Head Start

To address the persistent achievement gap between children in low income, minority communities and children in mainstream, middle-class communities, we know that "both school experiences and home and early life experiences are important." A two-pronged approach to the problem involves creating high-quality, culturally responsive, educational programming in preschools and collaborating with community partners to design engaging after-school opportunities for families.

This article briefly reviews the status of urban indigenous families and discusses an innovative all-Native-American preschool, an early childhood initiative created to address the achievement gap. Supporting Native Indian Preschoolers and Their Families [PDF, 789KB]