When the idea for Head Start was developed in the mid-1960s, organized schooling for young children was uncommon. Some children from upper- and middle-income families attended “nursery school”, as preschool was called, but the majority stayed home until they were old enough to begin elementary school. At the time, fewer than half the states offered kindergarten, although generally not in all districts nor was it compulsory. For many children formal education therefore began with first grade when they were six or seven years old. Head Start was thus a great national experiment to enroll children from poor families before they reached school age.

Forty years later, it is safe to say the experiment was successful. The Head Start model has been proved effective and has become the standard for comprehensive intervention services for at-risk children. Early childhood has become an active field of research, with voluminous results showing that quality preschool programs enhance school readiness and later academic performance and adjustment among children raised in poverty. Head Start's major contributions to this knowledge base established the program's worth and justified its expansion.

Serious expansion began in the late 1980s, when early education was rediscovered as the foundation for successful schooling. In what quickly became a “Head Start lovefest” (Chafel, 1992, p. 9), policy makers and office seekers of every political persuasion vowed to give the program “full funding.” At the time, Head Start was serving less than 30 percent of eligible children (National Head Start Association, 1991).