Conclusion

This report is a first step towards ensuring that the Head Start Program of the 21st Century:

The Advisory Committee:

Believes that the recommendations and principles set forth in this report must inform Head Start program decisions at all levels. The recommendations must guide priorities and use of existing as well as new resources to ensure quality services that children need to enter school ready to learn and families need to achieve self-sufficiency;

Supports the goal of ensuring that all eligible children and families receive high quality Head Start services, that programs are tailored to meet the needs of families and communities, and that sufficient resources are made available to meet these goals; and

Recommends that the Department of Health and Human Services act promptly to develop an implementation plan based on the ideas set forth in this report. First priority should be given to ensuring quality and striving for excellence. The process of setting priorities should also ensure progress on the second and third goals: expanding to better meet the needs of children and families and forging new partnerships.

Recommends that the implementation and priority setting process should draw on the best available information and input from Head Start and the larger early childhood community.

In concluding, the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion urges the Department to see this report as , a step in an overall effort to improve early childhood and family support services for all children in the United States, and particularly for those most vulnerable. HHS should continue to show leadership in looking across programs to ensure that policies consistently promote quality services for young children and their families.

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1974). Is early education effective? In M. Guttentag and E. Struening (Eds.), Handbook of Evaluation Research. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications.

Brush, L., Gaidurgis, A., & Best, C. (1993). Indices of Head Start program quality. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth, and Families.

Collins, R.C. (1992). Head Start facilities study. Alexandria, Virginia:
National Head Start Association.

Datta, L.E. (1979). Another spring and other hopes: Some of the findings from national evaluations of Head Start. In E. Zigler and J. Valentine (Eds.), Project Head Start: A legacy of the war on poverty. New York:
Free Press.

Goodman, I.F., & Brady, J.P. (1988). The challenge of coordination: Head Start's relationship to state-funded preschool initiatives. Washington,
D.C.: Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

Gore, A. (1993). Creating a government that works better and costs less. Report of the National Performance Review. Washington, DC.

Hamburg, D. (1992). A decent start: Promoting healthy child development in the first three years of life. New York: The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Haskins, R. (1989). Beyond metaphor: The efficacy of early childhood education. American Psychologist, 44, 274-282.

Jargowsky, P. (1993). Calculations based on 1990 Census summary tape file 3A.

Kagan, S.L. (1991). United we stand collaboration for child care and early education services. New York: Teachers College Press.

Lally, R., Mangione, P.L., & Honig, A.S. (1987). Long range impact of early intervention with low-income children and their families. Sausalito, California: Far West Laboratories. Olds, D.C., Henderson, C.R., Chamberlin, R., & Tatelbaum, R. (1986). Preventing child abuse and neglect: A randomized trial of home nurse visitation. Pediatrics, 78, 865-78.

Ramey, S. L., & Ramey, C. T. (1992). Early educational intervention with disadvantaged children to what effect? Applied and Preventive Psychology, 1, 131-140.

Schweinhart, I., Barnes, H., & Weikart, D. (1993). Significant benefits. The High Scope Perry preschool study through age 27. Ypsilanti, Michigan:
The High Scope Press.

Seitz, V. (1990). Intervention programs for impoverished children: A comparison of educational and family support models. Annals of Child Development, 7, 73-103.

U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-60-185. (1993). Poverty in the United States: 1992. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (February, 1993). Profile of preschool children's child care and early education program participation. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.

U.S. Department of Education. (1993). The congressionally mandated study of educational growth and opportunity: The interim report. Washington, DC. :U,S. Department of Education.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. (1988). Head Start salary study. Unpublished report.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. (1990). Head Start research and evaluation: A blueprint for the future. Recommendations of the Advisory Panel for Head Start Evaluation Design Project. Washington, D.C.: Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. (1993). Project Head Start statistical fact sheet. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Human Development Services. (September, 1980). Head Start in the 1980s. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. (September, 1993). Summarization of concerns with the financial management and control structures found at Head Start grantees. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. (May, 1993). Evaluating Head Start expansion through performance indicators, (OEI-09-91-00762). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. (May, 1993). Head Start Expansion: Grantees Experiences, (OEI-09-91 00760). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. General Accounting Office. (July, 1993). Poor preschool-aged children: Numbers increase but most not in preschool, (GAO/HRD-93-222BR). Washington, D.C.: U.S. General Accounting Office.

Zero to Three: The National Center for Clinical Infant Programs. (1992). Heart Start: The emotional foundations of school readiness. Arlington, VA: Author.

Zigler, E., & Styfco, S .J. (in press). Do research and theory justify Head Start's expansion? Social Policy Reports.

For additional references see Selected Head Start related references by minority scholars, prepared for the National Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, October, 1993.

Figures in this report are based on the following data sources: Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, and 11 are based on the Program Information Report; Figures 5, 8, and 10 are based on Head Start COST data; Figures 6 and 7 are based on the Project Head Start Statistical Fact Sheet, January 1993; and Figure 12 is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Project Head Start Statistical Fact Sheet.

Acknowledgments

Many people contributed their thoughts, ideas, and support to this report. We are particularly grateful to the Head Start parents and staff who testified during the Head Start Parent Involvement Coordinators Institute held in Washington, D.C.; to members of the Head Start community and other experts who served as participants in the focus groups and as resources to the Subcommittees; and to the hundreds of people and organizations across the country who provided specific input to the Advisory Committee through letters and phone calls.

We also extend our sincere appreciation to the staff of the Head Start Bureau, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, for their willingness to provide information and suggestions to our endless questions. Finally, we are grateful for the support provided by Ellsworth Associates as they assisted in the coordination of the logistics of the Advisory Committee as well as the preparation of the final report.

The Advisory Committee believes that this report is the first step in a process that will continue to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the Head Start Program. We urge all those with reactions and suggestions to this report to continue to provide input to this important effort. The children and families we serve across the country are depending on all of us to help create the very best Head Start program ever as we move into the 21st Century.


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