Happy Birthday, Head Start [USNews.com]

"We have taken up the age-old challenge of poverty and we don't intend to lose generations of our children to this enemy of the human race," President Lyndon B. Johnson said 52 years ago Thursday when launching the Head Start program. More than half a century on, Head Start has provided early childhood development and comprehensive services to millions of children and currently serves nearly 1 million.

Over time it's evolved and changed in numerous ways. But Johnson's words still reflect the program's animating vision. On Head Start's 52nd birthday, it's worth considering what it's accomplished, how it could do better, and the opportunities and challenges it faces in the years ahead.

In 1964, the year before Head Start's creation, 23 percent of American children lived in poverty. Today, 21 percent do, meaning we still fall far short of Johnson's ambitious goals. Data on intergenerational mobility indicate that children born in the poorest families are likely to remain there, and the probability of moving out of poverty may be falling over time.