Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has made its first comprehensive revision of the rules governing Head Start programs since 1975, and a major change will be a slimmer rulebook.
- NPR reports there are 30% fewer standards with which directors must comply, which should give them time to focus on the most important elements, like professional development and coaching for teachers, better curriculum and assessment, and alignment with a new early learning outcomes framework.
- The government has also set aside an additional $294 million to allow Head Start centers to convert half of their seats to a full-day program by 2019, with the remaining seats moving to a longer schedule by 2021.
Dive Insight:
Head Start is meant to give low-income children younger than five years old access to high-quality preschool programming. One criticism of the program has been its variability, with some centers making a significant lasting impact on students’ future achievement and others’ falling short. For fiscal year 2016, the federal government appropriated $9.17 billion for Head Start.
As the nation considers the best ways to prepare students for kindergarten and ensure their long-term success, the Head Start program is sure to see additional changes and improvements. The Learning Policy Institute recently highlighted particularly good early childhood education programs in four states. The commonalities across the programs included capped class sizes at between 18 and 20 students, one teacher for every eight to 10 children and high expectations for teacher preparation.