and then the research could later be combined as a whole if desired.
I am excited to see what the facility here in Boise is like. From what little I have read Head Start is similar to the Boys and Girls Club here in Idaho. I personally was a member of the Boys and Girls Club in Twin Falls and loved it. It will be interesting to compare the two.
Right now my major question is how the success rate today compares to that 7 years ago, and how my opinion based on my personal experience will differ from that of the study.
A Little About Me
What to say…. Well I graduated from Melba High, Which is in an itty bitty town in Idaho. Most people have never heard of it. My graduating class had a grand total of 60 students. Although I wasn’t born there it is where I really grew up. I owe that little town a lot. It is where I leaned to be strong. I learned to buck hay, ride horses, cut cattle, birth foals, trap gophers, and the list goes on. Despite all this I don’t think of myself as a cowgirl. My passion lies with books, writing, art, and culture. I am currently an English major, but I don’t know if I will stick with this. I am leaning toward a career in anthropology. I have always been fascinated with culture, religion, and archeology. It would be full of great opportunities to explore the world, and write about my favorite topic, people. Over all I am a really shy person. Some people mistake this for arrogance, but believe me it’s anything but. In my spare time I ride horses, hang out with my three puppies, read, write, go camping, etc. I love the outdoors more than anything. I get a lot of inspiration from nature. It is a beautiful world.
A random, last minute fact about myself is that I was named after Ripley off of Aliens. My sister came up with the name. My parents thought I would be teased though so they made it Riley instead.
And that’s pretty much me in a nutshell. J
That is really neat about your name! But with all the crazy baby names coming out today I bet you would have fit right in haha
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to have a fellow English major in the course! We're somewhat of an endangered species.
ReplyDeletePlease be in touch if you ever have questions about opportunities around the department. You might also want to try joining up with the EMA (English Major's Association). I look forward to working with you this semester.
Riley: Thanks for the extremely interesting post. I'd also be curious to hear about more current research on the effectivity of Head Start, and I appreciate how you picked up on this as you assessed your source. At the same time, I'm also looking forward to how your work here in Boise will speak back to and complicate the academic research you found.
ReplyDeleteAs I read your post, I was sort of curious about why the effectivity of Head Start seems to drop off after the first grade. This seemed a little surprising. At the same time, I wonder if factors outside the control of the program-- poverty, nutrition, quality of schools, parent-involvement-- might explain the drop-off? It seems like this complication could point the way toward further research.
Keep up the good work!
Riley,
ReplyDeleteIt's really funny how we wrote a lot of the same things. I assume that comparing Head Start now a days compared to the past must be the first thing that people would think about.
You did an excellent job on your citing. I also used the same cite. I'm also interested to see what other sources you gather as this semester unfolds.
Your bibliography was very interesting to read. It definitely raised the questions that you finally addressed at the end. I'm interested to find out similar questions. I do like how you addressed a time line. That really puts Head Start and the studies that are associated with it into perspective. It was very apparent that you used your sources fully to start a thought process for the reader. I wonder if, however, you might have been a little too skeptical about the studies. Indeed the studies were done years ago, but I know that for me as a reader, I like to go with a more believing attitude. I go with the attitude of "innocent until proven guilty". In other words, I like to believe that the study is accurate until I can prove it otherwise. I feel that your piece flowed beautifully and painted a wonderful picture of who Head Start is, but I feel, as a reader, that it was more one sided than merely stating facts. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading your post! I'm a little jealous of your writing style. You have a very fluid and moving style.
I'm excited to see what conclusions and information you show us! Amazing job!
Thankyou so much. It is very funny that we wrote about the same thing!!I found it interesting that you thought I was too skeptic because I put on yours that you were not skeptic enough! I like how you desribed it as "innocent until proven guilty." In reading it over again I think you were right. Skeptism is good but I think I might have been a little too critcle of the study. Perhaps it is something worth looking into a little more. thanks so much for the great advice! :)
ReplyDelete