Customer Reviews

Head Start: The Inside Story Of America's Most Successful Educational Experiment

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Edward Zigler and Susan Muenchow's "Head Start," should be required reading for professionals in quality Early Childhood Development programs, policy-makers, public school educators and administrators, and civic minded citizens of all walks of life. The book is a wonderful telling of the grassroots movement of Head Start and how it gained public support at the highest levels of the government. The beautiful thing about the book is it is a first-hand account told from one of the program designers, Ed Zigler who has interacted with each administration and congress since 1965 in shepherding the program to its crucial and critical place serving society today.

The only critique of the book is the writing style can sometimes come across as slightly dry so it's more of a study instead of a page turner. But the reading effort is worth the study, since the book tells why Head Start has become a model for public education in its comprehensive family-centered approach to the education of children and parents. The last 40-odd pages are alone worth the price of the book. In chapter 10, "Head Start: The Next Generation," Zigler gives a prescient telling of where Head Start stands today and levels prescriptive recommendations towards where Head Start should go from here.

These are words from one of the founders and should be heeded as smart public policy, because so much Zigler has touched in the program has turned to gold, enriched the quality of life of low-income children and by such benefiting society at large. Do not miss reading this book. It should be required reading to work in a Head Start program across the nation.
--MMW

This book is a first-hand account of the history of Head Start. It's concise, fair, balanced, well-voiced and full of information. Also, it opened my eyes to the truly revolutionary nature of Head Start. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in public policy, education, civil rights, the 60's, etc.