CHAPTER III:
Strategies For Improving Program Support

There are a number of ways in which the Head Start program can provide support to children and families affected by substance abuse.

Facilitate Transitions In and Out of Head Start

You can help to ease transitions for children as they move into Head Start and later as they move on to public school. The concept of transition planning is most clearly demonstrated in Head Start's efforts in behalf of children with disabilities. However, there are many other children with special learning or behavioral needs for whom individualized efforts and plans can be very helpful.

Components of Effective Transition Planning

Build mutual institutional understanding

Your program may already be taking steps to ease the transition for children moving on; individual teachers may already work actively with elementary schools in your area. For those children with diagnosed disabilities, it is important to formalize a transition process and develop specific procedures and practices that prepare institutions, children, and families for new settings. Included in this process can be opportunities to address the needs of children who do not qualify for disabilities services, but who need special help.

In order to lay the groundwork for the effective transition of individual children, you need to develop a receptivity to collaboration between Head Start and the schools based on an understanding of each other's roles and expectations. One way of doing this would be to hold awareness sessions to familiarize elementary school teachers with the Head Start environment. Have your Head Start teachers offer tours of their own classes and talk about their routines, goals, parent involvement opportunities, the number of children in a typical class, and the daily schedule. In this way, they can acquaint public school teachers with the basics of Head Start. Providing time for dialogue between Head Start staff and elementary school teachers enables them to build a sense of connection and continuity and to see the similarities between the two settings. Children, too, see the faces of new teachers while they are still in their own familiar classroom setting.

It is equally important to give Head Start teachers release time so that they can visit elementary schools and observe the classrooms there. If Head Start teachers have a general familiarity with the different elementary schools in the area, and get a flavor for the types of programs and routines to which children will be exposed, they can help children to prepare for their new experiences. Provide opportunities for follow-up discussion to explore the objectives of each program/school and the role that parents play in each institution.

Help parents form partnerships with school

As children move on to public school, the prominent role that parents and other caregivers play in their education often diminishes. Making the transition to public school can be difficult for parent-especially for those whose own experiences and memories of school may be negative.

Sponsor support groups for parents of children who will be entering public school in the coming year. Provide opportunities for parents to explore their own feelings about public schools and think about how these feelings might be transmitted to their children. Offer suggestions for activities parents can do with their children to help them get used to the idea of a new setting. Establish linkages between the Policy Council and the PTA.

Host orientation sessions for families of children who will soon be entering the public school. You may do this jointly with other preschools and child-care programs in your area. Invite key people from elementary schools, such as a kindergarten teachers; principals, social workers, and related service providers, to help parents gain a familiarity with different faces, ease their anxiety, and feel more comfortable with the impending transition. Topics of the orientation session may include:

· What are the rights and responsibilities of parents and other caregivers in the public school?
· How can parents serve as advocates for their children's education?
· How can parents work effectively with teachers and managers?
· What are the normal reactions of children entering public school?
· What resources exist within the school, and how can parents access them?
· How can parents become active volunteers in their child's school?

Where a child may need special help or attention, assist parents in setting up appointments with future kindergarten teachers and coach them in how to participate in the meeting. Invite past Head Start caregivers who have an "insider's" knowledge about the school to accompany new parents on a tour of the school and talk about how the school works.

Sponsor activities jointly with the public schools

Look for opportunities to join forces with the Local Education Agency (LEA) or other public schools into which Head Start children feed, to offer staff training. Collaborative training can bring Head Start programs together with other schools and agencies, set the stage for other cooperative ventures, and provide the face-to-face contact between Head Start teachers and school personnel that is vital to a smooth transition. Some public schools now conduct their kindergarten screenings on-site in the Head Start program. If your school does not, explore with the LEA the possibility of instituting this practice.

Establish a system for exchange of relevant records

It is important that receiving teachers have information about incoming children, especially those with a history of challenging learning and behavior problems. Both receiving and sending institutions need to determine what information about children is valuable to share. Head Start managers, working in collaboration with parents, can help by establishing a process to ensure that the information is accessible to receiving teachers before opening day at school. Among the materials that may be valuable:

· Progress reports that document what the child learned during the course of the year, and samples from the child's portfolio.
· Forms filled out by Head Start teachers that capture information about the child's learning style; materials the child particularly enjoys; the child's strengths in key developmental areas; how the child relates to adults and peers; what activities the child finds comforting; and what helps the child cope with transition.
· Information that provides background about Head Start, such as the program philosophy, a typical day's schedule, number of teachers, number of children, types of learning centers, procedures around cleanup, the classroom rules, and what happens if children do not follow the rules.

Your policies regarding confidentiality will affect what information you can forward to the school. Head Start programs and elementary schools must have a shared understanding of confidentiality and the procedures that ensure it. Each institution must examine its own policies and any government regulations regarding confidentiality (see "Policies on Confidentiality" later in this chapter).

How information will be shared between receiving and sending institutions will vary from district to district. The first step is to determine whether parents or Head Start are responsible for the transfer of records, and to whom the records should be sent and when.

It is critical to identify an individual in the school who understands system-wide services and can be responsible for receiving and distributing the records. If the teachers do not see the records before school starts, important time is lost in easing the child's transition. If necessary, work with school administrators to establish who in the school or LEA central office is responsible for receiving and distributing children's records and giving this information to kindergarten teachers.

Use the entry of children and families into Head Start as a model experience

Begin to think about smooth transitions for children and families from the beginning of their experience in Head Start. The process you follow and the information you share when they enroll in Head Start sets the stage for how they experience the transition of their children into new settings in the future-especially the transition into public school.

One process you might adapt would be to send an acceptance letter from Head Start goes out to the family in the spring, followed by a series of health checkups, inoculations, dental visits, and so forth-all coordinated by family workers. Pre-enrollment paperwork follows. Sometimes an orientation home visit takes place before the program starts.

In September, hold family orientation sessions. On one day, invite half the class (caregivers and the children) to come in, meet with the teacher, and learn about the program and plans for the year. Engage the children and caregivers by carrying out a hands-on activity for parents and children to do together. On another day, invite the other half of the class to come in. By the time the whole class is together, all the families will have received orientation and attention in smaller groups and short sessions.

In the spring, take children who will be entering kindergarten in the fall on a field trip to a kindergarten in your area. Work with the kindergarten teacher to gradually introduce children to the classroom, using guided discovery in small groups. After the field trip, invite children to talk about their experiences.

How is elementary school similar to Head Start? How is it different? Children may draw pictures or tell stories about what they saw and how they felt.

Invite older siblings who are having good experiences in public schools to come and speak to your classes. Invite kindergarten teachers to come and talk about their classroom and the kinds of activities they do. Make a puppet play about animals going to kindergarten. Encourage children to extend the play. Have children write letters or draw pictures for their receiving teachers.

ENRICH STAFF CAPACITY THROUGH TRAINING

Training can help Head Start managers, teachers, parents, and other volunteers to:

· Understand the latest research about effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs, the environmental threats, and the complex interaction among biological and environmental risks;
· Develop a common philosophy and language;
· Examine personal beliefs and attitudes;
· Learn and practice successful strategies for creating classroom environments to meet the needs of children who have been affected by multiple risks; and
· Identify resources within the district and the community for providing needed support to children and their families.

Focused training can also provide managers and staff with the needed support for implementing the strategies detailed in previous chapters.

Key Training Topics

Expert practitioners confirm that it is essential for Head Start staff to understand the characteristics and the realities of the lives of children with difficult behavior problems; the classroom interventions that can make a difference; and the ways to identify, access, and constructively use resources outside the program to strengthen the health and development of children and their families. The following is an inventory of key topics that are particularly relevant for those staff working directly with children; they have been organized into possible workshop sessions.

Creating the right Head Start context for effective intervention

A series of workshops that address:

· Staff members' own attitudes about, and issues with, abuse and addiction;
· The effects of exposure, before birth, to alcohol and other drugs;
· The impact on children, after birth, of drug trafficking in communities and of substance abuse in families;
· Strategies for ensuring staff safety in the community;
· Strategies for adapting the curriculum to meet individual needs;
· Ways to establish nurturing relationships with vulnerable children; and
· Understanding staff roles and responsibilities in supporting vulnerable families.

Implementing strategies in the classroom

A series of workshops that address:

· Children diagnosed as having Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects;
· Children with language delays and disorders;
· Children with social interaction problems, short attention spans, problems with aggression and lack of impulse control, or children who are withdrawn.
· Mixed-age grouping;
· Minimizing daily transitions and distractions; and
· On-going classroom assessment.

Knowing when outside support is needed

A series of workshops that address:

· Finding community resources for children, parents, and staff;
· Facilitating referrals and consultations;
· Creating effective relationships with outside specialists, and incorporating their expertise into day-to-day classroom operations; and
· Referring children who need a special placement.

Define Training Needs

How do you make decisions about the kind of training that is necessary? Because of previous work and experience, training in some areas may not be necessary in your program. Some sessions may be important for all staff-professional, paraprofessional, and volunteers-since certain key ideas will be important to everyone who interacts with children on a daily basis (bus drivers and food service staff, as well as teaching staff). Other sessions may be important for all of your component coordinators, but not all of their staff members. Still others will target teaching staff and/or social service staff and/or parent involvement staff.

Select Workshop Leaders

In addition to learning about possible leaders' backgrounds and qualifications as trainers, it is important to ensure that their approach is compatible with the Head Start model and philosophy. To conduct successful training on any of these topics, workshop leaders must:

· Understand that children affected by substance abuse are not "hopeless cases" and that they can grow and learn;
· Acknowledge that the label "drug exposed" is not' useful;
· Understand the difference between the effects of alcohol and those of other drugs;
· Recognize that research to date has not indicated a specific profile for children prenatally exposed to drugs; never suggest, in any presentations, videotapes, or print materials, that there is such a profile;
· Hold an inclusive view of children at risk, including children affected by substance abuse, seeing them as Head Start children to be served and not as "those" children-separate in some way; and
· Understand the importance of diverse cultural attitudes on child-rearing.

Workshop leaders also need to be knowledgeable about specific topics, such as conducting authentic assessment or understanding speech and language development. It is especially important that the speaker is able to address the range of responses that the issue of substance abuse may elicit from participants. Substance abuse is a charged issue; the trainer must be able to help participants recognize and work through some of their own issues around substance abuse, as well as respond to the real concerns that teachers, specialists, and managers struggle with daily as they try to meet the diverse needs of children.

With these criteria in mind, you can look for suitable workshop leaders through the consultant pools offered by Head Start Technical Assistance Support Centers (TASCs), local mental health agencies, substance abuse prevention programs and treatment centers, the early childhood education and health education departments of local colleges and universities, and the Council for Exceptional Children's Division of Early Childhood (DEC).

PROVIDE CONSTRUCTIVE SUPERVISION

Head Start staff around the country stress the value of managers who openly acknowledge the challenges they face in working with vulnerable families and children who exhibit behavior and learning problems. The work is taxing-especially if your program holds double sessions. Staff appreciate the chance to talk openly about the problems they face and to have their supervisor's attention and input toward finding some solutions.

Schedule Opportunities for Supervision

Directors and component coordinators can support their staff by creating both a forum for group discussion and opportunities for one-on-one conversation. In small groups that can meet together consistently over time, staff can plan class activities, talk over particular problems, and explore possible solutions with other staff members. When considering complex problems in a social context, the ideas of one person spark new possibilities and ideas in another. In one-on-one conversations, staff members have a better chance to discuss freely any problems about which they feel sensitive or awkward. They may seek guidance, recommendations, or reassurance more openly.

Create a Context for Staff to Construct New Knowledge

According to a view that is gaining wide attention, Head Start staff, like learners of all ages, must construct new knowledge for themselves, based on their own experience. The key is to enable staff members to be actively involved in what they are learning, not just passive receivers of external knowledge. Whether meeting in small groups or with individual staff, the manager as supervisor strives to act as a facilitator, not a lecturer or problem solver. For example, instead of describing a particular situation and telling the staff member why her behavior was not effective, ask open-ended questions such as: "What was happening when I came into the classroom? What were you trying to accomplish? How well do you think it worked? Are there other ways you might go about it?" The goal is to have staff members assume owner ship for their growth and development. The administrator's role is not to provide the right answers but to create a context within which program staff can examine a situation together.

Use Supervisory Sessions to Translate On-Going Classroom Assessment into Curricula

Supervisory sessions can be used to improve teachers' techniques for on-going classroom assessment (discussed in Chapter 2) and strengthen their capacity to monitor children's progress in constructive, authentic ways. In supervisory sessions, you can encourage teachers to review their classroom observations on an on-going basis, and then use these observations to create individualized activities to help each child progress.

CONSIDER PERSONALITY
CHARACTERISTICS WHEN HIRING NEW STAFF

In hiring new staff, Head Start managers and Policy Council members have always considered values, attitudes, beliefs, and personality, along with skills. In addition to looking for teachers well-trained in child development and early education, intuitively they have looked for individuals with particular personality characteristics. Now, new information supports the idea that personality characteristics may be the most important attribute of effective teachers.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has developed a set of criteria for evaluating program quality. These criteria stress the central aspects necessary for successful interactions between staff and children: warmth, personal respect, individuality, positive support, and responsiveness. The Council for Exceptional Children's Division of Early Childhood has also developed a set of quality program indicators.

It is easier to enhance knowledge and skills through training than it is to alter essential personality characteristics. Education coordinators frequently share their frustrations about teachers whose practices do not change, despite training workshops and education courses. A resource paper recently developed for Head Start confirms the importance of personality characteristics. It reviews current research, presents information on teacher characteristics and teacher-to-child relationships, and highlights the importance of having teachers who are able to nurture children with unconditional acceptance. This acceptance, as studies on resiliency have found, promotes children's feelings of self-worth. Self-worth, in turn, contributes to children's social and emotional development and successful adaptation to life's challenges. "In Head Start programs," says the author, "effective teachers also establish and maintain positive relation ships with the families they serve."

Identify the Characteristics of a Good Teacher for Your Program

Personality characteristics influence how a teacher communicates with children, parents, and co-workers. Attitudes and beliefs also influence teacher communication. Children, parents, and co-workers will get a sense of their own self-worth from the understanding and respect shown in a teacher's communication.

Researchers and Head Start managers have identified particular personality characteristics, attitudes, and skills that are qualities of good teachers (see Exhibit 2, "A Teacher Qualities Questionnaire"). Directors and the personnel committee can use the questionnaire to discuss and prioritize the characteristics most valued in the program and to record their impressions of candidates' qualifications.

Find Out How Teachers Will Teach

In addition to interviewing candidates about their knowledge, beliefs, training, and experience, as well as observing them interact with children in your program, you may want to use the tool that appears in Exhibit 3, "Situational Questions: A Tool for Learning About Candidates' Characteristics." It asks teach ers to describe what they would do in a number of possible, and sometimes challenging, situations.

REVIEW AND ADAPT EXISTING PROGRAM POLICIES

Policies provide the written, formal foundation for program procedures, as well as outlining the philosophy and point of view that guide program work. As you move toward making program changes to better serve children with difficult behaviors and their families, you will need to review certain key policies and protocols. Some may need to be adapted to meet your current program needs and community realities. Enrollment policy is discussed in more detail in Chapter 2.

Confidentiality Policy

You need a clear policy on confidentiality to use both internally and in transactions with other agencies. Your policy must reflect familiarity and compliance with several sets of regulations.

Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records (42 CFR Part 2)

Federal confidentiality regulations regarding substance abuse treatment prohibit the disclosure of records or other information concerning any patient in a federally-assisted alcohol and drug abuse program, except under special conditions: internal communications within a program, medical emergencies, research activities, and audit and evaluation activities, or where there is written consent, qualified service organization agreement, proper court order, reports of child abuse and neglect, and crimes on program premises or against program personnel committed by program patients. The definition of treatment is broad and encompasses those who discuss the need for treatment or who make referrals to treatment. Thus, while designed for treatment centers, the regulations apply to many types of Head Start programs providing such services as family needs assessments, counseling, and referrals. Each Head Start pro gram should consult with qualified legal and treatment resources to discuss the regulations and how they need to be implemented.*

* For further information and guidance, see Confidentiality of Substance Abuse Information: A Manual for Head Start Programs Who Identify Families as Having Problems Related to Alcohol and Drug Use and Who Refer Parents for Treatment, by A. Collins et al. Cooperative Agreement No. 5-U88-T100023 between Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems (Target Cities Project), Baltimore City Head Start Substance Abuse Project, and the University of Maryland School of Law/Clinical Law Office. Baltimore, MD: By the authors, 1993.

Federal Laws Regarding Confidentiality

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) safeguarded the privacy of school children and their families. FERPA applies to all educational agencies or institutions, private as well as public. FERPA does not apply directly to Head Start, except for those under the jurisdiction of a school district. The Education of All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142), which was amended in 1986 as P.L. 99-457, includes those children enrolled in Head Start and covers parental access and confidentiality of "personally identifiable" information from the moment of birth. This legislation has been reauthorized as P.L. 102-119, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (or IDEA).

Head Start Confidentiality Policies and Protocols

Your program policies must describe protocols for collecting information. The best approach is to record only information that is absolutely essential-not other family information that is not directly related and that could be hurtful if disclosed. In particular, you should familiarize yourself with confidentiality laws regarding substance abuse and results of HIV testing as they apply within your own State. Your policies must spell out provisions for information storage (including protocols for keeping files locked and securing computer files with access passwords) and for access (designating who has keys and/or passwords, and maintaining a log where designees record when they accessed what information and for what purpose).

Policies must spell out protocols for disclosure, detailing how information will be provided to others on a need-to-know basis. You will want to consider carefully what is gained, in each instance, by any release of confidential information. A sound principle is to disclose only information that your program staff wrote-not information from other agencies that has found its way into your files (such as records from a health clinic, drug treatment program, or protective service agency). If this information is actually needed by a new agency (e.g., the LEA), instruct the caregiver to obtain it anew from the agency (e.g., the clinic) that originally issued it. The LEA does not automatically have the right to receive all of the information in a child's file.

Like Head Start, other health and social service agencies will be concerned about preserving the confidentiality of client information. Written policies that can be shared with other agencies help to pave the way for clear, interagency understandings about confidentiality, disclosure, and use of information.

Finally, conduct rigorous staff development about the professionalism required in maintaining confidentiality. Teachers who may be talking over a child's problems in good faith nevertheless breech confidentiality if they refer to the child in any identifiable way in any place where they might be overheard. A crisis does not negate the importance of confidentiality. Even under stress, staff need to avoid the temptation to talk among themselves; they must never overlook the child's right to protection of confidentiality. Disclosure is not just unethical; it is also against the law.

Staff Safety Policy

Staff capacity to keep close connections with Head Start families is key to the success of family involvement. At the same time, managers are much more concerned now than in the past about protecting staff members. The following are some strategies for enhancing staff safety:

· Define clearly the policy that covers staff as they conduct home visits and travel in the community.
· Write specific protocols to cover such procedures as calling and notifying the security guard of a housing project of the time you will be coming; checking in with the guard on arrival; and providing an estimated time of departure.
· Interview other community leaders about accepted community norms on behavior, clothing, and codes of interaction and discussion; make staff aware of these customs.
· Suggest that staff display their photo IDs openly at times when they feel their association with Head Start may afford them some protection. Use decals on staff cars for the same purpose.
· Identify "safe houses" in the neighborhood, where staff can go in an emergency.
· Meet parents who live in extremely dangerous neighborhoods at the nearby fast food restaurant rather than going to an apartment. Head Start now accepts that these meetings can some times qualify as home visits.
· Arrange for staff training in personal safety procedures, which can be provided by numerous organizations, including police departments and the YMCA/YWCA.

It is an advantage when Head Start directors and their staff are well-known and well-connected in the community, and can be part of a network of information and protection (which can, among other things, prevent staff members from getting caught in a household drug raid). Ultimately, though, knowing when a situation is dangerous and deciding when to get out needs to be each staff person's responsibility. You can contribute to staff safety by making clear that "you cannot help the child or the family if you get hurt."

Policy on Release of Children

A common concern for all programs is to have a written policy and protocol in place that can guide staff when a caregiver arrives to pick up a child and is either drunk or obviously high on drugs. The protocol will include the basic policy that a child does not leave with an adult unfit to drive or care for the child. Even if an automobile is not involved, staff must consider whether the child will be safe at home. Policies and procedures about reporting suspected child abuse and neglect may become relevant in situations where the child cannot be safely released. All staff must be trained in these policies and procedures and how to handle a variety of possible situations.

Policy and protocol must also cover appropriate procedure when the caregiver becomes hostile, abusive, or even produces a weapon when his or her intention is blocked. Staff needs to know who to contact in the program and who-by name-to contact in the police department. Staff members also need to alert

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