Concern over the nutritional status of the disadvantaged in America led to this study describing the prevalence of anemia among Head Start children in Pontiac, Michigan. Hemoglobin and hematocrit determinations, along with measurements of height and weight, were performed on 77 children, 4 to 6 years old, enrolled in Head Start classes. These measurements were taken twice, at the beginning and end of a 6-month interval. Due to attrition during the interval, only 52 of the children were available for the second session. When compared to the standards commonly used in nutritional surveys, only one child on both occasions had a hemoglobin level that would be considered anemic (i.e. below 11 gm/100 ml.). The mehatocrit standard of anemia, however (less than 33%), indicated that 5.3% of the children were anemic at the first reading and 7.8% at the second. Eighty percent of the subjects at both readings were black, and, although the differences were not statistically significant, these children had lower hemoglobin and hematocrit values than their white classmates. Applying two standards of height for age, the Stuart-Meredith percentile standards and the Iowa growth charts, it appears that the Head Start children measured were well within the acceptable ranges of "normal." (MH)