Head Start/Early Head Start

General Information

Head Start and Early Head Start are comprehensive child development programs which serve children from birth to age 5, pregnant women, and their families. They are child-focused programs and have the overall goal of increasing the school readiness of young children in low-income families. Head Start began in 1965 in the Office of Economic Opportunity and is now administered by the Head Start Bureau in the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Head Start provides comprehensive services to meet the goals of the following four components:

• Education - Head Start's educational program is designed to meet the needs of each child, the community served, and its ethnic and cultural characteristics. Every child receives a variety of learning experiences to foster intellectual, social, and emotional growth.
• Health - Head Start emphasizes the importance of the early identification of health problems. Every child is involved in a comprehensive health program, which includes immunizations, medical, dental, and mental health, and nutritional services.
• Parent Involvement - An essential part of Head Start is the involvement of parents in parent education, program planning, and operating activities. Many parents serve as members of policy councils and committees and have a voice in administrative and managerial decisions. Participation in classes and workshops on child development and staff visits to the home allow parents to learn about the needs of their children and about educational activities that can take place at home.
• Social Services - Specific services are geared to each family after its needs are determined. They include community outreach, referrals, family need assessments, recruitment and enrollment of children, and emergency assistance and/or crisis intervention.

Head Start has a long tradition of delivering comprehensive and high quality services designed to foster healthy development in low-income children. Head Start grantee and delegate agencies operate at the community level. Programs must adhere to Head Start Performance Standards (NOTE: This document requires the Adobe Reader. Click here for your free download). The Head Start Program Performance Standards define the services that Head Start programs are to provide to the children and families they serve. They constitute the expectations and requirements that Head Start grantees must meet. They are designed to ensure that the Head Start goals and objectives are implemented successfully, that the Head Start philosophy continues to thrive, and that all grantee and delegate agencies maintain the highest possible quality of services.

Monitoring and Oversight

Region I currently serves over 90 Head Start and Early Head Start programs in New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT). From the Maine Turnpike to Connecticut, Region I is providing Head Start services to many ethnic and culturally diverse families. Each program is assigned a Program Specialist who provides federal oversight, guidance, technical assistance, and clarification on Head Start Performance Standards as well as any new policies, rules, or regulations. Program Specialists also monitor Head Start programs for compliance with Head Start Performance Standards. Each program is reviewed every 3 years by a team of consultants with the Program Specialist as Team Leader. Head Start review teams use the Program Review Instrument for Systems Monitoring (PRISM) to review Head Start programs.
In addition to working with grantees at the local level, Program Specialists also work closely with the 6 New England states individually (Head Start State Collaboration Projects). This is accomplished by assigning a Program Specialist as state lead to individual states.

Technical Assistance

Region I works closely with grantees to ensure quality services to children and families. The goal is to provide quality services to every eligible family.  Our efforts are supported by the [Region 1 Head Start Quality Initiative], a technical assistance contractor.  State child care and education agencies also contribute to the support of Head Start programs through additional state funding.

Fatherhood Initiative

For information about efforts in Region 1 to include fathers in Head Start and other ACF programs, see Focus on Fatherhood. 

Improving Head Start

The Head Start program, serving disadvantaged pre-school children and their families, must be reauthorized this year. As part of reauthoriziation, President Bush has made proposals to further improve school-readiness standards for the program, as well as provisions that would allow states to better integrate Head Start programs with other pre-school and education programs.  For more information on the Administration’s efforts to strengthen Head Start see the Head Start Bureau’s website at www.hhs.gov/headstart/

Special Quest: Increasing Capacity to Serve Children with Disabilities

Special Quest is a cooperative effort between the Head Start Bureau and the Hilton Foundation designed to increase the capacity of Early Head Start programs to provide excellent services to infants/toddlers with disabilities and their families.  Teams of program staff, community partners, and parent leaders receive training and develop an action plan and then return to their programs to follow-up with the help of Special Quest coach.  Staff from the ACF Regional Office in Boston were also invited to form a Special Quest team and attend the August 2004 training.  Currently, the Region 1 team goals include:

1. A more informed and active regional workforce supportive of efforts to support infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families
2. Market and promote Special Quest within the Regional Office
3. Increase understanding of the laws, regulations, and performance standards, and how they relate to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families
4. Reach out to people in the disabilities field and engage local programs that have been a part of Special Quest and those have not.

Specific action steps that further the goals mentioned above include: obtaining materials, resources and space for an office library; reading and discussing a book that relates the story of a child with a disability and her family; sharing information with Child Welfare staff; and, compiling relevant laws and regulations impacting infant and toddlers with disabilities and their families.  Our Special Quest team includes Head Start program specialists, other federal staff, and technical assistance staff from the Region 1 Head Start Quality Initiative.  Review a list of materials from our Disabilities Resources library (pdf - 77kb).  Call Tom Killmurray at 617-565-1104 for information on how to borrow items.

Click here to learn more about Special Quest.  Click here to learn more about Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center.

Find the Head Start Grantee Near You

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