"Covering Early Childhood Learning: New challenges for Head Start"

HEAD START: QUICK FACTS

• Year founded: 1965
• Children and pregnant women served: More than 1 million in 2007-08
• Funding: $7.2 billion in regular appropriations (2009) and $2.1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds (for 2009 and 2010)

IMMEDIATE AND UPCOMING ISSUES

• In recent years, Head Start has worked to improve its offerings by strengthening the program's academics, increasing the number of instructors with college degrees and collaborating more with state-funded programs. Some experts argue that Head Start quality is still so inconsistent across the nation that it needs a complete overhaul.
   
• The Head Start Impact Study is expected to be released soon. It's easy for journalists to boil the study down to headlines, but advocates say those don't tell the whole story. Outcomes are often compared to national averages rather than to students in similar socioeconomic situations.
   
• Some states are restructuring their early childhood education initiatives into more coordinated efforts. Some have moved Pre-K to the education department from human services, and vice-versa. And some states have even created new agencies devoted to early education.
   
• In June 2009, the federal stimulus act provided funds for states to create Early Childhood Advisory Councils, which aim to help develop a continuum of services across various early childhood learning programs. (More info here.)

HEAD START'S CHALLENGES

• Increasing the number of Head Start teachers with bachelor's degrees by 2013, considering the additional time and costs. 
• Tracking where stimulus dollars are going and what is being done with them. Not all of the money is going to help with quality and the reporting requirements are difficult to navigate. 
• Forming new relationships on the state and local levels, in addition to the federal level. 
• People from the older generation are starting to forget the excitement around the original Head Start movement. 
• Making sure students are achieving school readiness, which goes beyond academics to things such as health, nutrition and parental support.
    

STORY IDEAS

• Profile on a longtime Head Start worker who is going back to school to meet the training requirements. What is the transition like? Does he or she feel children will benefit more from a more educated teacher?
• What is the parental involvement like at Head Start centers? Do parents know what is being taught in the program? How are they being asked to contribute?
• Is the state providing any support to Head Start programs to enhance quality, such as professional development?
• Were Head Start parents Head Start students themselves? How do they think the experience has changed over the years?
• What does an Early Head Start program look like? How is it aligned with Head Start and beyond?
• How do states organize and oversee their early childhood education? Is there a unified system being developed to align ECE both vertically and horizontally?
• What is happening to address the capital needs (technology and facilities) in your community's pre-K system?

SOURCES

• Yasmina Vinci, executive director, National Head Start Association
• Harriet Dichter, deputy secretary, Office of Child Development and Early Learning, State of Pennsylvania
• Chester Finn Jr., president, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
   

Claire Cummings is an educator reporter for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot. She was a fellow for the 2009 JCCF seminar, "Ladder of Success: Covering Early Learning."