A Context for Head Start Child, Family and Program Accomplishments and Outcomes

HEAD START PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND OTHER REGULATIONS
45 CFR Parts 1301, 1302, 1303, 1304 and Guidance, 1305, 1306, and 1308 and Guidance

Head Start Program Performance Standards
      "What are the minimum standards for the quality of Head Start services, staffing, and management systems?"

• Head Start Program Performance Standards provide quality standards for all aspects of early childhood development and health services, family and community partnerships, and program design and management.
• Qualified staff, in partnership with parents, select and adapt or develop a curriculum for each Head Start program. The curriculum is a written plan that addresses the goals for children and includes their experiences, appropriate materials, and the roles of staff and parents. Staff implement and individualize the curriculum to support each child’s learning and developmental progress.
• Each program is required to implement a curriculum that promotes children’s cognitive development and language skills, social and emotional development, and physical development.
• All programs must adhere to specific Program Performance Standards in the areas of groups size, adult:child ratios, and staff qualifications, including ensuring that each classroom has a teacher with a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or its equivalent. The 1998 Head Start Act requires that by September 30, 2003, at least 50% of all Head Start teachers nationally in center-based programs have an associate, baccalaureate or advanced degree in early education or in a related field with preschool teaching experience. Classroom teachers who do not meet this requirement must have a CDA or an equivalent State issued certificate or be in the process of completing a CDA or degree within 180 days of hire.
• Families are to be involved through the family partnership agreement process in their children’s development and learning, in increasing their own literacy and child observation skills, and in the governance process of the Head Start program.

Screening and Ongoing Child Assessment
      "How do programs use information they gather on children?"

• Upon entry to Head Start, each child receives required screenings to determine the child’s overall health status, developmental strengths, and needs. If a concern is identified, such as a possible serious delay or disability, a formal evaluation is conducted and a determination of eligibility for disability services is made. If the disability criteria are met, a plan for special education and/or related services is made.
• Staff and parents gather ongoing information to document children’s progress toward positive child outcomes in language, literacy, mathematics, science, creative arts, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, and physical development, including the 13 mandated learning indicators (as described in the Child Outcomes Framework). Programs select, develop, or adapt an instrument or set of tools for ongoing assessment of children’s progress that aligns with their curriculum.
• Child observation and ongoing assessment continue throughout the child’s enrollment in Head Start. Staff and parents follow each child’s progress, coming to know the child’s strengths, interests, needs, and learning styles in order to individualize the curriculum, to build on each child’s prior knowledge and experiences, and to provide meaningful curriculum experiences that support learning and development. In these ways, staff, parents, and programs support each child’s progress toward stated goals.
• Child outcome information from groups of children becomes part of the data considered by agencies as they engage in self-assessment to determine how the program is meeting its goals and objectives and how it is implementing the Program Performance Standards and other regulations. The results of the self-assessment contribute to continuous program planning and program improvement.

Local Program Self-Assessment and Ongoing Monitoring
     "How is the local program doing?"

• Grantees establish procedures for the ongoing monitoring of their own operations, as well as those of their delegate agencies, to ensure effective implementation of all Federal regulations.
• At least once a year, Early Head Start and Head Start agencies conduct a self-assessment to check how they are doing in meeting their goals and objectives and in implementing the Head Start Program Performance Standards and other regulations.
• The process involves the policy group, governing body, parents, staff, and the community.
• Grantees should ensure that their system for ongoing assessment of children includes collection of some data in each of the 8 Domains of children’s learning and development. In addition, because they are legislatively mandated, programs must gather and analyze data on certain specific Domain Elements or Indicators or progress in language, literacy, and numeracy skills.
• Grantees must develop a system to analyze data on child outcomes that centers on patterns of progress for groups of children over time as they receive services through the program year. At a minimum, data analysis should compare progress beginning when children enter Head Start, at a mid-point in the program year, and when they complete the program year.
• The results of the self-assessment process, including the analysis of child outcomes, influence the agency’s program planning and the continuous improvement process.

SYSTEMS AND OUTCOME MEASURES FOR HEAD START NATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Head Start Act, ACYF-IM-HS-00-03, ACYF-IM-HS-00-18, ACYF-IM-HS-03-07, PRISM, FACES

Federal On-Site Systems Monitoring
      "How is our compliance with Head Start regulations and program implementation?"

• After the first full year of operation, grantees are monitored at least once every three years.
• A review of effective management systems supports the implementation of a comprehensive child development program leading to positive child outcomes.
• A partnership between Federal and grantee staff monitors the progress of Early Head Start and Head Start grantees in implementing the Head Start Program Performance Standards and other Federal regulations.
• Using the PRISM (Program Review Instrument for Systems Monitoring), a team of Federal staff and other experts conducts an on-site PRISM review of grantee management systems and program quality through a combination of focus groups and individual interviews; observations; discussions with parents, staff, and policy groups; and review of written program documents. Grantees must correct all identified areas of noncompliance.
• Information from the PRISM, including compliance with the child outcomes requirements of the 1998 Head Start Act and ACYF-IM-HS-00-18, is to be used by grantees for continuous program improvement.

National Reporting System
     "How are 4- and 5-year-old Head Start children progressing on a common national assessment of key indicators of literacy, language, and numeracy learning?"

• In April 2002, President Bush launched the Early Childhood Initiative—Good Start, Grow Smart—that included strengthening Head Start by developing a new accountability system to ensure that every Head Start program assesses child outcomes. This new accountability system is referred to as the National Reporting System (NRS).
• Starting in Fall 2003, all 4- and 5-year olds in Head Start, including children with disabilities and English Language Learners, will be assessed through the NRS. They will be assessed again in the spring before they go to kindergarten.
• All Head Start programs will use a brief, common set of valid, reliable, age-appropriate assessment tools on specific language, literacy, and numeracy outcomes. The assessments will take approximately 15 minutes per child. They will be conducted in English or Spanish by trained program staff.
• The NRS will provide comparable data about the progress that children are making in each Head Start program. NRS information will be reported back to programs to supplement the ongoing child assessment and continuous program self-assessment that each program undertakes. The Head Start Bureau and the Regional Offices will use the NRS information to guide training and technical assistance and to develop new ways of incorporating outcomes into future PRISM reviews. Data on individual children will not be reported by the NRS.

Research
     "What are some key outcomes and indicators of national program quality, effectiveness, and outcome?"

• The Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is a national, longitudinal study to examine the quality and outcomes of Head Start. In 1997 and 2000, data were collected from a nationally representative sample of several thousand children in about 40 Head Start programs who were followed up in kindergarten. Teachers, staff, and parents were interviewed; observations of classroom quality were made. Results indicate that Head Start children’s social skills improve and that they make more progress than the typical child their age on vocabulary and early writing measures, but still fall short of national averages. Classroom quality is linked to child outcomes. A new national sample is being launched in Fall 2003.
• The Head Start Impact Study is a Congressionally mandated longitudinal study of nearly 5,000 3- and 4-yearolds from a nationally representative sample of agencies. Children have been randomly assigned to Head Start or to a comparison group which does not receive Head Start services. Data collection includes direct child assessments through first grade, parent interviews, surveys with staff, observations of the quality of care settings, and teacher ratings. The study is designed to answer the mandated questions and benefit program quality.
• The Quality Research Centers (QRC) Consortium I (1995-2000) created partnerships among ACYF, Head Start grantees, and the academic research community to enhance quality program practices and outcomes. In 2001, a second cohort of QRCs was funded for five years to improve child outcomes in literacy, social and emotional development, and other domains of school readiness, through enhancements to curriculum, teacher training, parent involvement, and assessment practices. Research teams implement and evaluate their projects with their Head Start partners, then replicate them. Measures from FACES are used across sites.