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Recalling the beginning on the 40th Anniversary 

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Recalling the beginning on the 40th Anniversary 

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The Head Start program began as an 8 week trail run in 1965. Fifty six years later it has served over 37 million children.

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000120-head start 40th anniversary-short-re-edit3 - video

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"In applying the tenets of NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct to their own work, early childhood educators are expected to respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual; respect the diversity in children, families, and colleagues; and recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family, culture, community, and society." (NAEYC)
There is quite a bit of ethics training that we go through at Head Start and we have a code of conduct that we must sign each year. We work with a diverse population and we must try to learn about and understand the diversity.

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In applying the tenets of NAEYC's Code of Ethical Conduct to their own work, early childhood educators are expected to respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual; respect the diversity in children, families, and colleagues; and recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family, culture, community, and society. Head Start and Early Head Start, like the Child Care and Development Block Grant, incorporate these core values, and act to build on the strengths of low-income children, families, and communities while providing supports and services to help them thrive.

What is Head Start?

Early Head Start and Head Start promote the school readiness of young children birth to five in local communities by providing a comprehensive approach that focuses on four major components:

Education: Providing learning experiences to help children grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally.

Health: Providing health services and supports such as immunizations, dental, medical, and mental health, and nutritional services, developmental screenings and early identification of health problems.

Parent Involvement: Involving parents in the planning and implementation of activities through policy councils and committees that make administrative decisions. Parents also participate in classes and workshops on child development; and volunteer in the program.

Social Services: Provide supports to families to address job training, housing and other needs expressed by families.

The Head Start program, which focuses on children ages 3-5, has a proud history, having originated in 1965 as part of a sweeping effort to combat poverty in America. Early Head Start, with its focus on infants, toddlers, and pregnant women, was established in 1998 to better reflect the increasing consensus around the importance of the earliest years in a child's life.

The cornerstone of Head Start's high quality programming is the set of Program Performance Standards, which were overhauled in 2016 for the first time since their creation in 1975. The Performance Standards, which every Head Start and Early Head Start program must use to establish required teaching practices, learning environments, curricula, assessments, and professional development, are designed to work seamlessly with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework, which describe what young children should know and be able to do across developmental domains.

Read NAEYC's recommendations, submitted during the rulemaking process, to get our take on how the Administration could strengthen and improve the standards-which they did!

How does Head Start work?

The Head Start Act is a federal law, which was last reauthorized in 2007. The Office of Head Start, in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees the program, awarding grants to local public and private non-profit agencies in every U.S. state and territory, in migrant worker camps, and in tribal communities to implement the program in accordance with the Performance Standards. Although all grantees must meet certain requirements, they each have the flexibility to choose different programs models depending on the needs and resources of the community; for example, they may choose to be center-based or home-based, and they may choose to be part-day or full-day, as long as they are reaching a set ( and increasing) number of hours over the course of the full year.

In addition to providing core services and supports, including compensation for educators,some federal funding is set aside for training and technical assistance; for research, evaluation, and demonstrations of innovative program models; and for required monitoring activities. Programs are monitored regularly and receive their grants for intervals of five years; those that do not meet a certain set of conditions are subject to having their grants opened up to a competition in their area, as part of a process called the Designation Renewal System (DRS). (Read about the National Head Start Association's take on DRS here).

Head Start also operates as part of a broader early childhood landscape; the Head Start Collaboration Offices, for example, are located at the state level, and facilitate partnerships between Head Start agencies and other state entities that provide services to benefit low-income children and their families. Early Head Start - Child Care Partnerships provide another example of how early childhood programs can work together to provide the best possible services for expanded numbers of children and families.

How does Head Start support families and children?

Head Start helps families whose income falls below the federal poverty line access high-quality early childhood education. Local programs may serve up to 10 percent of the children with family incomes over the poverty line, and an additional 35 percent of children from families whose incomes are between 100 and 130 percent of the federal poverty level, as long as certain conditions are met. Programs must use ten percent of the spaces for children with disabilities.

As a two-generation model providing comprehensive services, Head Start confers benefits on participating children and families immediately, by providing crucial early learning opportunities to some of our nation's most vulnerable young children and by supporting and empowering their families towards being involved leaders who are connected to each other and the services they need. Many of these initial benefits then extend throughout children's educational journeys and into adulthood. The impacts of Head Start, as demonstrated through exhaustive research studies, which also show the importance of high-quality education throughout the K-12 journey to sustain acquired gains, include both learning and health outcomes that demonstrate improved lives among children and families.

How does Head Start support early childhood educators?

Head Start shares our commitment to having a diverse, effective early childhood education profession, and, like NAEYC, has been a national leader in advancing this profession-from the Child Development Associate, initially developed for Head Start itself, to the most recent reauthorization, which established a requirement that half of all Head Start teachers hold bachelor's degrees with training in early childhood education. In 2017, Head Start has met and exceeded this requirement; upwards of 70% of Head Start teachers nationally now possess a BA degree-the result of intensive support, investment, and access to professional development. In addition, all early childhood educators, whether based in a Head Start setting or not, have access to many of the materials, training, and technical assistance developed by national centers such as the one on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning.

How can you support Head Start?

Despite its growth and success, Head Start remains underfunded, reaching approximately 50 percent of eligible young children, while Early Head Start reaches fewer than 5 percent. In addition, the program has been the subject of mixed research outcomes, leading some to call into question its impacts, even as the program engages in a process of continuous quality improvement to address identified shortcomings and benefits from studies that demonstrate its success in breaking long-term cycles of generational poverty. As a supporter of Head Start and its model, we urge you to:

Help Head Start alumni, current parents, and educators tell their stories about how #HeadStartWorks!

Sign up for NAEYC's America for Early Ed and Children's Champions email alerts and updates so you can help children, families, and educators succeed!

Partner with Head Start in your community: encourage your school district to work with Head Start grantees in your area as part of their ESSA plan; engage with Early Head Start - Child Care Partnerships; and find ways that align with your role and talents so that you can be an active collaborator and supporter.

Call your federal and state elected officials and tell them you support increased investment in Head Start, as well as policies that ensure funding is directed towards local communities who can best meet the needs of their children and families-and you want them to support those investments and policies as well.

Highlighted Partner Resources

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In applying the tenets of NAEYC's Code of Ethical Conduct to their own work, early childhood educators are expected to respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual; respect the diversity in children, families, and colleagues; and recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family, culture, community, and society.

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The personal interviews were done by myself, Vilate Thacker, at SUU Head Start on Aug, 8 2021. The People I interviewed were Daphne Storie, Carla Condie, Katlyn Draper, and Collette Orton.

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Cited references from Journals and Test Book

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Cited references from Journals and Test Book

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Allen, K. R., & Henderson, A. C. (2017). Family theories: Foundations and applications. (p. 203) Wiley Blackwell.

Hinitz, B. (2014). Head Start: A Bridge from Past to Future. (p. 95) YC Young Children, 69(2), 94-97.
Retrieved August 18, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/ycyoungchildren.69.2.94

Lee, G. (2017). The Politics of Head Start, the Most Popular Survivor of the War on Poverty. (pp. 6-9) CMC Senior Theses. Claremont Colleges. Retrieved August 18, 2021 from https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2521&context=cmc_theses

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Reference for all other articles, videos and links

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Reference for all other articles, videos and links

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ECLKC. (Last updated:2021, July 27). https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/.

NAEYC. © National Association for the Education of Young Children. (Update not available). https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/public-policy-advocacy/head-start

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Head Start was designed to provide a support system for children with a disadvantage. Head Start has the ability to bolster the mesosystem by involving all the individuals, such as the child, parents, teachers and community as a whole, to combat and reverse the effects of poverty. This will give children a 'head start' in life, a better beginning. (Allen & Henderson, 2017)

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Head Start got it's beginnings as an initiative of CAPS with other social programs such as VISTA, Job Corps and Food Stamps. All these were brought about by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Walter Heller of the CEA said that CAPS was,  “the key new element in any realistic attack on poverty” that “relies on well-organized local initiative, action, and self-help under Federally-approved plans and with Federal support.” Everything else CAPs basically failed except Head Start. It took a bit for it to take off to become what it is now, but after they decided to put the money towards an early childhood education, a program developed. Ura Jean Oyemade says that Head Start “combined day care with medical and dental treatment, emphasized both the child’s psychological development and school readiness, and introduced ‘social services into the child’s home environment plus education of the parents.'" Of all the social welfare programs out there Head Start is very unique because there aren't political lines drawn on it. Liberals and Conservatives alike support it. Who wouldn't support a program designed to give low-income preschool children a 'running head start' in life?  (Lee, 2017)

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In this article the author writes, " The program was envisioned as a vehicle to give families with low incomes a voice, and for doing things with them rather than to them." This is one of the aspects I like about Head Start the most. The policy was developed to help families by empowering them to move forward. Head Start works with other social welfare agencies in this capacity. We work with other agencies to procure coats and snow boots for the children during the winter, or tennis shoes and socks at other times. We work with the food pantry and Care and Share to get families food if they need it. These is also a good relationship built up with DCFS as we get quite a few foster children in our classes. (Hinitz, 2014)

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Katlyn shares why she is chose Head Start and what makes her excited about being a Head Start Teacher.

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As an SUU Head Start preschool teacher we are required to do 15 minutes of professional development every week. We are given a list of appropriate sites that we can utilize to do those 15 minutes. One such site is Teachstone. It has articles and videos that we can watch and respond to.

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As the interactions company, we help educators ignite the spark of learning through the power of CLASS. This broad picture of classroom life allows educators to understand how curriculum and instruction come together to enhance children's learning and development. Learn how to shift your continuous quality improvement efforts to what matters most-life-changing interactions between teachers and children.

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Education Requirements for Head Start Teachers

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Education Requirements for Head Start Teachers

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This is a list of the qualifications that a Head Start Preschool teacher should have or be working towards when hired.

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Effective teachers have the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to provide nurturing interactions and effective activities based on the curriculum, assessment results, and needs of the children. Programs can use this brief to help them review qualifications when recruiting and hiring Head Start preschool teachers.

Download the PDF

Staff Qualifications: Steps for Programs to Consider

Use this brief to better understand the Head Start regulations and considerations for preschool teachers.

Local programs determine how their staff meet the Head Start regulations.

Follow these steps to help guide you in the process of determining and justifying how your preschool teachers meet the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS).

1. Read the HSPPS:

Know the specific education requirements for staff and consultant roles detailed in 45 CFR §1302.91

Review the cross references to the staff and consultant qualification requirements in the Head Start Act and other relevant HSPPS

2. Gather data to know your program's needs and expectations, based on:

Community, family, and child needs

Program goals including school readiness goals

Your existing continuous quality improvement system

3. Use all available information to ensure your program has:

Human resources and professional development policies and procedures to help you meet regulations

Clear program goals including school readiness goals

Qualified staff and consultants who can effectively support your program's goals and service delivery

An ongoing monitoring process that identifies and addresses challenges in hiring and retaining qualified staff and consultants

What Are the Requirements?

*For full text, access the HSPPS.

Knowledge

45 CFR §1302.91(e)(2)(ii) "...a program must ensure all [preschool] center-based teachers have...an associate's or bachelor's degree in:

child development [or] early childhood education (ECE)

[with] equivalent coursework [to a major relating to ECE and experience teaching preschool children], or

otherwise meet the requirements of section 648A(a)(3)(B) of the Act."

45 CFR §1302.91(e)(2)(i) "...no less than fifty percent of all Head Start teachers, nationwide, have a baccalaureate degree."

Competencies

45 CFR §1302.91(a) "A program must:

Ensure all staff, consultants, and contractors...have sufficient knowledge, training and experience, and competencies to:

Fulfill the roles and responsibilities of their positions...

Ensure high-quality service delivery...

Provide ongoing training and professional development to support staff in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities."

45 CFR §1302.91(e)(5) "A program must ensure center-based [preschool] teachers...demonstrate competency to:

Provide effective and nurturing teacher-child interactions,

Plan and implement learning experiences that ensure effective curriculum implementation and use of assessment; and

Promote children's progress across...the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five and applicable state early learning and development standards, including for children with disabilities and dual language learners, as appropriate."

Head Start Act, Sec. 648A.

(a) "Ensure that each Head Start classroom...is assigned a teacher who has demonstrated competency to perform
functions that include:

Planning and implementing learning experiences that advance the intellectual and physical development of children, including:

Improving the readiness of children for school by developing their literacy, phonemic, and print awareness,

Their understanding and use of language,

Their understanding and use of increasingly complex and varied vocabulary,

Their appreciation of books their understanding of early math and early science,

Their problem-solving abilities, and their approaches to learning;

Establishing and maintaining a safe, healthy learning environment;

Supporting the social and emotional development of children;

Encouraging the involvement of the families of the children in Head Start program and supporting the development of relationships between children and their families."

Please Note!
Grantees have the flexibility to implement higher or more stringent requirements than those outlined in the regulations. To meet the Head Start requirements as prescribed in section 648A(a)(3)(B) of the Head Start Act, preschool teachers could have one of the following:

An associate, bachelor, or advanced degree in child development or ECE

An associate, bachelor, or advanced degree in a related field with coursework equivalent to a major relating to ECE and experience teaching preschool children

A bachelor or advanced degree and:

Is (or was) admitted into Teach for America Program

Passed a rigorous EC content exam, such as the Praxis II

Participated in a Teach for America summer training institute that includes (or included):

Teaching preschool children and is receiving (or received) ongoing professional development

Support from Teach for America's professional staff

What Else Do I Need to Know?

Considerations for Hiring Staff

Head Start preschool classrooms can be staffed with a teacher and an assistant or with two teachers. Staff-child ratios and group size maximums are determined by the age of most children in the class and the needs of the children [45 CFR §1302.21(b)(1)(3)&(4)].

Ensure preschool teachers have sufficient knowledge, training, experience, and competency to be able to effectively plan for and implement education services for preschool-age children and their families.

Review** training and course content to determine if it includes ECE content. To the extent possible, get the course descriptions from awarding institutions. ECE or child development related courses may be offered in various departments-such as education, home economics, family and consumer science, human ecology, music, art, library science, physical education and recreation, psychology, family studies, and others.
Courses equivalent to ECE major can:

Come from more than one accredited college

Be earned at the associate degree level and at the four-year level

Include one-credit courses. Colleges may require one or more specific one-credit courses as part of their ECE studies. Know that isolated one-credit courses rarely provide the intensity of study or the depth of content necessary for mastery of a subject or improvement of teaching skills

Consider your local needs to define what "experience teaching preschool children" means for your program.

Access the T/TA system for support and connect with your regional office program specialist as necessary.

Consider requirements detailed within the state/territory early care and education system (includes licensing requirements, requirements included within the Quality Rating and Improvement System, etc.).

**In reviewing coursework taken by applicants, be sure to look beyond just the title or name of the department that issued the credits, as they are sometimes deceiving.
Considerations for Professional Development

Use the annual professional development hour requirement to ensure teachers effectively:

Support child development and learning

Implement and individualize curriculum for preschool children

Build respectful, culturally responsive, and trusting relationships with families
This can include ongoing training, taking college courses, and intensive coaching.

Use individualized professional development plans and ongoing supervision to support areas of need and interest such as planning and implementing curriculum for preschoolers, assessing young children's developmental progress, etc.

Where Can I Find More on This Topic?

" Go to Head Start Staff Qualifications

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Education Requirements for Center-based Preschool Teachers | ECLKC

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In this brief, explore ways to find and hire the right candidate to fill preschool teaching positions. Learn how to match potential applicants with the required knowledge, skills, and competencies.

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Carla tells of her experience being a parent advocate and working with the family as a whole unit and not just a teacher of the child.

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Daphne shares what she thinks are the most important benefits for children that attend Head Start.

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Watch Head Start children explore RolyPolys

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Watch Head Start children explore RolyPolys

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One of my favorite parts of working at Head Start is playing with the children and allowing them to explore and learn in a hands on environment. The joy of watching a child discover something they never knew before is amazing.

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Read about Early Head Start on the ECLKC page.

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About the Early Head Start Program | ECLKC

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Early Head Start programs provide family-centered services for low-income families with very young children designed to promote the development of the children, and to enable their parents to fulfill their roles as parents and to move toward self-sufficiency.

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The physical health of the children is a very big part of Head Start. We work with families to get their children well visits with a pediatrician and encourage vaccination. We share with parents developmental milestones and when to expect them. We also encourage the parents to set a bedtime and morning routine that will let their child get the correct amount of sleep. This link has quite a few resources about these and some other physical health issues that are relevant to Head Start families (scroll down on the page).

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Health is the foundation of school readiness. To help children thrive, Head Start staff ensure that children are up to date on immunizations and their state's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) schedule, learn healthy habits, and can access the care they need. Head Start also promotes the physical and social and emotional well-being of families and staff.

Explore Resources

Physical Health

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Health is the foundation of school readiness. To help children thrive, Head Start staff ensure that children are up to date on immunizations and their state's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) schedule, learn healthy habits, and can access the care they need.

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Head Start is not just a place for children to learn their alphabet and numbers. We do try to teach these concepts though play and engaging activities, along with teaching social emotional skills, but we do so much more. Head Start is about helping the whole family. We have family advocates that work with the family to help them find resources when they need them. As teachers we visit the family in their homes two times a year, the advocate visits them a few times also.

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At Head Start we teach the children healthy eating habits but providing a well balanced meal. We sit around the table and eat family style. The children are able to serve themselves after a teacher demonstrate the appropriate serving size and way to serve the food. When parents are in the classroom volunteering with us they are encourage to join the meal and meal time conversation.

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Learn more about family style meals and how they can help young children make healthy food choices and develop social skills.

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A family with a child in Early Head Start had health issues come up in the home and the Early Head Start workers reached out to the family. Helping them know they were not alone.

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Many of our head Start children become Head Start parents. Many of our Head Start Parents become parent volunteers. Many of our parent volunteers become Head Start Teachers. All the Head Start teachers are encouraged and enabled to get a college degree if they do not have one when they begin working. What a wonderful way to help a family.

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At Head Start we teach the children and parents about oral health. We teach and encourage the children to brush their teeth every day. The parents are taught about oral health and are given resources if they don't know where to take the children, or how to afford dental care for their children.

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Tooth decay is the most common childhood disease, but it's preventable. Children with dental pain can have trouble speaking clearly, eating, and learning. Use the resources below to promote a healthy mouth. Learn about proper toothbrushing and other preventive measures and how to find a dentist.

Explore Resources

Oral Health

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Tooth decay is the most common childhood disease, but it's preventable. Children with dental pain can have trouble speaking clearly, eating, and learning. Use the resources below to promote a healthy mouth. Learn about proper toothbrushing and other preventive measures and how to find a dentist.

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Early Head Start is a great 'head start' for children that seem to have slow start in things such as speech, gross motor, fine motor, social emotional and problem solving.

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A national evaluation conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., and Columbia University's Center for Children and Families, in collaboration with the Early Head Start Research Consortium, found:

At the end of the program, 3-year-old Early Head Start (EHS) children performed significantly better on a range of cognitive, language, and social and emotional development measures than a randomly assigned control group. Additionally, the parents of the 3-year-olds scored significantly higher than control group parents on many aspects of home environment, parenting behavior, and progress toward self-sufficiency.

Two years after the end of the program, prior to children entering kindergarten, positive impacts of EHS remained in areas of children's social and emotional development, parenting, and parent well-being. Furthermore, those children who experienced EHS followed by formal early childhood education experiences (e.g., center-based child care, Head Start, or state pre-kindergarten) tended to have the best overall outcomes at the start of school.

By fifth grade, there was some evidence of sustained impacts of EHS on children's social and emotional well-being, although we did not see the broad pattern of impacts for child and family outcomes found at earlier ages. Nonetheless, positive impacts persisted for some subgroups of children and families. For example, EHS demonstrated sustained impacts on children's social and emotional development, parent support for education, and parent mental health among African-American families.

The Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSREP) began in 1996, at the time the Early Head Start program was created. It involved 3,001 children and families in 17 sites; half received EHS services and half were randomly assigned to a control group that did not receive EHS services. Parents and children were assessed when the children were 14 months, 24 months, 36 months old, in the spring prior to kindergarten entry, and again in the spring of the sixth year of formal schooling (fifth grade for most children).

For more information, visit: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/early-head-start-research-and-evaluation-project-ehsre-1996-2010

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Early Head Start Benefits Children and Families | ECLKC

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A national evaluation conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., and Columbia University's Center for Children and Families, in collaboration with the Early Head Start Research Consortium, found: At the end of the program, 3-year-old Early Head Start (EHS) children performed significantly better on a range of cognitive, language, and social and emotional development measures than a randomly assigned control group.