About THSA 

 

HEAD START BY THE NUMBERS

Tennessee’s Head Start programs serve more than 20,000 children and their families every year with comprehensive education, social and health programs for children, plus programs for family and community development. One or more Head Start classrooms are operated by government, private, faith-based and charitable organizations in nearly every county in the state. In all, Head Start operates almost a thousand classrooms in nearly 350 pre-school centers staffed by loving, well-trained teachers, more than 80% of whom hold a college degree.

Head Start is aimed specifically at high-risk children, typically those from low-income families in which parents are out of a job or are working, single parents. Head Start also targets children in homeless families, children in foster care, as well as children with disabilities.

Head Start: The Foundational Model

Head Start — now in its 50th year of serving the neediest of America’s children — has been the model for the nation of what early childhood education should be. Head Start is built upon the understanding that the development of young children is deeply influenced by the family, by their community, by their health — as well as the educational experiences to which they are exposed. The 1975 Head Start Program performance Standards defined high quality services in early childhood education, parent involvement, social services, and health. These stands and their updates have been the foundation of Head Start, and they have served as a model for state and local early childhood initiatives, including the state of Tennessee’s pre-K program.

This knowledge of the foundations of early childhood development is based on research on the long-term benefits from similar comprehensive programs in the past, including (but not limited to) High Scope, the Abecedarian Project, and the Chicago Parent Study. Over the last 50 years, the original Performance Standards have been strengthened to incorporate new research and higher expectations of program performance and management.

Head Start: Parent Responsibility

Head Start is built upon the understanding that child and family development takes place in a community, and that effective programs build upon and link families with community resources. For this reason, Head Start is designed to link with schools, social service agencies, health services, childcare services — but especially with parents. Parent involvement is part of the comprehensive Head Start approach that makes Head Start parents true partners in the education of their children. Head Start Policy Councils are at least 51% parents, and the shared government structure with Boards requires that parents are not viewed as merely “advisory” councils or “parent-teacher” organizations. If conflicts occur, impasse resolution procedures settle the issues. Head Start directors, recognizing that Policy Councils are vital to a program’s continuing success, sit down with parents to learn their concerns and address their priorities.

Federal studies show that:

  • parents of Head Start children report extremely high levels of satisfaction with Head Start, consistent with findings of the American Customer Satisfaction Index in which Head Start parents gave the program the highest rating of any government program;

  • parents report increases in educational attainment and employment during their time in Head Star, and also report a decline in the number receiving welfare assistance.

Commitment to Quality

The Head Start Performance Standards ensure that young children in all parts of the country receive the same high quality services. The effectiveness of these standards and their implementation by local programs was demonstration conclusively by a federal study that showed head Start:

  • narrows the gap in vocabulary and writing skills between children from low-income families and all other children;

  • improves the social skills of Head Start children; and

  • leads to continued improvements in word knowledge, letter recognition, math skills, and writing skills relative to to other children during the kindergarten year.

The study also found that Head Start classrooms continue to be of high quality; that most Head Start teachers have good teaching qualifications; and that the observed quality of classrooms is positively related to child outcomes. That is, better classrooms produce children who do better.

HEAD START

Head Start and Early Head Start are federally funded programs that promote school readiness of children ages 0-5 from eligible families through education, health, social and other supports and services. In 1965, project Head Start was launched as an 8 week summer program serving 561,000 children as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s economic opportunity initiative.

  • They are administered by the Office of Head Start, within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

  • The 1975 Head Start Program Performance Standards, developed in 1975 and revised in 2016, defined high quality services in early childhood education, parent engagement, social services, and health.

  • The effectiveness of these standards and their implementation by local programs was documented conclusively by a federal study that showed Head Start narrows the achievement gap in reading readiness and writing skills between children from low-income families and all other children; and supports the social and emotional development of Head Start children;

 FACTS AND IMPACTS

  • Head Start children make progress towards norms in language, literacy, and math. Head Start children also score at the norm on letter-word knowledge by the end of the year. (Aikens et al., 2013; Bloom and Weiland, 2015)

  • Early Head Start children show significantly better social-emotional, language, and cognitive development. Children who attend Early Head Start and transition to Head Start are more ready for kindergarten than children who do not attend Head Start. (Love et al., 2002)

  • The Head Start Impact Study found Head Start children scored better than a control group of children in all measured domains of cognitive and social-emotional development. (U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, 2010)

  • Head Start children in foster care or other non-parental care are more ready for school. (Lipscomb et al., 2013)

  • Head Start children have better social skills, impulse control, and approaches to learning. Head Start children also decrease their problem behaviors, such as aggression and hyperactivity. (Aikens et al., 2013)

  • Obese, overweight, or underweight children who participate in Head Start have a significantly healthier BMI by kindergarten entry. (Lumeng et al., 2015)

  • Children in Early Head Start are more likely to be immunized and have services for children with disabilities (Love et al., 2002).

  • Head Start children are more likely to receive dental checkups and have healthy eating patterns than non-participants. They have lower body mass index (BMI) scores and are less likely to be overweight compared to children in other non-parental care. (Lee et al., 2013)

  • Children show additional gains in social-emotional development as a result of participating in Head Start at both 3 and 4 years old. (Aikens et al., 2013)

Head Start is built upon the understanding that the development of young children is deeply influenced by the family, by their community, by their health — as well as the educational experiences to which they are exposed. These support innovative strategies with other state and local early childhood initiatives and collaborative partnerships with various entities, including the state of Tennessee’s pre-K program.

Tennessee’s Head Start programs serve approximately 20,000 children and their families every year with comprehensive education, social and health programs for children, and programs for family and community engagement with the goal of facilitating school readiness. Head Start classrooms are operated by government, private, faith-based and community based organizations in nearly every county in the state directly or through Child Care partnerships or other collaborative arrangements.  Head Start operates in pre-school centers staffed by loving, well-trained teachers, family support advocates, and others staff most of whom hold a college degree.

Tennessee Head Start also targets children in families experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, as well as children with disabilities.

HEAD START AFFILIATIONS

HEAD START STATE COLLABORATION OFFICE

Head Start Collaboration Offices (HSCOs) exist “to facilitate collaboration provide a structure to leverage their common interests around young children and their families to formulate, implement, and improve state and local policy and practices.” These partnerships are intended to:

  • Assist in building early childhood systems

  • Provide access to comprehensive services and support for all low-income children

  • Encourage widespread collaboration between Head Start and other appropriate programs, services, and initiatives

  • Augment Head Start’s capacity to be a partner in state initiatives on behalf of children and their families

  • Facilitate the involvement of Head Start in state policies, plans, processes, and decisions affecting target populations and other low-income families are formalized

*For more information contact the Collaboration Office at 615-532-4731   tn.gov/education

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