CHAPTER II:
Strategies For Improving Core Services To ChildrenThe challenge for Head Start is to create a world that is different from day-to-day life as many children know it. What are the recommended program strategies for improving services to children with challenging learning and behavior problems? This chapter describes seven interventions that are distilled from research findings and expert practice. Taken together, they work toward two central objectives necessary to foster healthy development for children at risk: promoting continuity of care and supporting the most promising classroom practices.
It is well documented that early attachment can influence the child's development of future relation ships. It provides children with a template that they continue to apply to their interactions, not only with adults but with their peers. Head Start can help to offset early attachment problems by providing a sustained and consistent continuity of care over time. Children need developmentally (and culturally) appropriate learning experiences. They need to:
· Initiate exploration, direct their own play activities, and learn about choice-learn that they have choices, learn to make appropriate choices, and learn that their choices are valid.
· Be presented with structured but flexible curricula that stress social competence and builds prosocial skills, such as critical thinking, decision-making, and conflict resolution;
· Engage in class activities that offer clearly-established options to pursue when they can no longer focus and are losing their concentration;
· Learn to make smooth transitions between activities; and
· Receive a form of assessment that will gauge their capacity and progress in a way that is accurate and culturally sensitive.The following specific recommendations were chosen for inclusion in this manual because experts around the country repeatedly indicate that they are the most promising practices:
· Provide multiple years of staff-to-child ratios and class size.
· Bring outside specialists into the classroom.
· Minimize daily transitions and distractions.
· Conduct effective on-going classroom assessment.
· Support parents' involvement in their children's development.These suggested changes also dovetail with the Head Start philosophy and have the added advantage of not requiring significant outlays of capital.
PROVIDE MULTIPLE YEARS OF HEAD START FOR SOME CHILDREN
Background and BenefitsPromoting continuity of care, which is important for all children, is especially critical for children at risk. Children whose lives are often marked by instability and disruption need an opportunity to settle into a safe, nurturing, and reliable environment long enough to take advantage of both the activities and the relationships that the program has to offer.
Enrolling some children at age three and keeping them in Head Start until kindergarten is one primary way to increase the continuity of care. This is especially important if caregivers are struggling with abuse of alcohol and other drugs. A program serving infants and toddlers offers an even longer period of care.
"We may be able to make a difference in a child's life over the course of one year," says a suburban Head Start director. "To make a real impact on the child's caregivers, however, and to work with them in a sustained way so they can see an alternative to attitudes and behaviors that they have held for some time-that takes more than one year."
Strategies and Steps
Update Selection Criteria
Managers can assess the needs of families in the community and use the data to establish selection criteria. The fact that a child is growing up in a family that abuses alcohol or other drugs can be detrimental to the child's development. Strict confidentiality laws apply to the ways in which you gather information on substance abuse (see Chapter 3). Nevertheless, the Community Needs Assessment offers information that you can use to create a composite picture of the overall community. A Community Needs Assessment that includes a summary of information obtained from individual families as they apply to Head Start and information from last year's Family Needs Assessments can provide data to use as you update the criteria for selecting children and families for admission into your program. Observations of daily events, home visits, and reports of daily interactions with parents (which can also indicate whether parents might be affected by substance abuse) can also provide useful information.
Since substance abuse often goes hand in hand with other individual and family problems, information from outside Head Start can also enhance your understanding of family needs.
· Treatment centers can provide aggregate statistics, as can other family and social service agencies.
· Alcohol-involved arrests and drug arrests are one source of data, but they are likely to show only the tip of the iceberg.
· Other data on violence, abuse, and neglect can also be used.
· Police records on complaints of violence, 911 calls, visits to households, and arrests can be obtained and used to highlight the needs of a community.
Police data may be organized by precincts; separate data may be kept on domestic violence and on crimes against children. In other communities, you may need to use more global figures and document the applicability of figures to the Head Start service area in other ways. Data will not necessarily be tied to income or rate of poverty, so management teams will need to make some assumptions about its applicability.To access information from the police department, begin at the top of the chain of command and write a letter to the chief of police. Explain the information you need and why you need it, and request that he direct you to the appropriate person. You may then have to follow up with a phone call to the police chief.
Police files may record instances of child abuse; child protection statistics will also include abuse and neglect, which is commonly linked with abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Other sources of information are rape crisis centers (which include child sexual abuse), women's crisis centers, and shelters. Family Court information is also a possible source, though it is likely to duplicate information available from children's protection agencies.
Since these data reflect aggregate numbers, they will not be tied to individual families or betray confidentiality. If you rate the frequency of contacts with the police-such as a "high" number of families involved with protective services-you will want to show what you mean by "high": whether it is high compared to national averages, to other towns in the region or State, and/or to your own town five years ago.
You and other members of the Policy Council can review the information on a yearly basis and use it to update the specific criteria you will use in selecting children, in defining how your program will serve high-risk families, and in specifying the kinds of services families currently need. You can also review your information-gathering tools and application forms to see if they are adequate and provide accurately the information you need. You may need to modify these tools in order to improve selection decisions about individual children.
Use the application and enrollment process
Programs must demonstrate that they are serving eligible children (according to income, age, disability requirements, and other priority needs as defined by each program) who will benefit most from Head Start services (see Case 2, "Enrolling Vulnerable Families"). With the Policy Council, design an application process that reflects the selection criteria and specific needs you plan to meet, and weight each one. The Policy Council may decide to give preference to a child whose mother is struggling with abuse of alcohol or other drugs; to a child whose family is involved with protective service agencies; and/or to a child who has been enrolled in an early intervention program but will not receive service for a year unless enrolled as a three year old in Head Start. By establishing a needs-based application process that assigns priority to children with the highest need, you can ensure that the children selected are those who will benefit most from Head Start services. Given the benefits derived from continuity of services, programs are encouraged to consider enrolling "high-risk" children as three-year-olds in order to serve them the maximum length of time until they are eligible for kindergarten.
Consider available program options
Regulations published Dec. 8, 1992 (45 CFR Parts 1306), define the program options as follows:
· A home-based program, which provides weekly home visits to the child's caregivers and an organized socialization experience twice a month for a group of children served by a home visitor.
· A center-based program, which provides part-day or full-day sessions in a classroom setting, as often as five days a week.
· The combination option, which typically operates classes for two or three days a week and provides one to three home visits a month.Not all programs offer more than one option. As local programs work with increasing numbers of high- risk families, it is important to review the match between current family needs and existing program options. Traditional options and services may no longer be the most effective or practical. Different combinations of center-based and home-based services may better serve the children and families currently enrolled: a home-based model for the child's first year, for instance, and a center-based program in the second year, when the mother is feeling stronger and the child more ready to benefit from more intensive socialization and group activities. A program that can make available two or three options may better serve the needs of families enrolled today.
In a particular urban housing property, for example, one young mother with limited care giving skills may be new to the area, act fearful, and rarely go out of her apartment; another may also have limited care giving skills, be older and more sociable, and have a network of neighbors and other adults with whom she interacts. In the first family, the priority may be to bring the child into a center-based program. In the second, it may be to infuse family support services into the household, using a home-based model.
It is impossible to arrive at a formula for making placement decisions: The child's individual needs and the constellation of family strengths and needs and must always be carefully reviewed, then a decision made based on what is best for that child.
Maintain a waiting list of families
Even though many programs can easily maintain a waiting list with little or no active recruitment, the amended 45 CFR Part 1305 says that programs must conduct active recruitment in the community in order to reach out to families with the greatest need. After you admit children from the weighted application list to fill the available slots, you can place the remaining families on a waiting list, already prioritized. In this way, your program can maintain a roster throughout the year and draw on it if slots become available.
Create a written enrollment policy
Incorporate the process for establishing selection criteria, as well as application and enrollment policies into a written policy that you can use to convey your program and enrollment decisions. Include the recommendations of key Head Start groups, such as the Health Services Advisory Committee or the Social Services Advisory Committee, where there is one. The Policy Council must approve selection criteria and should do so each year. Enlist support from others, as well. Ask for support from the grantee's board of directors and from the leaders of other community agencies with whom you are involved.
CASE 2: Enrolling Vulnerable FamiliesThe following case highlights a situation that Head Start staff and managers have encountered in serving children who have been affected by family substance abuse. The case content is real, but the names have been changed. Questions for the management team are included to guide the reader's thinking and suggest links to situations in local programs.
"We're out there!" says Lou-Anne Blake, the social service coordinator of a small city (pop. 50,000) in a depressed region of the country. "Because we've been in the community a long time and have built solid community relationships, the drug prevention programs, alcohol and drug treatment programs, and local health centers all refer families to us. We give those referrals priority. We actively recruit four-year olds, and the threes just turn up at our door anyway. In this city, besides our Head Start, there is a State-funded program for children birth to age 3 and another early intervention program. Neither one is run by Head Start, and both of them drop the children on their third birthday. So if we can, we like to pick them up. Otherwise, those children are out of a program completely for a year, until they turn four.
"It isn't only the social service staff that's recruiting; everyone recruits. Teaching staff members carry applications with them on their year-end home visits. It works best when there's a team-a teacher plus a family service worker-going door-to-door. It helps the program when teachers get to know families. They have the classroom perspective-I want them to know, close up, the families we're working with, so they'll understand the children better from the family perspective. I involve teachers in the family needs assessments. Sure, there are issues of confidentiality. But my position is that the teachers are professionals, too; they can understand the professional responsibility to honor confidentiality as well as family service workers can.
"Parents recruit, too; they know the neighborhood, they know families. Parent-to-parent recruitment builds self-esteem in the caregiver who's doing the recruiting. And it provides a model for new parents-they can imagine themselves maybe doing the same thing in a year or so."
STUDY QUESTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT TEAM
- What steps do managers need to take to ensure that the process of recruitment and enrollment works well? What pitfalls do they need to avoid?
-Make a list of all the benefits of having teachers and other staff involved with families outside the classroom (e.g., recruiting, conducting family needs assessments).
- Identify all additional or alternative strategies for recruitment and enrollment that you have used successfully.
- How do you handle issues of confidentiality, especially those referrals from substance abuse treatment agencies where the reason for the referral has to be confidential?
CARRY OUT MIXED-AGE GROUPING
Background and Benefits
"Mixed-age grouping," and "multi-age classrooms" are nearly synonymous terms. They describe models that are gaining ground in preschools and elementary schools and have been used effectively by some expert practitioners in Head Start. Some States, such as Kentucky, now mandate mixed-age grouping. As a result, some Head Start children will go on to elementary schools where this kind of classroom will serve them well. Since children often stay with the same teacher for two consecutive years, mixed-age grouping contributes to continuity of care and helps children and their families identify with one teacher, and reduces the need to adjust to different personalities.
Children progress from simple to more complex activities at their own varying rates of speed. At the heart of effective mixed-age grouping is an individualized approach to each child's development and a curriculum that accommodates children's varying rates of progression. Effective practice requires that teachers individualize the curriculum according to developmentally appropriate practice-an approach already central to Head Start and advocated by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (Bedeck 1987). In addition, mixed-age grouping promotes cooperative rather than competitive learning, as children of different ages and abilities work together and take turns playing the roles of learner and teacher.
Strategies and Steps
Conduct staff development
Teachers need support and training in using integrated curricula and strategies that make classrooms effective. Mixed-age grouping will mean some changes in the way teachers set up their rooms and relate to each other; the types of activities they introduce; how they present them; and how children relate to the teacher and to one another. Training to pave the way for these changes will improve their chances for success. You may want to bring in an expert practitioner from outside the program who can describe the benefits of implementing mixed-age grouping and the best ways to make it work. This is also an opportunity to include interested parents in training.
Use expert/mentor teachers in your program
Identify teachers in your program who are interested in learning more about mixed-age grouping. Provide "release time" for them to visit other mixed-age classes (in Head Start, preschool, or elementary school programs) and observe how expert/mentor teachers meet the needs of children through a wide range of skills and experiences. Provide planning time for teachers to work together in teams and plan activities for mixed-age classrooms. As teachers become more proficient, they can serve as mentors and trainers for parents. This will help extend the classroom experience to activities at home, in a setting of siblings of mixed ages.
Consider classroom placements of children
Head Start's integrated approach to children with disabilities offers a basis for creating inclusive classes that integrate children of differing genders, abilities, needs, interests, temperaments, and ethnicities. Rather than putting all the three-year-olds together, or giving all the children with high needs to "the most experienced teacher," think broadly about the children's needs and abilities (as well as those of the teachers) in making class assignments. Think, too, about the use of space; children with a greater need for focus and calm may do better in a smaller group, and in a smaller room. Deliberate mixing of ages, skill level, and temperaments provides children with a variety of opportunities to become helpers and lead ers. It offers role models that children can imitate and from which they can learn. It also pays positive attention to differences.
MODIFY STAFF-TO-CHILD RATIO AND CLASS SIZE
Background and Benefits
Practitioners who address the needs of children with challenging learning and behavior consistently recommend:
· Increasing individual attention to children; and
· Improving the smoothness and predictability of the classroom for those who need a quieter, less challenging environment.This can be accomplished in two ways, used either individually or in combination: increase the number of adults per child, and/or keep the classroom size at the minimum rather than maximum levels required by Head Start.
Increasing the number of adults allows teachers to conduct more activities, thereby providing more choices tailored to children's needs. Staff members are better able to facilitate play and assist a child during a sudden outburst of violence or confusion, without detracting from activities involving other children. The children benefit from better coordination of activities and more individual attention. Staff also appreciate the enhanced backup and support available.
Studies of elementary-grade children find merit in increasing staff-to-child ratio-even when the class size cannot be reduced (Schulman & Jarvis 1988). Parents and other caregivers have provided the central volunteer support in Head Start classrooms; grantees must continue to involve parents as classroom volunteers. Today, as increasing numbers of parents are enrolled in education or job training programs, managers find they must recruit foster grandparents and other volunteers, in addition to family members. These volunteers can be recruited from churches, community organizations, service centers, and senior citizen programs. Regarding Head Start staff, managers need to consider how they can increase the number of family service Workers to better serve vulnerable families.
Managers also need to consider how to balance class size across the program. Relevant studies emphasize the value of reducing the overall number of children in a class. The National Day Care Study (Abt Associates 1979) cites the benefits of smaller preschool classes. Early childhood education studies conducted in elementary grades also describe improvements among children in smaller classes in self-concept and attitudes, as well as academic achievement (Swan et al. 1987). For children in Head Start, where the task is to learn through activities, smaller class size can help to reduce noise and distraction; allow children to concentrate more easily; and allow staff to devote more attention, guidance, and support to each child.
Strategies and Steps
Market your program as a placement for college interns
One way to add extra support to your staff is by providing practicum placements for college interns. Contact student teacher supervisors at local community colleges, private and State colleges, and universities. Call the early childhood education department first. (Sometimes early childhood education is housed in other academic departments, such as health, or health and human services.) Departments such as psychology, child development, child psychology, health, special education, or social work may also provide interns.
Establish a clear understanding of the expectations for both interns and their program supervisors. Write a letter discussing your own preferences: a student's particular interests or backgrounds; the number of days/hours required for work; practicum experience; number of weekly meetings; and particulars of location, transportation, and training. Specify what your program can offer in return, such as volunteer training, other content training, and/or participation in regular staff meetings. Perhaps you can offer introductions to other community agencies in town, contacts with Head Start programs in other communities, and/or a letter of recommendation that could be included in a successful intern's portfolio.
Anticipate the specific requirements that supervisors of student teachers will have. If you can present your classrooms as an opportunity to meet those requirements, you will be in a stronger position to attract interns. Placement supervisors will probably require that the intern's classroom teacher, the education coordinator, or social service coordinator have a bachelor's degree. Since not all head teachers have such credentials, place interns with the teachers who will be considered qualified by the placement supervisor. Use foster grandparents and other volunteers in the remaining classes.
Explore non-classroom placements
Try to match the internship hours you offer to the college's required hours for student placements. Even if your time needs don't match exactly (e.g., if you can only offer a classroom placement for three hours a day, four times a week, and the student needs a total of sixteen-not twelve-placement hours), work with the supervisor to try to bridge the gap creatively with non-classroom activities. Find other useful and professional work for the student, such as attending center meetings and home visits with a staff member, keeping records, conducting outreach in the community, or developing materials. Supervisors may want to see their students participate in parent workshops and staff trainings as part of their practicum experience. Or interns can organize curriculum materials for teachers. Student teachers should be used as professionals-engaged in activities with the children, and not relegated to observing or cleaning up.
Invite the supervisor to visit Ask the college supervisor to spend time in several Head Start classes. By letting the supervisor see the activities and curricula firsthand, you demonstrate which classrooms have a teaching philosophy that is compatible with the college's philosophy. Such a visit provides an opportunity for the supervisor to have a direct relationship with your Head Start teachers.