Do early academic achievement and behavior problems predict long-term effects among Head Start children?

This study examines the effects of Head Start children's early achievement and behavioral scores on their long-term developmental outcomes. Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data, a sample of 603 children was selected who had participated in Head Start from 1988 to 1994 and had longitudinal outcomes measured. Head Start children's reading, math, and behavioral scores, as measured at ages 5–6, were examined to determine whether these early scores affected outcomes measured at ages 11–12. Not surprisingly, there was a strong relationship between children's early and later educational and behavioral scores. Maternal education moderated these associations for reading and on behavioral outcomes. Associations between short-term and longer-term achievement and behavioral outcomes were less significant for children whose mothers had less education than for children whose mothers had more education. As expected, children's reading, math, and behavioral outcomes at ages 5–6 were inter-correlated, as were those measured at ages 11–12.