The Follow Through Program

Abstract

Follow Through is one of the most controversial programs operated by the United States Office of Education. It represents an attempt blend service and research, but the blend has been a difficult one for many participants. The research activities have threatened many of the serviceoriented people, and the services have precluded the researchers' abilities meet high experimental standards. Yet a great deal of useful knowledge has been generated by the program-perhaps even more could have been if the participants had sought further common goals, rather than battling over the relative importance of different goals. The Follow Through program was legislated as part of the Economic Opportunity Act, which in turn was part of President Johnson's War on Poverty. Johnson and the educational community were optimistic that educational change could mitigate economic disadvantage. Follow Through's forerunner, the Head Start program, was highly popular, but there was some concern that the benefits of Head Start might be dissipating as the children moved through early elementary school. The President wanted to preserve the hope and opportunity of Head Start by a followthrough program in the early grades (U.S. Congress 1967, p. 2882) that would solidify the Head Start benefits. As part of the Economic Opportunity legislation, and as a followthrough on Head Start, the program was be funded through the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), and was intended provide a variety of services for children-instructional, nutritional, medical, dental, psychological, and social. Thus, poor children and their families were receive continuous, comprehensive services from the time the child entered Head Start until the time he graduated from third grade. Furthermore, since the program was involve the community, especially The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Office of Education.