Creating a 21st Century Head Start

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 involvement, 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 beforeþfrom 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:

Head Start has been successful in improving the lives of many low-income children and their families and in serving as a national laboratory for early childhood and family support;
Most Head Start programs provide quality services, however, the quality of programs is uneven across the country;
Head Start needs to be better equipped to serve the diverse needs of families;
There continues to be a large unmet need for Head Start services; and
In many communities and states, Head Start, public schools, and other early childhood programs and providers responsible for addressing the needs of young children and families operate in isolation from one another, without adequate resources, planning, and coordination.

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:

Ensures quality and strives to attain excellence in every local program;
Responds flexibly to the needs of today's children and families, including those currently unserved; and
Forges new partnerships at the community, state, and federal levels, renewing and recrafting these partnerships to fit the changes in families, communities, and state and national policy.

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 Start's vision, by striving for excellence in serving both children and families.

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 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.

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 todays 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. First priority should be given to ensuring quality and striving for excellence. 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. HHS should continue to show leadership in looking across programs to ensure that policies consistently promote quality services for young children and their families.

Following is the DRAFT Executive Summary, which differs from the one above which accompanied the Advisory Committee's final report.

DRAFT REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HEAD START QUALITY AND EXPANSION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion seeks to open a new chapter 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 12 million low-income children and their families across the United States.

Yet as Head Start nears the completion of its third decade, it lives in a dramatically changed world form its earlier days. Despite rapid expansion over the past few years, large numbers children and families still remain unserved and program services need to be both expanded and improved to better meet the needs of today's families.

After nearly six months of deliberations and consultations with a broad range of individuals and groups, the Advisory Committee has come to a bipartisan consensus to help create a 21st Century Head Start for

the nation's most vulnerable children and families. The committee believes that next steps should build on the record of success and foresighted vision that Head Start's founders, families and staff members have built over the past 28 years. As we build on the record of past success, we must address new realities:

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 ever more single parents, and our expectations of these single mothers now include work, education and training.
Since 1965, the landscape of community services has changed dramatically. There are new roles and enhanced capacities for serving young children and their families. Yet, far too often these programs are too isolated from each other and from Head start. Communities and states lack systematic efforts to plan for the needs of 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'; 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.
Over the years. local Head Start programs were asked to expand both rapidly and in accordance with a definition of service that emphasized part-day, part year programs for 4 year olds. This narrow approach has impeded the ability of program s to respond to the dramatic changes in children, families and communities.
Today, while Head Start's vision continues to provide a model of service delivery, the quality of individual Head Start programs and their ability to implement that vision is uneven. A whole host of reasons, from funding to changing needs of families to inadequate attention to management capacity at both federal and local levels lies behind the unevenness.

To create a 21st Century Head Start, the Advisory Committee sets forth a set of recommendations to thefederal government, Head Start providers and the nation at large. These recommendations implement three broad principles.

We must ensure that every Head Start program can deliver on Head Start's vision, by striving for
EXCELLENCE in serving both children and families
The Advisory Committee believes that as Head Start expands, the quality of services must be assured. We should strive for excellence in all Head Start programs by focusing on staffing and career development, improving the management of local program, providing better facilities, reengineering federal oversight and strengthening the role of research.

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 FAMILIES.

The Advisory Committee reaffirms the concept that all eligible children in need of Head Start should be served. Head Start should focus on the needs of children in the context of their families and communities by assessing needs and planning strategically, reaching out to children and families currently unserved, increasing parent involvement and family support services, promoting full day and full year programs where needed, and expanding services to families with younger children.

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

Because no program, no matter how excellent, can go it alone, we must ensure that Head Start joins forces with other providers in the community and state. As a partner, Head Start can not only maximize its own resources, but it 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 to provide more coordinated services to families and should 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 welfare reform.