Patrick Kennedy: “Head Start works. Despite the warnings from the National Academy of Sciences that, under this bill, the poorly designed…”

“Head Start works. Despite the warnings from the National Academy of Sciences that, under this bill, the poorly designed tests of young children can have a negative impact on their education, under this legislation the Head Start Bureau is plowing forward with plans to give a significantly flawed test to these children starting in the fall. The use of this test will jeopardize the integrity of Head Start, as teachers skew the test to focus on the few skills that those children will be tested upon. We risk labeling these children as failures before they even get on track to advance in other equally important developmental domains. We are negligent in our responsibilities under this legislation when it comes to putting politics, not science, ahead of our discussions. Under this bill, we put politics ahead of what the National Academy of Sciences says is what is right when it comes to educating our young people. I support the Miller substitute and oppose the underlying bill.”