Part II
Forging New Partnerships

As Head Start improves and expands, it must fit into an increasingly complex array of federal, state, and community level services and resources available to low-income children and families. The Advisory Committee believes that the time is ripe for reinvigorated efforts to expand and improve all early childhood services. The Congress is poised to act on important education, health, welfare, and Head Start legislation; the Governors and state legislators continue to be focused on making progress towards the education goals; and overall, policymakers and practitioners have a greater understanding of the importance of the 0-8 period and a new vision of systemic early childhood education reform.

Step 1: Providing continuity and coordination with schools.

The Advisory Committee believes that high quality comprehensive services should be provided from Head Start through the primary grades. The Committee believes that if there is a break in the continuity of such services, it is disruptive to parents and children and can threaten potential gains.

For these reasons the Advisory Committee affirms the vision of the National Task Force on School Readiness which moved beyond a goal of "transition" as filling the gap between two different types of programs, and set forth a goal of ensuring developmentally appropriate education services, parent involvement, and supportive services for children from birth through the primary grades. It also recognizes that improvement in teaching and learning in our nation's schools, as well as strengthening the contributions of Head Start and other preschool programs are essential to ensuring the success of children.

The Advisory Committee believes that progress to achieve this new vision of continuous high quality comprehensive services will require changed roles and relationships at the federal, state, and local levels - changes that ultimately must extend beyond Head Start and particular federal education programs to include the range of preschool and early childhood education programs designed to meet the needs of young children.

The Advisory Committee also believes that there are important overlaps between the central themes of this report and those guiding current school reform efforts. Both systems are grappling with many of the same important issues, such as:

The Advisory Committee believes that, as both systems work to address these issues, there will be increased opportunities for expanded discussions and collaborations at both the federal and local level, as well as the dissemination of promising practices from programs working jointly to improve services for children and families.

In order to stimulate discussion and collaborative activity, and to improve both Head Start and schools to better serve young children, the Advisory Committee recommends the following eight actions:

Action: Promote high standards, responsive assessment, professional development, effective parent involvement, supportive services, and an opportunity for all children to achieve their potential in our nation's schools.

Just as the recommendations in this report call for improvements in the quality of Head Start services, federal education dollars should be used to foster these kinds of reforms in schools which ensure that gains made by children who have participated in the Head Start program are sustained.

The Advisory Committee believes that all parts of the school community teachers, parents, administrators, and other staff must work together to create high quality education programs and an environment in which teachers are highly trained, parents are actively involved, and all children are safe, healthy, respected, challenged, and achieving toward high standards.

The Advisory Committee recommends that changes be made in federal, state, and local policies to better meet the developmental needs of children and to support the involvement and participation of their families.

Action: Provide training and technical assistance to Head Start directors and staff and public school administrators and staff on transition, jointly wherever possible.

Head Start directors and component coordinators and Public School principals and other administrators need training and technical assistance on how to link Head Start and the schools better and on how to ensure continuity of services. Such training should be coordinated with similar efforts sponsored by the Department of Education and could include such areas as:

Action: Ensure that Head Start parents receive training in how to work with the public schools to support their child's education.

Head Start parents can be important change agents as their children move on to the public schools. Head Start programs must help parents to understand how the public schools operate and provide techniques for communicating with teachers and other school personnel, influencing school policy, and supporting their child's school work at home. Parent education on their rights and responsibilities is particularly important for parents of children with disabilities as well as migrant and Indian parents.

Action: Encourage linkages between Head Start and Even Start and other Family Literacy Initiatives.

The 1992 Head Start Improvement Act required that all Head Start programs develop a plan to address the literacy needs of Head Start parents. Even Start and other state and local family literacy programs provide an important opportunity to expand their literacy components. Efforts should continue in the Even Start program to ensure strong collaboration with Head Start services. Head Start programs should be encouraged to link with existing family literacy initiatives or develop such services as an integral part of Head Start services.

Action: Continue the Head Start Transition Projects.

The 1990 Head Start Act provided $20 million dollars to establish model Head Start transition projects with public schools. These projects are already beginning to document promising practices and to serve as a national laboratory for improving both Head Start and the schools. These projects should be continued and efforts made by HHS and the Department of Education to work together to provide technical assistance to enable communities to implement promising practices emerging from these demonstrations.

Action: Revise Head Start Performance Standards and/or guidance to address transition.

Since the Head Start Performance Standards were developed in the mid-1970s, there have been a number of promising practices which have emerged regarding planning for school transition. Head Start standards and/or guidance should be reviewed and revised to reflect this new knowledge and experience and should clarify the responsibilities of the Head Start director and other education, health, family support, and parent involvement staff in the promotion of ongoing communication and continuity as Head Start children move on to public schools.

The new Head Start Performance Standards on Disabilities Services does specify planning and partnerships and interagency agreements with Local Education Agencies. Any new efforts to include guidance on transition should review these provisions and any other policy guidance on transition to assure consistency.

Action: Establish an ongoing structure and capacity for federal interagency coordination between Head Start, the Department of Education and other relevant agencies.

There is currently no ongoing mechanism to promote collaboration at the federal level between Health and Human Services and the Department of Education. Although several collaborative initiatives have emerged over the years, these have been sporadic and largely uncoordinated. The change in Administration and the pending reauthorization of Head Start, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) provides an opportune time to re-affirm relationships and establish new mechanisms for collaboration. The Federal Interagency Coordinating Council (FICC), a currently mandated collaborative effort to improve and coordinate programs serving children with disabilities, could serve as a model. Any new interagency group should include representatives from Head Start, OSEP, Title I, Migrant Ed, BIA, Maternal and Child Health, the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, and other relevant agencies.

Action: Continue and expand linkages between Head Start and federal, state, and local programs that meet the needs of children with disabilities.

Important initiatives have been launched over the years to help ensure continuity in services for children with disabilities. The following strategies are suggested:

In summary, the Advisory Committee recommends continued and sustained efforts to stimulate discussion and collaborative activity at both the federal and local level around the reform areas common to both Head Start and schools as outlined in this report.

Step 2: Facilitating state and local collaboration.

The Advisory Committee recognizes efforts currently underway in states and communities to create comprehensive systems of family-focused, community-based services for all children. We believe that Head Start can play an important role in these efforts by sharing lessons learned from its years of successful experiences in providing quality comprehensive services to at-risk children and families and by helping to create a broad understanding among policymakers and the general public of the importance of investing in services for young children.

The Advisory Committee believes that it is critical that Head Start fit into the constellation of other services in states and communities. Several recommendations made throughout this report, particularly with regards to Head Start's linkages with child care and with public schools, begin to address this issue. However, the Advisory Committee believes that additional steps should be taken to strengthen Head Start linkages with other services and resources at the state and local level. The following five actions are recommended to advance these goals.

Action: Develop a long-range strategic plan to better link Head Start with other federal, state, and local resources.

The Advisory Committee recommends that HHS set up a series of consultations with national, state, and- local representatives and early childhood and family support experts to design strategies to better link Head Start with other resources. States are currently investing in Head Start services. Others have made investments in other preschool or parenting programs, while still others are working on initiatives to plan and coordinate early childhood services better. As an initial step HHS, in coordination with national organizations representing the states, should convene representatives from key states to learn more about promising practices and to help share information about such initiatives.

Action: Explore the use of incentive grants to facilitate planning and implementation of comprehensive systems of services for young children.

Unlike the early days of Head Start, most states currently invest in early childhood programs. The Advisory Committee believes that HHS should develop mechanisms to stimulate such investments and to encourage states to contribute to the expansion and improvement of Head Start.

HHS should also consider using incentive grants to help states establish interagency children's councils to develop and implement coordinated state plans for early childhood and family support services, prenatal through the primary grades. In those states with existing councils, incentive grants could be used for the implementation of existing plans and to engage representatives from Head Start in systemic reform efforts. At a minimum, such councils should include state and local representatives from education, social services, mental health and health, parents and representatives from Head Start and other community based early childhood programs.

HHS should also consider using incentive grants to encourage unified planning in communities. "Unified plans" can include Head Start, child care resource and referrals, Part H providers, schools, and other relevant groups. The Head Start community needs assessment and planning process can help stimulate such an effort.

Action: Expand the state collaboration grants or explore and develop other mechanisms for promoting better Head Start linkages at the state level.

The Advisory Committee believes that HHS should consider a variety of mechanisms to promote better Head Start linkages including: expansion and improvement of the State Collaboration grants; the development of state networks of component coordinators; and/or the development of partnerships with state training efforts.

Head Start currently funds twenty-two state collaboration grants operated by Governors offices, children's councils or commissions, or departments of education, human services or community and regional affairs. HHS should review all projects to determine their effectiveness to impact state policies in early childhood and encourage further linkages with education, social services, health and mental health, and the private sector.

In considering new projects, HHS should carefully consider placing these grants in Governors' offices to help ensure greater coordination with all services for young children. In addition, any new collaboration projects should be developed with sustained involvement of representatives of the Head Start community in the planning and decision making process. State Head Start Associations could also be considered for possible placement of projects.

HHS should also explore the development of state networks of Head Start component coordinators, including representatives from appropriate state agencies. Such networks would encourage the sharing of best practices, develop a greater understanding of programs and policies available to low-income families, and facilitate linkages across the state.

Finally, to link career development efforts in Head Start more effectively, HHS should explore incentives for developing partnerships with existing state training efforts including linkages with colleges and universities and/or the establishment of state training offices.

Action: Promote better linkages at the local level through the community needs assessment process and training and technical assistance.

The Head Start community needs assessment and planning process cannot be done in isolation from other early childhood and family support providers. The Advisory Committee recommends that more community involvement be required in the Head Start needs assessment and planning process. In addition, renewed efforts are needed to ensure that the assessment tools used by programs reflect this need to reach out to other resources in the community.

As reflected throughout this report, Head Start must fit into the broader system of services for children and families at the local level. Developing collaborative partnerships with other programs and services takes time and special skills. HHS should provide training and technical assistance on the topic of collaboration as they redesign their management training. HHS should also allow programs the staff and resources to forge linkages at the local level and should give careful consideration for additional expansion dollars to those programs that demonstrate efforts in developing partnerships with other agencies.

Action: Develop a clearing house on best practices in early child hood and innovative approaches to delivering services to low-income families.

With its 28 years of experience, Head Start is in a key position to share promising practices to address the needs of low-income families and their children. Lessons learned from the Parent and Child Centers, Family Service Centers, the Head Start Transition Programs, the Comprehensive Child Development Programs, and a host of other innovations including those in other early childhood and family support programs can help inform the development of state and local services across the country. Unfortunately, this information is not generally available to policymakers or program operators. HHS should establish a clearinghouse and other mechanisms to share this information with the larger early childhood community as well as state and local policymakers.

Step 3: Encouraging partnerships with the private sector.

The Advisory Committee believes that Head Start should reach out and receive support from the larger community, including the private sector. Not only does Head Start serve as a model for comprehensive quality early childhood services, it provides important services that help create caring and nurturing communities so important for the well-being and productivity of children and families.

In order to increase partnerships with the private sector, the Advisory Committee recommends the following two actions.

Action: Convene key members of national organizations representing the foundation and business community to stimulate new linkages and support for Head Start.

The Advisory Committee believes that HHS should provide a leadership role to stimulate linkages between Head Start and the corporate and foundation community. Linkages made at the national level can be particularly helpful in facilitating partnerships with corporations that are in multiple sites across the country. HHS should convene representatives from respective groups to launch a national partnership effort that would seek private contributions for Head Start expansion and improvement, volunteer support, and new ways of linking Head Start parents with employment opportunities. Representatives from the Head Start community should be included in this effort.

Action: Document and disseminate promising initiatives with the private sector.

Over the years several successful linkages have been made between Head Start and national and community foundations, as well as state and local level foundations and businesses. However, there have been limited efforts made to describe the process that programs have used to stimulate such partnerships or to encourage similar efforts on a larger scale. HHS should begin to catalogue and document such initiatives and provide training and technical assistance, through the State Collaboration Projects and the Technical Assistance Support Contracts, to Head Start directors and other staff interested in reaching out to the private sector.

Step 4: Linking Head Start with other national initiatives.

The nation is in the midst of major reform efforts including family preservation and family support, welfare reform, education reform, health care reform, and national service. The Advisory Committee believes that Head Start should play a critical role in planning and implementation of such efforts. We believe that Head Start should be seen as a "central institution in a community" which provides supports for low-income families and quality comprehensive child development services for children.

In communities across the country, Head Start can be viewed as a mechanism for bringing all of these new initiatives together for low-income families. For example, Head Start, along with other early childhood programs, 'should be a placement for National Service participants. National Service participants could provide valuable services across all Head Start components while learning about parenting and young children. At the same time, National Service provides new opportunities for Head Start parents and staff to take advantage of potential resources for higher education.

Head Start should play a significant role in the delivery of services to young children under health reform. For example, Head Start programs can play a role in managed care arrangements and should continue to link children and families to existing health services and to advocate for additional supply and access to medical services needed by low-income families.

As mentioned in the section on continuity with schools, Head Start can play an important role in education reform by assuring the quality of its own services and advocating for developmentally appropriate practice, parent involvement, and supportive services through the primary years.

Special efforts should be made to link Head Start and welfare reform. Because of its comprehensive approach, Head Start can play a central role in welfare reform for both children and families by:

The Advisory Committee recommends that HHS take specific steps to promote Head Start's full participation in all of these emerging reform efforts.



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