Test score fade-out in Head Start may reflect various mechanisms and is not necessarily inconsistent with overall gains in health and home environment.

Evidence

Short-run Fade-out in Head Start and Implications for Long-run Effectiveness (Center for Poverty and Inequality Research (UC Davis))

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Intelligence is malleable and shaped by environment, not fixed by heredity — Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste, 54

Related

• Head Start effects persisted more for students who later attended better-funded K–12 schools, suggesting sustained enrichment rather than one-time intervention sustains gains. (similarity 0.78)