IQ Gains from Early Childhood Programs Fade

Children enrolled in Head Start or in another enriched preschool program, compared to similar children without such preschool, typically show a gain of about 10 IQ points during the year of the Head Start experience. This IQ gain typically fades and then disappears within the first few years of school, so that by second grade neither IQ nor achievement test scores nor¬ mally reveal any difference in performance between those children who had been in Head Start and those who had not been in...

 Preschool Social Programs Demonstrate the Importance of a...

In 1962, researchers wanted to test the effects of an early-childhood preschool training program they had designed. Kids in Ypsilanti, Michigan, were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first attended the preschool program (which eventually became a model for other preschool programs nationwide, including Head Start). The second group did not. The differences powerfully illustrate the importance of a child’s early years. The kids in the program academically outperformed the contro...