Head Start Leadership, Excellence, and Data Systems (HS LEADS)

2012-2014

The purpose of this project was to develop a literature review and conceptual model describing the key factors in organizational and management systems that promote effective early childhood practice with an emphasis on the use of data for continuous quality improvement. The contractor reviewed the literature from multiple academic disciplines (e.g., industrial and organizational psychology, non-profit management, health care, education leadership, and business management). This literature review was used to develop a conceptual model identifying the key factors in management and organizational systems that are related to the effective use of data for improving program practice and implications for Head Start settings were examined. The contract also supported a small set of case studies of Head Start programs that are using data effectively to promote practice change and continuous improvement in their organizations. The information developed through these efforts was used as the basis for a set of resources within a resource guide to help Head Start programs improve their use of data, their management and organizational systems more broadly.

 

Related Resources

This presentation provides an overview of: “A Resource Guide for Head Start Programs: Moving Beyond a Culture of Compliance to a Culture of Continuous Improvement” which was developed as part of the Head Start Leadership, Excellence, and Data Systems (HS LEADS) project. The presentation includes information on the elements of the Resource Guide including the approach, identifies the audience for which it was intended, and covers a summary of information included in each section...

Understanding Data Use for Continuous Quality Improvement in Head Start Brief summarizes common themes across two studies of local Head Start programs and a multidisciplinary literature review. The brief provides preliminary evidence that Head Start programs experience similar challenges and facilitators to data use for continuous quality improvement as those experienced in other fields including leadership, analytic capacity, commitment of resources, professional development, a culture...

Moving Beyond a Culture of Compliance to a Culture of Continuous Improvement is a resource guide to help leadership, management, supervisory, and data-focused staff in Head Start and Early Head Start programs (1) understand how data, including data they already collect, can help them achieve their program goals; (2) learn techniques for fostering a culture of learning in their organization; and (3) increase their ability to identify and address gaps and continuously improve their programs...

Data Use for Continuous Quality Improvement: What the Head Start Field Can Learn from Other Disciplines. A Literature Review and Conceptual Framework summarizes research on the processes, facilitators, and impediments to data use for continuous quality improvement; develops a conceptual framework representing the elements of data use for continuous quality improvement; provides linkages between the disciplines from which the literature was drawn and the Head Start field; and suggests...