The Research On Development Of Parent Involvement Policy In Head Start

Poverty is a global thorny problem; the great America is no exception. Poverty can have serious negative consequences for many children and families. The environment of the poverty is more likely to lead to vicious circle of poverty. Head Start was launched in1965as part of President Johnson’s "War on Poverty" that was designed by the federal government of the United States to ensure that the needs in education and health services of preschool children of low-income families would be met. On the path of the anti-poverty, Head Start played an important role, in which, parent involvement was one of the most unique parts. Parent involvement makes the Head Start distinguish from the traditional early childhood intervention that desperate child and parents instead of participating in children’s activities. The primary goals of parent engagement in Head Start are to promote family and parent well-being and to strengthen parent-child relationships, which in turn enhance children’s more opportunities and successes in education, economy and society. But for a long time, the study of the parent involvement in Head Start is a very weak link in China’s academic circles. So the thesis studies the parent involvement policy in Head Start taking the history of the parent involvement of Head Start as a point of penetration. The aim of the thesis is to provide the revelation and reference of promoting parent participation policy in preschool education of poor family by presenting the development of the parent involvement policy in Head Start, clarifying the development history of parent involvement policy in Head Start, exploring the implementing effects of different periods and summarizing the features of parent involvement in Head Start.