HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: The Heart of Head Start

The Head Start Program Performance Standards are sometimes referred to as the "heart of Head Start." This is because the standards define the core of the quality services which each grantee and delegate agency must provide in order to be a true Head Start program.

Over the past two years the Head Start Bureau has engaged in an intensive review of the performance standards, originally issued in the 1970's, in keeping with the requirements of the 1994 reauthorization of the Head Start Act, the recommendations of the Advisory Committees for Quality and Expansion, and the report of the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers.

In the summer of 1994, under the leadership of Associate Commissioner of the Head Start Bureau Helen H. Taylor and ACYF Commissioner Olivia A. Golden, the agency conducted 70 focus groups involving approximately 2,000 individuals, including subject experts, parents, educators, technical assistance providers, local sponsors of Head Start programs, Federal staff, and individuals with extensive program monitoring experience.

Based on this extensive input, proposed standards for children ages birth to five years, and pregnant women, were developed and published in the Federal Register on April 22, 1996. In response to an invitation for public comment, the Bureau received 1,100 letters representing nearly 15,000 comments, largely from members of the Head Start community.

A team of Federal staff from Regional and Central offices convened in Washington, DC, for an intensive review of each letter. All suggestions were coded to the appropriate individual standard. Then, all comments for each standard were analyzed and cross-referenced with related standards. As a result, a number of policy issues were identified and presented to policy makers in the Department of Health and Human Services. Based on the outcome of these discussions, changes were made in some of the proposed standards and a Final Rule was developed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget for fall 1996 publication in the Federal Register. The Rule will be effective January 1, 1998.

With the publication of the Final Rule, the Head Start Bureau will develop guidance to accompany the standards to illustrate ways in which the standards can be implemented. Local programs may develop alternative approaches that are appropriate for their communities.

Simultaneously, the Head Start Bureau will also develop print and audio-visual materials on the standards. An advisory group will contribute to the content and design of the materials, drawing on the experiences and recommendations of training and technical assistance providers, local program staff, and parents.

These materials will be incorporated into a comprehensive, multifaceted process to provide training and technical assistance on the performance standards to local program staff, parents, members of governing bodies, policy councils, policy committees, on-site monitoring reviewers, training and technical assistance providers, State and regional associations, and, as feasible, staff of collaborating agencies which work in partnership with local Head Start programs. DHHS and Department of Education staff will also receive training on the performance standards.

The training materials will be available Spring 1997, and are likely to include a general information brochure, a videotape and user's guide, a wall chart, overhead transparencies, and audiotape. Information regarding the performance standards will also be available via computer on the Home Page and the Head Start Bulletin Board System.

It is anticipated that training will be available on the performance standards in early 1997.

Collaborating Between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education

In June 1995, the two Departments jointly convened a focus group of local staff, parents, and national organizations involved with Title I programs, to solicit the input of participants in reviewing the Head Start Program Performance Standards, as well as to discuss possible implementation issues for Title I programs.

The participants were specific with regards to ways in which local education agencies could successfully implement the Standards to improve services for preschoolers. There was also a general belief that by engaging in collaborative relationships with other service providers, education agencies would not experience a cost burden relative to the implementation of the Standards.

The two Departments will give joint presentations at various State, Regional, and national meetings. The two Departments have also collaborated in a series of Regional Reinvention Conferences in New Jersey, New Mexico, Massachusetts, and California to promote community partnerships.

For information requests contact AskUs
We welcome your comments and suggestions, contact webmistress@headstartinfo.org
For website technical assistance contact technical@headstartinfo.org
To order publications contact puborder@headstartinfo.org

Office of Head Start

Please Note: Links on this site are verified monthly.
While links are evaluated before being included on this site, HSIPC is not responsible for the information presented on external sites.

Last Modified: 10/31/01


	Home \| Publications \| Partnership/Collaboration Information Center \| What's New?