On October 7, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing, “Strengthening Head Start for Current and Future Generations.”
Dr. Timothy M. Nolan, chief executive officer and executive director, National Centers for Learning Excellence, Inc., said, “Head Start was created in 1964 and launched in 1965 as an intervention program. Those invited to the table to shape the program were physicians and psychologists. There was not an educator among them. Head Start has always been an intervention program that would include but not be limited to cognitive learning gains. To accomplish this, [w]e deal with the whole child…nutrition, medical and dental health, mental health, interpersonal skills development, and the several domains of cognitive development. Young children cannot learn if their teeth hurt, if they are hungry, or if they are regularly absent because of unstable housing or family challenges…We enroll the family, not just their child, identifying the needs and goals of the family and working regularly with them throughout the year in order to help them succeed in achieving their goals.”
The following witnesses also testified:
