During 2022, 27% of all 3-to-4 year-olds in the U.S. were enrolled in government-controlled education programs. In 1965, this figure was 1%. The largest federal education/childcare program for preschoolers is Head Start, which “provides comprehensive educational, social, health, and nutritional services to low-income preschool children and their families.” From 2002 through 2008, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services conducted a nationally representative experimental study of the effects of Head Start. The study found “there were initial positive impacts from having access to Head Start, but by the end of 3rd grade there were very few impacts,” and among these, some were positive and some were negative with no “clear pattern” in either direction.