Thomas Mott Osborne: “I certainly agree with all those who have spoken tonight that Head Start is an excellent program. It is a necessary…”

“I certainly agree with all those who have spoken tonight that Head Start is an excellent program. It is a necessary program. Yet many people feel that no changes are needed to the program. I guess if you put it in any context, let us say you ran a business for 35 years, a football team for 35 years, a school for 35 years, and you said over and over again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it and you stayed with a pat hand, my feeling is you would drift toward mediocrity. There is no organization that can stay the same year after year after year. I think there are a couple of things that really can be fixed. I think there are some things that need to be done here. The first question is, does Head Start do what it is designed to do, which is to get kids ready to go to school? As we have mentioned earlier tonight, the Family and Child Experience Survey, which is the best measure I know of of school readiness, says this. They said that the average student entering Head Start is at the 21st percentile in terms of readiness to go to school. And then 2 years later, $6,500 a year, $13,000 later, we see those same students ranking at the 24th percentile, a gain of 3 percent in 2 years. I think that is unsatisfactory. I do not think we are doing the right thing by our children.”