Parent advancement is one of the many goals of our ongoing commitment to children. Programs like Head Start work with children for, at most, five years. Parents and other family caregivers are their children’s first teachers, and the people who stand by them long after their experience in Head Start.
- Head Start enhances parents’ education levels, employment statuses, and incomes.
- Head Start improves parents’ skills, reduces parental stress, and improves overall family stability and self-sufficiency.
- Head Start parents have steeper increases in their educational attainment by the time their child is six years old.1
- Head Start families have fewer family conflicts and fewer parent-child dysfunctional interactions, which in turn, reduces children’s aggressive behaviors.
Family stability and well-being are strong contributors to a child’s outcomes in early childhood and throughout their lifetime. Research has proven the efficacy of parent support in home visiting programs as a mechanism for improving child outcomes. Children’s early relationships with their caregivers provide the foundation for a child’s later success in school and life, including the development of characteristics such as behavioral control and social skills as well as academic achievement and lifelong well-being.
Download the Parent Advancement fact sheet, explore the research citations, and dig deeper into the Head Start Advantage.
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