RACE AND HEAD-START PARTICIPATION - POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DETERMINANTSOF ENROLLMENT SUCCESS IN THE STATES

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.