Creating A
21st Century Head Start
Final Report of the
Advisory Committee on Head Start
Quality and Expansion
December 1993
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Preface

Executive Summary

Part I: Head Start Today

Part II: A Renewed Vision:

Advisory Committee Recommendations

  1. Striving for Excellence
    • Step 1:  Focusing on staffing and career development
    • Step 2:  Improving the management of local programs
    • Step 3:  Reengineering federal oversight to provide for greater accountability
    • Step 4:  Providing for better facilities
    • Step 5:  Strengthening the role of research
  2. Expanding to Better Meet the Needs of Children and Families
    • Step 1:  Enhancing family services and increasing parent involvement
    • Step 2:  Assessing needs and planning strategically
    • Step 3:  Expanding to reach children and families who are currently unserved
    • Step 4:  Promoting full day and full year services
    • Step 5:  Serving families with younger children
  3. Forging New Partnerships
    • Step 1:  Providing continuity and coordination with schools
    • Step 2:  Facilitating state and local collaboration
    • Step 3:  Encouraging partnerships with the private sector
    • Step 4:  Linking Head Start with other national initiatives

 

Conclusion, References, and Acknowledgements

Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
 

Preface

Head Start was born, and has survived, with the kind of spirit and determination that lives in the hearts of all young children. Head Start is about the future. Perhaps more than any other social program of its time, it is a symbol of hope for a better life for low-income children and their families.

The Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion is about making sure that the vision and potential of Head Start are renewed, that the program is strengthened, that it meets the changing needs of children and families, and that this powerful legacy of an earlier time continues to thrive into the next century.

In announcing the formation of the Advisory Committee on June 16, 1993, HHS Secretary Donna B. Shalala stated, "We want every Head Start program to offer the comprehensive family services and high quality early childhood experience that are the core of the Head Start vision." The purpose of the Committee was to review the program and make recommendations for improvements and expansion.

The Advisory Committee was created in the bipartisan spirit that has long characterized the Head Start Program. The 47 members appointed to the Advisory Committee reflect diverse backgrounds and perspectives and include representatives from the Head Start community; staff to members of Congress; Administration officials; representatives from the public and private sector; and experts in children's health and education.

The Advisory Committee activities took place over a six month period and included input from hundreds of people concerned with and affected by the Head Start program. A series of focus groups on various aspects of the program was held with experts and representatives of the Head Start community internal program data and past reports were reviewed, outreach meetings were held with various national organizations and other interested parties, and a public hearing took place with parents and staff testifying before Committee members and some 1,500 people attending the National Head Start Parent Involvement Institute held in Washington, D.C.

Three formal meetings of the full Advisory Committee and seven subcommittee meetings were held to review and discuss all relevant material and to develop a set of recommendations that could guide program planning.

During this intense period of activity we have come to appreciate the critical importance of this program. Head Start at its best is a central institution in a community which supports low-income children and their families. A well run Head Start establishes relationships that promote growth and development in young children, encourages the self sufficiency of families,, and helps create other community services that better serve low-income families. Over the years, the Head Start philosophy has affected the entire field of early childhood education and family support services.

At the same time, our review pointed clearly toward the need to improve and refocus the program to respond to both national and local problems and concerns. The 1990s and beyond are very different than the 1 960s. Today, the needs, of families and children who live in poverty are more complicated and more urgent than ever. Head Start must respond to the changing needs of children and parents. Today the landscape of services in a community has changed, with new players and more demands. Head Start must not be isolated from other providers; it must take its place as a partner in a community and state. Today Head Start is a greatly expanded program, yet one that needs to make the delivery of high quality services a top priority as it continues to serve more children. Head Start must be a model of high quality comprehensive services for young children and families.

With these goals in mind, this report marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Head Start Program. It is our hope that the work of the Committee will lead to a renewed sense of excitement and commitment on behalf of all those involved in the program: parents, staff, federal officials, members of Congress, and the many friends and outside groups that have helped make the program such a success.

A Head Start parent testifying before the Advisory Committee said: "I learned to live again, not just survive. Head Start gave me and my children a chance to succeed, to be winners." It is time that we stop allowing Head Start to just survive, it is time once again to rededicate ourselves to the nation's most vulnerable children by making sure that Head Start thrives so all of our families can win.

Mary Jo Bane
Assistant Secretary for Children and Families

Executive Summary

The Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion was created in June 1993 to review the Head Start program and make recommendations for improvement and expansion. After six months of deliberations, the 47 members of the Advisory Committee seek to open a new chapter in the history of the program.

Launched in 1965 as a comprehensive child development program, Head Start has provided a beacon of hope and support to more than 13 million low-income children and their families across the United States through the provision of education, health, social services, parent involve-met, and disability services.

Yet the world of Head Start today is dramatically different than in 1965. Today the needs of families and children who live in poverty are more complicated and urgent than ever before-from children who have lived with violence and substance abuse to families with interrelated problems of homelessness, lack of education, and unemployment. Since Head Start began, the face of poverty has changed to include more single parents, and increasing numbers of working parents. In addition, the recognition and importance of promoting family literacy has increased.

Over the past 28 years, the landscape of community services has changed dramatically. There are new roles and enhanced capacities for serving young children and their families. Today we also have new knowledge about the attributes of services and supports that are effective in changing long term outcomes for young children, new knowledge about the importance of the first three years of life, and new knowledge and appreciation for the continuum of developmental and comprehensive services needed before school and into the early years to help children succeed in school.

In order to develop a set of recommendations for the future of the Head Start program, the Advisory Committee reviewed existing data and reports on Head Start and consulted with a wide variety of individuals and groups across the country. The Committee found that, after a period of rapid expansion, Head Start can be proud of many successes yet still needs to address existing quality problems and to be refocused to meet the challenges of a new age. The Advisory Committee found that:
 

As the Advisory Committee looks forward to the next century, we envision an expanded and renewed Head Start which serves as a central community institution for low-income children and their families. The Head Start of the 21st century:

In order to respond to these issues, and to create a 21st Century Head Start, the Advisory Committee sets forth a set of recommendations to the federal government, Head Start providers, and the nation at large. These recommendations implement three broad principles.

1. We must ensure that every Head Start program can deliver on Head Starts vision, by striving for excellence in serving both children and families.

The Advisory Committee believes that the quality of services must be a first priority. We should strive for excellence in all Head Start programs by focusing on staffing and career development, improving the management of local programs, reengineering federal oversight to assure accountability, providing better facilities, and strengthening the role of research.

The Advisory Committee recommends that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) develop new initiatives to utilize qualified "mentor teachers" to provide supervision and support to classroom staff, establish competency based training for staff who work directly with families, ensure sufficient staffing levels to serve children and families effectively, and continue to increase compensation.

In the area of management, the Advisory Committee recommends an expanded emphasis on management training; strengthening financial management policies and practices; supporting strategic planning through a multi-year "phased-in" expansion strategy; updating the Performance Standards in health, parent involvement, social services, and education; and developing performance measures.

In addition, the Advisory Committee recommends an assessment of the training and technical assistance system, a review and strengthening of Head Start monitoring, training of regional and central office staff, and the assurance of prompt action to deal with low performing grantees.

2. We must expand the number of children served and the scope of services provided in a way that is more responsive to the needs of children and families.

The Advisory Committee reaffirms the concept that all eligible children in need of Head Start should be served. At the same time the Committee remains committed to investments in quality as a top priority. Head Start should focus on the needs of children in the context of their families and communities by enhancing family services and increasing parent involvement, assessing needs and planning strategically, reaching out to children and families currently unserved, promoting full day and full year programs where needed, and improving services to families with younger children. The overwhelming majority of Advisory Committee members recommend a new initiative to expand Head Start services to families with younger children. Some Advisory Committee members believe that further study is needed to explore ways of serving additional families with children under age three prior to launching an initiative.

The Advisory Committee recommends that HHS review and expand current resources used for family services, parent education, and family literacy, and that increased efforts be made to involve parents in all aspects of the program. The Committee recommends that as Head Start programs move forward toward the goal of serving all eligible children, they should be encouraged to assess their total program in order to balance the needs for quality, scope of services, and number of children served. Particular   attention and support are recommended to address the special needs of Indian and migrant programs.

3. We must encourage Head Start to forge partnerships with key community and state institutions and programs in early childhood, family support, health, education, and mental health, and we must ensure that these partnerships are constantly renewed and recrafted to fit changes in families, communities, and state and national policies.

Because no program, no matter how excellent, can go it alone, we must ensure that Head Start join forces with other providers in the community and state. As a partner, Head Start can not only maximize its own resources, but can use its leadership to influence other service providers to adopt the core concepts that have made Head Start such a success.

Head Start and public schools should renew commitments to ensure continuity of services by providing developmentally appropriate programs, parent involvement, and supportive services from Head Start through the primary grades.

Head Start should form new partnerships at the state and local level, and with the private sector, to provide more coordinated services to families. Head Start should also play a central role on behalf of low-income children and families in emerging initiatives, particularly in national service, health reform, education reform, family preservation and support and welfare reform.

In summary, the Advisory Committee supports the goal of ensuring that all eligible children and their families receive high quality Head Start services, that programs are tailored to meet the needs of today's families and communities, and that sufficient resources are made available to meet these goals.

The Advisory Committee believes that the recommendations and principles set forth in this report must inform Head Start program decisions at all levels. The recommendations must guide priorities and the use of existing as well as new resources to ensure quality services that children need to enter school ready to learn and that families need to achieve self sufficiency.

The Advisory Committee recommends that HHS act promptly to develop an implementation plan based on the ideas set forth in this report.  The process of setting priorities should also draw on the best available information and input from Head Start and the larger community.

In concluding, the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion urges the Department to see this report as a step in an overall effort to improve early childhood and family support services for all children in the United States, and particularly for those most vulnerable. HUS should continue to show leadership in looking across programs to ensure that policies consistently promote quality services for young children and their families.