Head Start provides assistance to low-income families and offer services through center-based, home-based, and combination program options. The program provides children with an intensive preschool experience, combined with social services and medical and nutritional interventions.  This usually takes place for one or two years before the child enters kindergarden. The program has had significant and positive impacts on a wide range of children’s later school success.  In creating a good environment, Head Start believes that children from birth to age 3 need a variety of positive learning experiences which are provided in a secure and loving atmosphere. 

It has been proven that three-year-old children who completed the program had a positive increase in cognitive performance, language development, and development of positive behaviors that prepared them for success in school.

            Early Education and programs such as Head Start have contributed to the fact that the overall mean IQ will rise until a point where perfect opportunity exists for everyone;  This is know as the Flynn Effect.