Program Performance Standards
BEGINNING IN JANUARY 1997, A SERIES OF EVENTS WERE HELD NATIONWIDE TO LAUNCH THE REVISED HEAD START PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS IN EACH REGION, AND AT THE STATE AND LOCAL LEVELS, MEETINGS AND CELEBRATIONS WERE HELD TO REFLECT ON THE REVISED STANDARDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE HEAD START/EARLY CHILDHOOD COMMUNITY. AT THE NATINOAL AND REGIONAL LEVELS, STAFF THROUGHT THE ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMLILIES HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE INITIATIVE, EMPHASIZING THE INCLUSIVE AND COLLABORATIVE NATURE OF THIS EFFORT. IMPLEMENTING THE REVISED PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS WILL BE AN ONGOING PROCESS AND A TOPIC IN THE HEAD START BULLETIN FOR MONTHS TO COME. THE FOLLOWING ARE HIGHLIGHTS OF SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE TO DATE, AS REPORTED BY VARIOUS REGIONAL OFFICES AND LOCAL PROGRAMS.
Region II
Head Start, TANF, and Child Support staff at the Regional Office partnered in a day-long conference for 250 parents at a Head Start program in Brooklyn. The conference included sessions on linkage, child support, TANF, and employment, as well as opportunities for parents to talk with New York City Child Support staff one-on-one. This ACF collaboration brought discussion of welfare reform to the people likely to be directly affected by such initiatives. Contact Joyce Rockwood at 212/649-2974
Region III
The revised Program Performance Standards were reviewed and discussed at the Region III Directors Meeting. Contact Nancy Elmore at 215/596-0380.
Region V
Regional Offices staff held an in house "cooperative learning experience," to become more familiar and comfortable with the revised standards. The term "training" was avoided to highlight the exploratory nature of the session-people working together to understand the revised standards and to consider different ways to apply them in support of local program needs. All agreed that understanding and implementing the standards was a continual learning process for everyone involved. Contact Bill Sullivan at 312/886-4917, or Kent Wilcox at 312/353-8322. Region 5b TASC held a "kick-off" of the Program Performance Standards at the State Head Start Association meeting; similar events are planned for other states in the region. The full-day session provided an overview of the revised standards for the 130 Directors, Executive Directors, Policy Council Chairs, and Assistant Directors present. The subsections of the Standards were first explored in small-group sessions, using "What knowledge? What clarification? and What changes?" as a discussion guide. A case study was utilized to add context to the discussion. Contact Dennis Sykes at 614/447/08444.
Region VIII
Organized a satellite broadcast to help programs think through what steps need to be taken to implement the revised Program Performance Standards. The broadcast featured an over view of the revised Program Performance Standards by Federal staff, a video on change done by Larry Edelman of the Rocky Mountain Resource and Training Institute; and a panel discussion by representatives of four programs on what each will need to implement the revised Program Performance Standards successfully. Satellite participants were urged to call or fax in their questions and observations, to be shared with the broadcast audience. Contact Susan Smith, Region VIII RAP, at 303/803-0330.
Region IX
Rick Spears, Acting Manager of the Head Start Program, made a presentation to some 400 members of the Head Start community at the regional Head Start Association meeting in San Diego. He provided an overview of the revised Program Performance Standards, which was followed by a panel discussion on issues in training, implementation, and welfare reform. Contact Rick Spears at 415/437-8447.
American Indian Programs Branch
The Americans Indian Programs Branch (AIPB) held its Regional Conference on February 10-13. 1997, in Denver. The conference, "Catching the Dream of the New Head Start," provided an opportunity to review and discuss the revised Program Performance Standards, along with new initiatives in child development, family and community development, and other relevant areas. AIPB also hosted a regional conference in Portland, OR, on April 28-May 1, 1997. Contact Helen Scheirbeck at 202/205-8437
Migrant Head Start Branch
The National Migrant Head Start Conference was held January 27-30, 1997, in Washington, D.C. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, a former Head Start child, was a keynote speaker at the conference. A special two-day OSPRI reviewers training meeting was held after the conference, which included a review of the revised Program Performance Standards. Contact Maria Candamil at 202/205-8455
Central Office
Held a two-day orientation on the revised Program Performance Standards, exploring the underlying philosophies of each of the II subsections of the revised standards and participating in large and small group activities. Contact JoAn Knight Herren at 202/205-8566.
"Laying to Rest" the Old Program Performance Standards
With a "tongue-in-cheek" burial ceremony, St. Martinville Head Start assembled staff, community leaders, parents, grandparents, and friends to honor the passing of the old Program Performance Standards and to welcome the new. The celebration, held on January 10, included banners, cheers, artwork, and the enthusiastic participation of children from SMILE Head Start, in St. Martinville. The formal ceremony included an invocation, a welcome, remarks by center staff, and introduction of the revised standards and the goals associated with them,, and a solemn "passing of the guard."
Parents also presented testimonials of enriching past experiences, and spoke in support of the benefits and opportunities Head Start has afforded their families.
Day of Celebration and Reflection
On January 10, honor of the revised Head Start Program Performance Standards, Yazoo Community Action Head Start held special events involving parents, staff, and children. Copies of the revised standards were passed out to staff of the six centers; balloons were launched in observance of the day of celebration and reflection; photos and news clippings from 1970, when the first standards were developed, were on display; and parents' responses to "I Like Head Start Becuase..." were included in the overall exhibit.
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