As a national laboratory for early childhood education, Head Start has long emphasized continuous program improvement and has been a leader in developing outcomes-oriented accountability. Head Start began developing program performance measures in 1995, and in 1997 the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) was launched to collect data on the performance indicators, in part to be responsive to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requirements. Following the re-authorization of Head Start in 1998, Head Start programs were required to include child outcomes in their self-assessment process by 2003.

Although Early Head Start programs have not been required to report child outcomes, many have started to define and measure outcomes, for several reasons. Some programs operate within Head Start programs and are doing so in conjunction with outcomes assessment in Head Start. Some programs are responding to the requirements of other funders. Yet others are acting out of a desire to improve their services to families with infants and toddlers. In Spring 2001, the Early Head Start Technical Work Group recommended that the Head Start Bureau move forward to develop performance measures for Head Start programs serving infants and toddlers to support programs’ efforts. The framework presented in this document resulted from an iterative process during which a wide range of stakeholders were consulted.

The Head Start performance measurement framework needed to be modified for infants and toddlers in order to be appropriate and useful for home-based, center-based, combination, and locally-designed programs, and it needed to take into account the full range of development over a much longer period, from pregnancy to age 3.

The recent completion of the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSRE) also makes the time ripe for developing a new performance measures framework. The pattern of program impacts by age 3 and variations in impacts by program approach (center-based, home-based, and mixed approaches) and key aspects of program implementation provide insights into ways that the Head Start framework must be adapted for programs serving families with infants and toddlers.

Building the Pyramid

The conceptual model underlying performance measures for Head Start programs serving infants and toddlers is based on the Head Start model (ACYF 2001), which was modified to reflect services for infants and toddlers.

The Statement of the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers recommended four cornerstones for Early Head Start: child development, family development, staff development, and community building (Administration on Children, Youth and Families 1994). Thus, the adapted pyramid rests on these cornerstones, and the elements of management systems related to each cornerstone.

The overall goal of the base level of the pyramid is “ensuring well-managed programs that involve parents in decision-making.” This goal links the key elements in management systems that correspond to the four cornerstones.

The services level of the pyramid has three main objectives: providing children with services, linking children and families to needed community services, and developing relationships with parents and children.

Similarly, on the level of child and family outcomes, there are three main objectives: enhancing children’s growth and development, strengthening families as primary nurturers of their children, and enhancing parent-child relationships. Because it is through these relationships that strengthening families can support enhanced child outcomes and the ultimate goal of enhanced children’s competence, the objective of enhancing parent-child relationships was placed between the other two objectives on the outcomes level.

Head Start programs serving pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers may provide center-based services, home-based services, or some combination of these, reflecting different family needs, different theories of change, and different emphases on certain services and outcomes.

The pyramid for these programs was designed to encompass these key variations. When providing center-based services, programs emphasize the left side of the pyramid—they aim to improve children’s competence mainly by providing direct center-based services to children to enhance their growth and development (and also provide services to strengthen families and improve parent-child relationships). When providing home-based services, programs emphasize the right side of the pyramid—they aim to improve children’s competence mainly by providing services to strengthen families and improve parent-child relationships (and also work with children directly during home visits and in parent-child group socialization activities). These variations in program emphases were reflected in the differences in impacts found in the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSRE) (ACF 2002).

Performance Measures Underlying the Main Objectives

Underlying the main objective in each block in the pyramid are performance measures that represent key program goals under that objective (Figure 2). The program performance measures for Head Start programs serving infants and toddlers include selected performance measures from the Head Start framework, as well as new performance measures that reflect the special features of programs serving infants and toddlers, variations in program approaches, and lessons from the national evaluation and training and technical assistance efforts. The performance measures also reflect key requirements in the Head Start Program Performance Standards as well as elements from the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers.

Using The Program Performance Measures Framework

The program performance measures framework for Head Start programs serving pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers is designed to support continuous program improvement efforts of individual programs, as well as those at the regional and national levels. At the individual program level, the framework, along with the program’s specific theory of change, can guide the developement of plans for data collection to provide the program staff with important information on program strengths and weaknesses. This information can help focus program improvement efforts on areas where improvement may be needed most and in ways that may be most beneficial to the program. Information on strengths can be used to highlight program accomplishments and build support for the program among funders and key stakeholders. A Resources for Measuring Services and Outcomes is designed to support programs in these activities by providing information on creating an integrated plan and selecting measures.

References

Administration for Children and Families. Making a Difference in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers and Their Families: The Impacts of Early Head Start. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, June 2002.

Administration on Children, Youth and Families. First Progress Report on the Head Start Program Performance Measures. Washington, DC: ACYF, May 1997.

Administration on Children, Youth and Families. The Statement of the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1994.

Head Start Program Performance Measures: Second Progress Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, June 1998.

Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Head Start FACES: Longitudinal Findings on Program Performance, Third Progress Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, January 2001.

FOUNDATION: PROGRAM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Management systems (including program governance, planning, communication, record-keeping and reporting, ongoing monitoring, self-assessment, human resources, and fiscal management) ensure well-managed programs that meet standards for high quality as they create nurturing child development environments, enhance child outcomes and promote positive parent-child interactions.

1. Programs comply with Head Start regulations.
2. Programs are well-managed operationally and financially
3. Programs design and implement services to be responsive to the needs of families in the community.
4. Programs conduct self-assessments that are used for continuous program improvement.

Management Systems ensure well-managed programs with integrated systems to support staff in working effectively with parents and children.

1. Programs employ qualified staff with the skills necessary to provide high-quality services.
2. Programs support ongoing staff development, training, and mentoring.
3. Programs support staff activities through ongoing reflective supervision.
4. Programs promote staff retention and continuity.

Ensure well-managed programs that meet standards for high quality as they develop collaborative relationships with community partners.

1. Programs form partnerships with other community programs and organizations to support an integrated community-wide response to the needs of families with young children.
2. Programs form partnerships and coordinate services with local Part C agencies.
3. Programs form partnerships and coordinate services with community child care providers to meet the needs of families and enhance the quality of local child care services through the sharing of resources, training, and knowledge.
4. Programs form partnerships and coordinate services with local health agencies and health care providers to meet the health-related needs of families.

Management Systems ensure well-managed programs that meet standards for high quality as they involve parents.

1. Parents are involved actively in program planning and decision making.
2. Programs encourage and support fathers’ involvement in program planning, decision-making, and activities.

PROGRAM SERVICES

Programs develop individualized family partnership agreements with families and link children and families to comprehensive community services in order to meet their personal goals and self-sufficiency needs.

1. Programs work collaboratively with families to identify their goals, strengths, and needed services, and offer them opportunities to develop and implement individualized family partnership reements that take into account other family plans.
2. Programs link parents with social service agencies to obtain needed services.
3. Programs link parents with educational and employment agencies to obtain needed services.
4. Programs link parents with physical and mental health care prevention and treatment services to obtain needed care.
5. Programs link parents with needed prenatal care and education services.
6. Programs help parents secure high-quality child care in order to work, attend school, or gain employment training.
7. Programs help parents and children make a smooth transition to Head Start or other pre-school program.

Program staff develop responsive and caring relationships with parents and children

1. Staff form respectful and supportive relationships with parents through all aspects of service delivery.
2. Staff form nurturing relationships with children in group-care settings or during home visits.
3. Programs support and honor the home cultures and languages of families.

Programs provide children with age-appropriate curricular experiences and individualized educational, health, and nutritional services

1. Programs provide developmentally enriching educational environments in group-care settings and developmentally enriching parenting and child development services during home visits and group socializations.
2. Programs link children with needed medical, dental, and mental health services.
3. Programs link pregnant women with comprehensive prenatal health care and education.
4. Programs provide children in group-care settings meals and snacks that meet their daily nutritional needs, and parents receiving home-based services receive information about meeting their children’s nutritional needs
5. Programs provide individualized services for parents and children, including children with disabilities.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Programs strengthen families as the primary nurturers of their children

1. Parents demonstrate increased knowledge of child development and awareness of their children’s developmental progress
2. Parents enhance their self-concept and emotional well-being and experience less parenting stress.
3. Parents make progress toward their educational, literacy, and employment goals.
4. Adult family members strengthen their relationships and work together in caring for children.

Programs support and enhance parent-child relationships

1. Parents demonstrate more sensitivity and responsiveness in interactions with their children.
2. Parents spend more time with their children in activities that stimulate their children’s development, such as reading to their children
3. Parents provide home environments and experiences that are more supportive of their children’s development.

Programs enhance children’s growth and development

1. Children demonstrate improved communication, language, and emergent literacy skills.
2. Children demonstrate improved general cognitive skills.
3. Children demonstrate improved positive approaches toward learning, including improved attention skills.
4. Children demonstrate improved social behavior, emotion regulation, and emotional well-being.
5. Children demonstrate improved physical health and development.

ULTIMATE GOAL: CHILDREN’S COMPETENCE