Child health and academic achievement among former head start children

Abstract

The current study analyzed health and academic achievement in a large database of former Head Start children who participated in the National Public School-Head Start Transition Demonstration Study (NTDS) as they entered kindergarten in 1992 and progressed to third grade. Results showed most former Head Start children were in good health in both kindergarten and third grade, although there was a wide range of reported health conditions, including mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Analyses showed that children in poor general health had significantly lower achievement scores than children in good general health in third grade, but no differences in achievement scores in kindergarten. Multivariate analyses showed that, controlling for the effects of family income, minority status, and maternal education, measures of general and mental health status were significantly and independently associated with academic achievement scores in kindergarten and third grade. Longitudinal analysis, controlling for family socioeconomic status variables, showed that kindergarten general and mental health status independently predicted third grade achievement scores. The findings support Head Start's emphasis on child health promotion and suggest that child health status impacts early academic achievement independent of family risk factors, as children transition to formal schooling.