Head Start's Revised Training and Technical Assistance System
Susan Weber, Special Assistance to the Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families

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As we begin the 1993-94 Head Start year, the Head Start Bureau is making changes to the Head Start training and technical assistance (T/TA) system to better support grantees in their ongoing management responsibility to assure that Head Start staff have the skills and training they ned to do their jobs. Grantees have a variety of funding resources and expertise to assist them. T/TA needs can be addressed with basic grant and quality improvement funds as well as with supplemental T/TA funds provided through direct funding. Grantees can also seek out local and State resources and consultants, especially through community colleges and special training programs. Head Start has developed a regional and national T/TA Network of resources to which grantees can also turn for expertise and support.

This Bulletin is a desk reference for grantees to use in understanding and accessing the T/TA resources available to them through the Head Start Network. It describes each group of contracts or grants which are part of the system, both at the regional and national levels. It lists who the grantees and contractors are, what to expect from them, how to access their services, and the regional and national staff who are providing management leadership to the grantees.

The broad goals of the Head Start T/TA system are to:

• Enhance program quality, with emphasis on helping grantees fully meet the Head Start Performance Standards and other requirements, particularly those grantees with special problems, needs, or initiatives;
  
• Support expansion of the program while ensuring quality by addressing special issues of management, staffing, training of new staff, and support for new grantees and delegate agencies;
  
• Improve grantee fiscal and program management by enhancing the skills of the management team;
  
• Improve Federal capacity to manage a greatly expanding T/TA system; and
  
• Support new Federal program directions and initiatives.

In thinking about how to address these goals, the Head Start Bureau has made several observations. The first one is, in this period of rapid expansion, the T/TA system has to balance grantee needs to support rapidly expanding enrollment as well as to maintain and enhance program quality. To accomplish these two needs, the T/TA system must increase the number of well qualified experts and consultants who can work with Head Start grantees all across the country. The Head Start field has had wonderful support and assistance through T/TA provided by grantee staff. We must now increase this base of support by reaching our to a broader audience of expertise to assist and expanding program. We must also assure that all consultants know Head Start requirements and are grounded in Head Start values.

Secondly, we have had extensive feedback that Head Start T/TA needs to provide more in depth assistance. For example, there should be opportunities and resources for intensive on-site technical assistance with the provisions for follow up visits and with the possibility of an interdisciplinary team approach. Like wise, we need to emphasize training which focuses on building skills. Suggested improvements include training which can be provided at or near a grantee site, sequentially over time, with opportunities at the work site for interaction between the experiences of learning and practice. The new Technical Assistance Support Centers and National Training Contracts focus on providing this type of assistance.

Third, while there are a number of technical assistance manuals and various training resources used by grantees, the Bureau has not developed a package of training materials that grantees can use for staff development which systematically addresses the range of Head Start Program Performance Standards and other requirements. There is no set of training guides which can assist grantees with a range of training strategies and delivery styles to develop and strengthen staff skills.

In order to address these concerns, and to better address Head Start T/TA goals, we are making improvements so that the T/TA system will:

• Develop T/TA delivery system that is comprehensive and integrated in its approach to Head Start components;
  
• Increase the capacity to provide intensive, on-site technical assistance for all areas of the program, with follow up as needed. Priority goes to support grantees undergoing expansion, new grantees, and those who need help with special needs, problems, or initiatives;
  
• Identify and train a larger pool of consultants who are located across the country, which will bring in new expertise to Head Start;
  
• Identify and train a larger pool of consultants who are located across the country, which will bring in new expertise to Head Start;
  
• Help grantees improve their capacity to plan and manage their own T/TA;
  
• Improve the management capacity and skills of grantee management teams;
  
• Institute a national approach to the development of training materials which assures that the materials address the full range of Performance Standards, builds on good materials already available, and produces materials with compatible formats and delivery modes which will work together across components;
  
• Explore the relevance, practicality, and usefulness of some newer T/TA deliver modes, including distance satellite training, intensive management training, and residential training at an exemplary Head Start site; and
  
• Support a strengthened and more defined management role for Regions which will be guided by the Regions' knowledge of grantee needs and problems. Regional offices are the primary point of contact for grantees seeking information about or provision of T/TA under the revised system.

The elements of the revised T/TA system include regional and national providers, each of which are described in this Bulletin.

We all have a stake in making Head Start the very best possible experience for children families. Head Start Bureau staff in both the National and Regional offices are looking forward to working together in partnership with Head Start grantees and T/TA providers to meet the needs of the Head Start program. We each have specific roles to play to make the system work. We need to continue talking to each other about our needs and responsibilities and how we can work together.

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