A hearing was held for the purpose of receiving testimony on the reauthorization of the Head Start Act on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Head Start program, which was first implemented in 1965 to ensure that economically disadvantaged children begin school on an equal basis with their more advantaged peers. Opening remarks by committee chairman Dale E. Kildee are followed by testimony from a wide range of concerned parties. Those testifying included representatives of the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, the National Head Start Association, and the Head Start Silver Ribbon Panel, as well as corporate officers and program participants and administrators. Testimony concerned such matters as program emphases and improvement, Head Start services to children from birth to 3 years of age, the need for early intervention for disadvantaged children, the need of Project Head Start for higher staff salaries, family support, program flexibility and expansion, full-day services, the improvement of program quality, coordination of state-funded programs, state control, equivalency of programs, and student transition. Additional prepared statements, letters, and materials include numerous questions and answers about details of program operation, discussion of rules and regulations, a description of the services used by a sample of Head Start grantees, a history of the Parent and Child Center Program, testimony of 25 parent participants to the Silver Ribbon Panel at the December 9, 1989 meeting of the National Head Start Parent Association, and personal accounts of successful Head Start participants. (RH)