Re. Oconnor, RACE AND HEAD-START PARTICIPATION - POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DETERMINANTSOF ENROLLMENT SUCCESS IN THE STATES, Social science quarterly, 79(3), 1998, pp. 595-606
Objective. The purpose of this paper is to explore racial and intersta
te differences in Head Start enrollment, including the capability of s
ocioeconomic, political, and racial factors to account for differences
in state enrollment success. Methods. Data for the dependent variable
are Head Start enrollment reports and eligibility figures derived fro
m the Census Bureau's Public Use Microdata Sample. Independent variabl
es include Hero and Tolbert's minority diversity measure. Results. Hea
d Start enrolls a much higher proportion of eligible blacks than eligi
ble whites. State differences, however, are enormous. For all children
, rural states do better. Blacks do better in wealthier states and tho
se with less minority diversity. For whites, minority diversity also i
s a powerful predictor of lower enrollment. The political variables do
not help to account for Head Start enrollments. Conclusions. The mino
rity diversity variable stands out as warranting attention in future r
esearch. For Head Start specifically, the appearance of favoritism for
poor blacks over poor whites would seem to increase Head Start's poli
tical vulnerability in several states.