The author reacts to the impending reauthorization of the Head Start program by questioning evidence of its long-term impact and making several recommendations for reform: (1) Strengthen Head Start school readiness standards; (2) Guarantee civil rights protections for faith-based providers; (3) Encourage state innovation and improvement; and (4)…

Argues that the lower class uses language to maintain social relationships more than to communicate information, and that lower and middle class differences in language usage explain much of the academic failure of disadvantaged and minority children. Proposes a functional approach for studying how language, socialization, and academic achievement…