All three of Barbara Arroyo`s children spent their preschool years in Head Start programs designed to help children from low-income families get a good foothold in school.
Her older two children gained ground because of the educational opportunity and social services Head Start provided the family.
But the effect wore off quickly after they entered elementary school, and they soon fell behind.
Their younger brother, Nicholas, on the other hand, has made the kindergarten honor roll three times this year at Perry Elementary School in Carpentersville.
”That`s all effort, effort, effort,” said Arroyo, of Carpentersville.
”He`s still trying.”
But if he follows a familiar pattern, Nicholas` initial scholastic successes may yet lessen without ongoing help during his first years in elementary school.
And for children who are academically at risk because they come from low- income families, early academic failure often leads to poor grades, low self-esteem and high absenteeism during the elementary years, and ultimately to dropping out of high school, experts say.
Now Carpentersville-based District 300 has become part of a federally funded research program that seeks to determine the academic and social effects of continuing the family support that is an essential part of Head Start through the 3rd grade.
Head Start is aimed at helping children from low-income families where housing, incomes and health care are often insecure, and where parents may not be literate and often don`t read to their children or place a high value on schooling.
Of children ages 3 to 5 entering kindergarten statewide, an estimated 30 percent are at risk for future academic failure, said Jane Schumacher, coordinator of Project TRANSFER, the Head Start research project.
Project TRANSFER seeks to demonstrate that continuing to work with the children`s families in the primary grades can keep the gains they make in Head Start from being lost, Schumacher said.
The Carpentersville school system was the only district in the state and only 1 of 32 community groups nationwide to receive $635,000 a year for the 3- year study, with the potential for three more years of financial aid, Schumacher said.
One hundred Head Start pupils entering School District 300 and 190 pupils in Elgin-based Unit School District 46 will be eligible to participate in Project TRANSFER.
The goal of the research is ”to diminish the `fade out` effect, the tendency for children to lose the cognitive and social gains made in Head Start as they advance through the primary grades,” Schumacher said.
Through the grant, many Head Start families will continue to receive home visits to encourage parental involvement in a child`s education and to help with welfare, unemployment, health care and literacy.
”Children who tend to be at risk have more barriers to prevent their success,” said Jan Lochary, assistant superintendent of District U-46.
”There needs to be support all the way through” the school years, she said.
Kids from Head Start programs enter kindergarten full of enthusiasm, said Ann Jones, principal at Garfield School in Elgin. But within two months, they often begin to lag behind and have difficulty thinking on their own, she said. ”Because they don`t have the same social services, the effects of Head Start begin to diminish after a period in school,” Jones said.
Parents also need to understand the link between their child`s academic success and their school attendance, said Supt. Douglas Hoeft of the Kane County Regional Schools.
In a recent study, Hoeft said, he found he could target future dropouts by the number of days children were absent from kindergarten.
When the records of high school students from three Kane County schools were compared, those who dropped out at age 16 had missed an average of 38 days of kindergarten and 1st grade, or almost two months of school, Hoeft said.
”What parents do in these early years is absolutely critical,” Hoeft said. ”People cannot fluff it off and say, `It`s just kindergarten.` ”
The research project hopes to prove that continuing intervention can make a difference.
”I know how much we help people with children from 3 to 5 years,” said Jane Whitaker, executive director of Two Rivers Head Start, based in Batavia. ”When we double it for kindergarten through 3rd grade, it will be very beneficial. It`s got to make an impact.”
