1. ASSESSING HEAD START FACILITIES

Head Start programs annually conduct a self-assessment to review their program's overall quality and compliance with program standards. In addition, each Head Start grantee must conduct a community needs assessment within its service area once every three years to determine the demographic make-up of Head Start eligible children and their families, other child development and child care programs that are serving Head Start children, and other information relevant to the grantee's service area. Facilities needs assessment is an extension of both of these processes. It can begin with the formation of a facilities assessment team or task force and focuses both on assessing existing facilities and on planning future facilities.

Convening a Facilities Assessment Team

Facilities needs assessment can begin with a team or task force. This team could be the Head Start Facilities Work Group, if the program has one, or a sub-committee of the Head Start Community Assessment Team. It is best to build upon an existing group for the team rather than to create an entirely new group. The strongest teams will include Head Start parents and staff, representatives from the cornmunity at large, local agencies that serve Head Start children and families, and individuals who are familiar with Head Start program policies, program design, technical aspects of facilities design, fiscal and cost issues in facilities analysis, and community resources.

Whenever possible, the facilities needs assessment should be part of the grantee's community needs assessment process. There are several reasons for this:

• Community partners that should be consulted in. the needs assessment tend to be the same organizations that are likely to be aware of suitable space;
  
• Opportunities for co-locating and coordinating program services may come to light during joint planning of both facilities and community needs assessment;
  
• The process of conducting a collaborative needs assessment tends to minimize duplication and competition in outreach and recruitment efforts;
  
• Head Start programs may negotiate joint services agreements or decide to subcontract with other child care programs or public or parochial schools to serve some expansion children, thereby making more efficient use of existing space or "excess capacity" in the other agency.
• The needs assessment process is a way of informing other agencies about Head Start's multi-year plan for enrollment expansion (including service in new communities), staff increases and need for additional facilities.
  

The first task of the assessment team should be to review the Head Start Facilities Manual to determine which aspects of facilities assessment apply to their situation. The outcome of their work should be a report recommending the actions to be taken.

Assessing Existing Facilities

The assessment team may examine the existing Head Start facility to determine whether repairs or renovation are in order, whether the present lease should be renewed, the facility relocated, or whether an attempt to purchase the facility should be made. The team should identify areas that need improvement, actions to be taken, and the estimated cost of improvements. The team should document their findings in a Head Start Facilities Assessment Report.

There are five steps to follow in evaluating existing facilities.

1. Review program quality of each facility, including compliance with Head Start Program Performance Standards.
   
2. Assess the physical plant, including the condition of buildings, outbuildings, and grounds. This should include the playground, plumbing, roof, kitchen, and floor, and the heating, fire safety, and electrical systems.
   
3. Determine the cost-effectiveness of planned improvements, including balancing costs and benefits against, making all improvements at once or and phasing in improvements, over several years. Consider the useful life of the facility and whether the facility will continue to be available for Head Start. Take into account transportation and the location of the facility in relation to other child care and early childhood facilities if there is doubt that the facilities will be available for at least several more years.
   
4. Identify centers that should be relocated. Consider relocating to a new facility when a center has serious quality problems (such as major health and safety problems), when costs of needed improvements are too high in comparison with the benefits to the program of making the improvements, when relations with the landlord are unstable or otherwise unsatisfactory, or when the target population is moving away from the neighborhood where the Head Start center is located.
   
5. Identify facilities that could be expanded. Consider adding classrooms, modular facilities, or, where appropriate, building a new facility on land that Head Start owns or for which it has been assured long-term use.

Planning for the Future

The Head Start program's future facilities needs are influenced by the adequacy of existing facilities, specifically the extent to which present space will continue to be available to the program, by program improvements and innovation, and by program expansion. The facilities assessment team should consider each of these elements.

Adequacy of existing facilities. Based upon its analysis of the Head Start Facilities Assessment Report, the facilities assessment team should calculate how many children and families can be served in each of the program's existing facilities, assuming that needed improvements can be accomplished (and excluding facilities that are to be relocated).

Program improvements and Innovation. The team should develop a strategic plan, taking into account Head Start and other possible sources of funds. The team should project enrollment and the facilities adjustments that will result from program improvements and innovations and changes in population and demographic trends. Among the program changes that could affect facilities are these:

• Providing full-day, full-year child care services;
• Providing health services for younger siblings of current Head Start children;
• Giving greater priority to family self-sufficiency programs, including family literacy, adult education, employment, substance abuse, and family health programs;
• Broadening services to include children with more severe disabilities;
• Implementing Head Start staffing, class size, and program option policies, and eligibility and recruitment regulations;
• Providing services to children under age three;
• Intensifying transition planning and program partnerships with the public schools; and
• Developing collaborative funding and location arrangements with other child care and early childhood programs in the community.

Program changes can have a dramatic impact on the need for space. For example if a Head Start center that currently provides service to one group of children in the morning and a second group of children in the afternoon selects a full-day, full-year service instead, the center will virtually double its space requirements.

Facilities Forecast

The facilities assessment team should prepare a Head Start Facilities Forecast. This forecast should be based on the Head Start Facilities Assessment Report. The forecast will provide the framework for discussions with HHS Regional Offices and other funding sources about long-term facilities requirements. It will also help to firm up plans for improving or expanding existing facilities.

WORKSHEET #1 - HEAD START ASSESSMENT REPORT

WORKSHEET #2 - HEAD START FACILITIES FORECAST




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