Special Education Placements among Former Head Start Children in Kindergarten: A Descriptive Multi-Site Study.

Abstract At least 10% of children served by Head Start are mandated to be children with disabilities. Yet, little data are available regarding the special education identification of Head Start children after enrollment in public school. A national sample of 2,929 children was followed during their kindergarten year. The first purpose of this study is to determine identification rates across all diagnostic categories of special education for former Head Start children as they complete their kindergarten year. The second purpose is to examine if there are systematic differences in child and family factors between former Head Start children who receive special education services in kindergarten and those who do not. Findings show that 8% of Head Start children transition into special education during kindergarten and show divergent patterns of receptive language development. Head Start students in special education differ from children in general education based on child demographic, intellectual, behavioral, and health factors. ********** Project Head Start is the largest federally supported program serving impoverished, high-risk children and their families. Children with disabilities comprise 14% of all children served by Head Start programs nationwide (O'Brien, 1993; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1992). It has been shown that children who receive Head Start services or a comparable preschool experience have fewer special education placements than those children without such experiences (Lazar, Darlington, Murray, Royce, & Snipper, 1982). Little attention, however, has been given to establishing how many former Head Start students, after completion of Head Start, actually enter special education during kindergarten (Sinclair, 1993; Yoshikawa & Knitzer, 1997). Peters and Deiner (1987) examined the percentage of children with disabilities served by Head Start, versus children with disabilities (ages 35) served by the public school system, and found similar overall rates of disability and use of diagnostic categories. However, no information was provided regarding diagnostic categories of former Head Start students who enter special education during their kindergarten year. Neither was data provided regarding how children who enter special education in kindergarten differ from their former Head Start classmates. Information on this population is also lacking in terms of understanding which child and family characteristics are associated with a Head Start graduate being enrolled in special education in kindergarten (Brody, Stoneman, & McCoy, 1994) . Examining former Head Start students in their first year in public school may yield much needed information that would strengthen our understanding of the multiple influences associated with differential child outcomes for children from low income families. The examination of the early identification of children is of paramount importance due to the significance of Head Start's role in early childhood education and provision of early intervention services. The two purposes of the present study are explained below. The first purpose is to determine identification rates across all diagnostic categories of special education for former Head Start children as they complete their kindergarten year. The second purpose is to examine if differences exist in child and family factors between former Head Start children who receive special education services in kindergarten and those who do not. Method Participants The present analysis includes data from a subset of participants from a larger multi-site longitudinal, randomized trial: the National Head Start/ Public School Transition Demonstration Project (1). That project was designed to evaluate the efficacy of interventions for former Head Start students who were offered continual Head Start-like services through their first three years in public school. …