The Power of Where We Work/Education Reform

Head Start Performance Standards that we address in 9 months.

Subpart A—Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment, and Attendance

1302.10 - This subpart describes requirements of grantees for determining community strengths, needs and resources as well as recruitment areas. It contains requirements and procedures for the eligibility determination, recruitment, selection, enrollment and attendance of children and explains the policy concerning the charging of fees.

1302.11 - (a) Service area. (1) A program must propose a service area in the grant application and define the area by county or sub-county area, such as a municipality, town or census tract or jurisdiction of a federally recognized Indian reservation.

(i) A tribal program may propose a service area that includes areas where members of Indian tribes or those eligible for such membership reside, including but not limited to Indian reservation land, areas designated as near-reservation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provided that the service area is approved by the tribe’s governing council, Alaska Native Villages, Alaska Native Regional Corporations with land-based authorities, Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas, and Tribal Designated Statistical Areas where federally recognized Indian tribes do not have a federally established reservation.

(ii) If the tribe’s service area includes any area specified in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section, and that area is also served by another program, the tribe may serve children from families who are members of or eligible to be members of such tribe and who reside in such areas as well as children from families who are not members of the tribe, but who reside within the tribe’s established service area.

(2) If a program decides to change the service area after ACF has approved its grant application, the program must submit to ACF a new service area proposal for approval.

(b) Community wide strategic planning and needs assessment (community assessment). (1) To design a program that meets community needs, and builds on strengths and resources, a program must conduct a community assessment at least once over the five-year grant period. The community assessment must use data that describes community strengths, needs, and resources and include, at a minimum:

(i) The number of eligible infants, toddlers, preschool age children, and expectant mothers, including their geographic location, race, ethnicity, and languages they speak, including:

(A) Children experiencing homelessness in collaboration with, to the extent possible, McKinney-Vento Local Education Agency Liaisons (42 U.S.C. 11432 (6)(A));

(B) Children in foster care; and

(C) Children with disabilities, including types of disabilities and relevant services and resources provided to these children by community agencies;

(ii) The education, health, nutrition and social service needs of eligible children and their families, including prevalent social or economic factors that impact their well-being;

(iii) Typical work, school, and training schedules of parents with eligible children;

(iv) Other child development, child care centers, and family child care programs that serve eligible children, including home visiting, publicly funded state and local preschools, and the approximate number of eligible children served;

(v) Resources that are available in the community to address the needs of eligible children and their families; and,

(vi) Strengths of the community.

(2) A program must annually review and update the community assessment to reflect any significant changes including increased availability of publicly-funded pre-kindergarten- (including an assessment of how the pre-kindergarten available in the community meets the needs of the parents and children served by the program, and whether it is offered for a full school day), rates of family and child homelessness, and significant shifts in community demographics and resources.

(3) A program must consider whether the characteristics of the community allow it to include children from diverse economic backgrounds that would be supported by other funding sources, including private pay, in addition to the program’s eligible funded enrollment. A program must not enroll children from diverse economic backgrounds if it would result in a program serving less than its eligible funded enrollment.

Subpart C—Education and Child Development Program Services

1302.34 - (a) Purpose. Center-based and family child care programs must structure education and child development services to recognize parents’ roles as children’s lifelong educators, and to encourage parents to engage in their child’s education.

(b) Engaging parents and family members. A program must offer opportunities for parents and family members to be involved in the program’s education services and implement policies to ensure:

(1) The program’s settings are open to parents during all program hours;

(2) Teachers regularly communicate with parents to ensure they are well-informed about their child’s routines, activities, and behavior;

(3) Teachers hold parent conferences, as needed, but no less than two times per program year, to enhance the knowledge and understanding of both staff and parents of the child’s education and developmental progress and activities in the program;

(4) Parents have the opportunity to learn about and to provide feedback on selected curricula and instructional materials used in the program;

(5) Parents and family members have opportunities to volunteer in the class and during group activities;

(6) Teachers inform parents, about the purposes of and the results from screenings and assessments and discuss their child’s progress;

(7) Teachers, except those described in paragraph (b)(8) of this section, conduct at least two home visits per program year for each family, including one before the program year begins, if feasible, to engage the parents in the child’s learning and development, except that such visits may take place at a program site or another safe location that affords privacy at the parent’s request, or if a visit to the home presents significant safety hazards for staff; and,

(8) Teachers that serve migrant or seasonal families make every effort to conduct home visits to engage the family in the child’s learning and development.

 Subpart D—Health Program Services

1302.41 Collaboration and communication with parents. - (a) For all activities described in this part, programs must collaborate with parents as partners in the health and well-being of their children in a linguistically and culturally appropriate manner and communicate with parents about their child’s health needs and development concerns in a timely and effective manner.

(b) At a minimum, a program must:

(1) Obtain advance authorization from the parent or other person with legal authority for all health and developmental procedures administered through the program or by contract or agreement, and, maintain written documentation if they refuse to give authorization for health services; and,

(2) Share with parents the policies for health emergencies that require rapid response on the part of staff or immediate medical attention.

1302.46 Family support services for health, nutrition, and mental health.  - (a) Parent collaboration. Programs must collaborate with parents to promote children’s health and well-being by providing medical, oral, nutrition and mental health education support services that are understandable to individuals, including individuals with low health literacy.

(b) Opportunities. (1) Such collaboration must include opportunities for parents to:

(i) Learn about preventive medical and oral health care, emergency first aid, environmental hazards, and health and safety practices for the home including health and developmental consequences of tobacco products use and exposure to lead, and safe sleep;

(ii) Discuss their child’s nutritional status with staff, including the importance of physical activity, healthy eating, and the negative health consequences of sugar-sweetened beverages, and how to select and prepare nutritious foods that meet the family’s nutrition and food budget needs;

(iii) Learn about healthy pregnancy and postpartum care, as appropriate, including breastfeeding support and treatment options for parental mental health or substance use problems, including perinatal depression;

(iv) Discuss with staff and identify issues related to child mental health and social and emotional well-being, including observations and any concerns about their child’s mental health, typical and atypical behavior and development, and how to appropriately respond to their child and promote their child’s social and emotional development; and,

(v) Learn about appropriate vehicle and pedestrian safety for keeping children safe.

(2) A program must provide ongoing support to assist parents’ navigation through health systems to meet the general health and specifically identified needs of their children and must assist parents:

(i) In understanding how to access health insurance for themselves and their families, including information about private and public health insurance and designated enrollment periods;

(ii) In understanding the results of diagnostic and treatment procedures as well as plans for ongoing care; and,

(iii) In familiarizing their children with services they will receive while enrolled in the program and to enroll and participate in a system of ongoing family health care.

Subpart E—Family and Community Engagement Program Services

1302.50 Family engagement. - (a) Purpose. A program must integrate parent and family engagement strategies into all systems and program services to support family well-being and promote children’s learning and development. Programs are encouraged to develop innovative two-generation approaches that address prevalent needs of families across their program that may leverage community partnerships or other funding sources.

(b) Family engagement approach. A program must:

(1) Recognize parents as their children’s primary teachers and nurturers and implement intentional strategies to engage parents in their children’s learning and development and support parent-child relationships, including specific strategies for father engagement;

(2) Develop relationships with parents and structure services to encourage trust and respectful, ongoing two-way communication between staff and parents to create welcoming program environments that incorporate the unique cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds of families in the program and community;

(3) Collaborate with families in a family partnership process that identifies needs, interests, strengths, goals, and services and resources that support family well-being, including family safety, health, and economic stability;

(4) Provide parents with opportunities to participate in the program as employees or volunteers;

(5) Conduct family engagement services in the family’s preferred language, or through an interpreter, to the extent possible, and ensure families have the opportunity to share personal information in an environment in which they feel safe; and,

(6) Implement procedures for teachers, home visitors, and family support staff to share information with each other, as appropriate and consistent with the requirements in part 1303 subpart C, of this chapter; FERPA; or IDEA, to ensure coordinated family engagement strategies with children and families in the classroom, home, and community.

 1302.51 Parent activities to promote child learning and development - (a) A program must promote shared responsibility with parents for children’s early learning and development, and implement family engagement strategies that are designed to foster parental confidence and skills in promoting children’s learning and development. These strategies must include:

(1) Offering activities that support parent-child relationships and child development including language, dual language, literacy, and bi-literacy development as appropriate;

(2) Providing parents with information about the importance of their child’s regular attendance, and partner with them, as necessary, to promote consistent attendance; and,

(3) For dual language learners, information and resources for parents about the benefits of bilingualism and biliteracy.

(b) A program must, at a minimum, offer opportunities for parents to participate in a research-based parenting curriculum that builds on parents’ knowledge and offers parents the opportunity to practice parenting skills to promote children’s learning and development. A program that chooses to make significant adaptations to the parenting curriculum to better meet the needs of one or more specific populations must work with an expert or experts to develop such adaptations.

1302.52 Family partnership services. - (a) Family partnership process. A program must implement a family partnership process that includes a family partnership agreement and the activities described in this section to support family well-being, including family safety, health, and economic stability, to support child learning and development, to provide, if applicable, services and supports for children with disabilities, and to foster parental confidence and skills that promote the early learning and development of their children. The process must be initiated as early in the program year as possible and continue for as long as the family participates in the program, based on parent interest and need.

(b) Identification of family strengths and needs. A program must implement intake and family assessment procedures to identify family strengths and needs related to the family engagement outcomes as described in the Head Start Parent Family and Community Engagement Framework, including family well-being, parent-child relationships, families as lifelong educators, families as learners, family engagement in transitions, family connections to peers and the local community, and families as advocates and leaders.

(c) Individualized family partnership services. A program must offer individualized family partnership services that:

(1) Collaborate with families to identify interests, needs, and aspirations related to the family engagement outcomes described in paragraph (b) of this section;

(2) Help families achieve identified individualized family engagement outcomes;

(3) Establish and implement a family partnership agreement process that is jointly developed and shared with parents in which staff and families to review individual progress, revise goals, evaluate and track whether identified needs and goals are met, and adjust strategies on an ongoing basis, as necessary, and;

(4) Assign staff and resources based on the urgency and intensity of identified family needs and goals.

(d) Existing plans and community resources. In implementing this section, a program must take into consideration any existing plans for the family made with other community agencies and availability of other community resources to address family needs, strengths, and goals, in order to avoid duplication of effort.

1302.53 Community partnerships and coordination with other early childhood and education programs. - (a) Community partnerships. (1) A program must establish ongoing collaborative relationships and partnerships with community organizations such as establishing joint agreements, procedures, or contracts and arranging for onsite delivery of services as appropriate, to facilitate access to community services that are responsive to children’s and families’ needs and family partnership goals, and community needs and resources, as determined by the community assessment.

(2) A program must establish necessary collaborative relationships and partnerships, with community organizations that may include:

(i) Health care providers, including child and adult mental health professionals, Medicaid managed care networks, dentists, other health professionals, nutritional service providers, providers of prenatal and postnatal support, and substance abuse treatment providers;

(ii) Individuals and agencies that provide services to children with disabilities and their families, elementary schools, state preschool providers, and providers of child care services;

(iii) Family preservation and support services and child protective services and any other agency to which child abuse must be reported under state or tribal law;

(iv) Educational and cultural institutions, such as libraries and museums, for both children and families;

(v) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, nutrition assistance agencies, workforce development and training programs, adult or family literacy, adult education, and post-secondary education institutions, and agencies or financial institutions that provide asset-building education, products and services to enhance family financial stability and savings;

(vi) Housing assistance agencies and providers of support for children and families experiencing homelessness, including the local educational agency liaison designated under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.);

(vii) Domestic violence prevention and support providers; and,

(viii) Other organizations or businesses that may provide support and resources to families.

(b) Coordination with other programs and systems. A program must take an active role in promoting coordinated systems of comprehensive early childhood services to low-income children and families in their community through communication, cooperation, and the sharing of information among agencies and their community partners, while protecting the privacy of child records in accordance with subpart C of part 1303 of this chapter and applicable federal, state, local, and tribal laws.

(1) Memorandum of understanding. To support coordination between Head Start and publicly funded preschool programs, a program must enter into a memorandum of understanding with the appropriate local entity responsible for managing publicly funded preschool programs in the service area of the program, as described in section 642(e)(5) of the Act.

(2) Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. A program, with the exception of American Indian and Alaska Native programs, must participate in its state or local Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) if:

(i) Its state or local QRIS accepts Head Start monitoring data to document quality indicators included in the state’s tiered system;

(ii) Participation would not impact a program’s ability to comply with the Head Start Program Performance Standards; and,

(iii) The program has not provided the Office of Head Start with a compelling reason not to comply with this requirement.

(3) Data systems. A program, with the exception of American Indian and Alaska Native programs unless they would like to and to the extent practicable, should integrate and share relevant data with state education data systems, to the extent practicable, if the program can receive similar support and benefits as other participating early childhood programs.

(4) American Indian and Alaska Native programs. An American Indian and Alaska Native program should determine whether or not it will participate in the systems described in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this section.

Subpart G—Transition Services

1302.70 Transitions from Early Head Start. - (a) Implementing transition strategies and practices. An Early Head Start program must implement strategies and practices to support successful transitions for children and their families transitioning out of Early Head Start.

(b) Timing for transitions. To ensure the most appropriate placement and service following participation in Early Head Start, such programs must, at least six months prior to each child’s third birthday, implement transition planning for each child and family that:

(1) Takes into account the child’s developmental level and health and disability status, progress made by the child and family while in Early Head Start, current and changing family circumstances and, the availability of Head Start, other public pre-kindergarten, and other early education and child development services in the community that will meet the needs of the child and family; and,

(2) Transitions the child into Head Start or another program as soon as possible after the child’s third birthday but permits the child to remain in Early Head Start for a limited number of additional months following the child’s third birthday if necessary for an appropriate transition.

(c) Family collaborations. A program must collaborate with parents of Early Head Start children to implement strategies and activities that support successful transitions from Early Head Start and, at a minimum, provide information about the child’s progress during the program year and provide strategies for parents to continue their involvement in and advocacy for the education and development of their child.

(d) Early Head Start and Head Start collaboration. Early Head Start and Head Start programs must work together to maximize enrollment transitions from Early Head Start to Head Start, consistent with the eligibility provisions in subpart A, and promote successful transitions through collaboration and communication.

(e) Transition services for children with an IFSP. A program must provide additional transition services for children with an IFSP, at a minimum, as described in subpart F of this part.

1302.71 Transitions from Head Start to kindergarten. - (a) Implementing transition strategies and practices. A program that serves children who will enter kindergarten in the following year must implement transition strategies to support a successful transition to kindergarten.

(b) Family collaborations for transitions. (1) A program must collaborate with parents of enrolled children to implement strategies and activities that will help parents advocate for and promote successful transitions to kindergarten for their children, including their continued involvement in the education and development of their child.

(2) At a minimum, such strategies and activities must:

(i) Help parents understand their child’s progress during Head Start;

(ii) Help parents understand practices they use to effectively provide academic and social support for their children during their transition to kindergarten and foster their continued involvement in the education of their child;

(iii) Prepare parents to exercise their rights and responsibilities concerning the education of their children in the elementary school setting, including services and supports available to children with disabilities and various options for their child to participate in language instruction educational programs; and,

(iv) Assist parents in the ongoing communication with teachers and other school personnel so that parents can participate in decisions related to their children’s education.

(c) Community collaborations for transitions. (1) A program must collaborate with local education agencies to support family engagement under section 642(b)(13) of the Act and state departments of education, as appropriate, and kindergarten teachers to implement strategies and activities that promote successful transitions to kindergarten for children, their families, and the elementary school.

(2) At a minimum, such strategies and activities must include:

(i) Coordination with schools or other appropriate agencies to ensure children’s relevant records are transferred to the school or next placement in which a child will enroll, consistent with privacy requirements in subpart C of part 1303 of this chapter;

(ii) Communication between appropriate staff and their counterparts in the schools to facilitate continuity of learning and development, consistent with privacy requirements in subpart C of part 1303 of this chapter; and,

(iii) Participation, as possible, for joint training and professional development activities for Head Start and kindergarten teachers and staff.

(3) A program that does not operate during the summer must collaborate with school districts to determine the availability of summer school programming for children who will be entering kindergarten and work with parents and school districts to enroll children in such programs, as appropriate.

(d) Learning environment activities. A program must implement strategies and activities in the learning environment that promote successful transitions to kindergarten for enrolled children, and at a minimum, include approaches that familiarize children with the transition to kindergarten and foster confidence about such transition.

(e) Transition services for children with an IEP. A program must provide additional transition services for children with an IEP, at a minimum, as described in subpart F of this part.

1302.72 Transitions between programs. - (a) For families and children who move out of the community in which they are currently served, including homeless families and foster children, a program must undertake efforts to support effective transitions to other Early Head Start or Head Start programs. If Early Head Start or Head Start is not available, the program should assist the family to identify another early childhood program that meets their needs.

(b) A program that serves children whose families have decided to transition them to other early education programs, including public pre-kindergarten, in the year prior to kindergarten entry must undertake strategies and activities described in §1302.71(b) and (c)(1) and (2), as practicable and appropriate.

(c) A migrant or seasonal Head Start program must undertake efforts to support effective transitions to other migrant or seasonal Head Start or, if appropriate, Early Head Start or Head Start programs for families and children moving out of the community in which they are currently served.