Head Start Works: The Facts
Fact Sheets - Enrollments - Funding - Reforms
Click a state or territory to download its Head Start and Early Head Start fact sheet.
FY2013 Continuing Resolution - $7,968,543,933
FY 2013 (Post-Sequestration Estimate) - $7,315,123,331
*Does not include ARRA funds which increased funding by $2,100,000,000 in FY 2009 and FY 2010 ($577,000,000 in FY2009 and $1,523,000,000 in FY 2010)
All numbers except for FY 2013 estimates come from Administration for Children and Families Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees (FY 2010, FY 2011, FY 2012, and FY 2013)
*Excludes ARRA expansion funds which expanded Early Head Start by 48,041 and Head Start by 13,037 in FY 2009 and FY 2010
All numbers come from Administration for Children and Families Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees (FY 2010, FY 2011, FY 2012)
FY13 Enrollment cannot be estimated at this time (September, 2012).
Reform in Head Start Since the Head Start Act of 2007
Head Start and Early Head Start have seen significant reforms in the past 3.5 years. The majority of these reforms are a direct result of the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, which passed with strong bipartisan support. While several of these changes had begun to be implemented as early as 2008, the most significant changes have occurred in the past two years.
First,
the Office of Head Start announced and implemented “The Head Start Roadmap to Excellence.” The roadmap set the vision and priorities of the Office of Head Start specifically focusing on developing a stronger Child Outcomes Framework, a more responsive and thorough Training and Technical Assistance network, and a pathway to excellence for all of Head Start and Early Head Start.
Second,
as a result of a GAO report uncovering inconsistencies in enrollment practices, the Office of Head Start began conducting unannounced monitoring visits of Head Start and Early Head Start programs in the summer of 2010. The unannounced visits focus on a few different areas of compliance and are in addition to the regular exhaustive triennial review process for Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Subsequent reporting from HHS and GAO shows that steps have been taken to clarify and strengthen the regulations, and that programs have shown marked improvements in this key accountability measure.
Finally, and most significantly,
the Office of Head Start has created and implemented the Designation Renewal System, as mandated by the 2007 Head Start Act. The DRS, also known as recompetition, is a process where grantees which are not considered to be the highest performing grantees will not have their grant automatically renewed at the end of its term (every 5 years). The grant for that service area will be available through an open competition, meaning any provider in the community including the current grantee, can apply for the grant. The first round of competitions took place in the summer of 2012 and a second round is expected to be announced soon. This is arguably the biggest and most impactful reform to Head Start since the creation of Early Head Start.
Other significant reforms that were developed in the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 are:
Teacher Certification The Act dictated that by 9/30/12 at least 50% of Head Start teachers have a Bachelor’s (BA) or advanced degree in early childhood, or in a related area with pre-school teaching experience. In addition, 100% of teachers who did not have a BA (or advanced degree) had to have at an Associate’s degree by 2011. Stricter qualifications were also created for Education Coordinators and Head Start teacher assistants. These requirements were intended to provide Head Start children with high quality educational experiences; research indicates that the highest outcomes for children are associated with BA teachers. Despite a number of barriers, by 2011, 57% of Head Start teachers nationally had reached these new, higher standards, and that number continues to grow.
MOUs with Local School Districts As of 12/12/08, each Head Start program is required to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with its local school district(s). These agreements allow programs and schools to work together to ensure that children and families transition smoothly to kindergarten and that children with disabilities are quickly identified and have their needs met.
CLASS Assessment Tool for Classroom Improvement As described above, while the Office of Head Start has long had the power to defund failing programs, the Act called for concrete measures by which to identify low functioning programs. In addition to the various financial management-related standards programs must meet, the CLASS assessment tool was introduced as one way of identifying high and low quality programs by evaluating teacher-child interactions, and has informed professional development across the Head Start system. On a survey conducted by NHSA in spring 2012, 92% of responding programs reported using the CLASS tool.
Population While Head Start has historically served the most vulnerable children, the 2007 act made homeless children categorically eligible, regardless of income. As a result, the number of homeless children served nearly doubled from 2007 to 2012, to almost 50,000 children. The Act also enabled programs to propose to convert pre-school age slots to infant and toddler slots, which allowed them to flexibly respond to need in their communities, especially where state pre-K was able to serve greater numbers of older children.
Scientifically Valid Curricula While Head Start programs had always striven for excellence, the Act explicitly stated that all programs implement scientifically valid curricula. This stipulation ensures that children’s learning experiences are of the highest quality and are age and developmentally appropriate.
Centers of Excellence Since 2010, twenty programs across the country have been designated as Centers of Excellence and have received funding to disseminate their innovative and effective practices in the areas of social-emotional support, parent engagement, teacher mentoring, curriculum development, and more.
These extensive reforms have program quality improvement as a major goal, and as a result of their implementation, Head Start and Early Head Start lead in delivering high quality early childhood education for children and families with income below the federal poverty guidelines, and other vulnerable children (special needs, homeless, English Language Learners, migrant, foster children, and others).