Head Start Performance Standards

It’s that time of year again. Like baby birds leaving the nest, approximately 320,000 Head Start preschoolers will fly away to start the next chapter in their young lives. As Head Start teachers and administrators, we can’t help but ask, “Are they ready?” “Did we do everything we could to prepare them?” “Is the school…

In a recent blog this past January, we posed the question: What’s the big deal about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in Head Start programs? While you have likely heard about DEIB before, you might think that it’s only something done by corporations with sprawling HR departments or government agencies in large marble buildings.…

If you only read one of The Gravely Group’s blogs each year, our annual Year in Review should be it. Each year, we do a recap of all the articles we put out throughout the year, as well as give a few other highlights from our trainings and travels. After nearly three years of uncertainty,…

The Head Start Act section 641A outlines that the Secretary of Health and Human Services is responsible for promoting a comprehensive federal monitoring and oversight system. The system must assess program compliance with regulations applicable to Head Start programs. These regulations include regulatory requirements documented in the Head Start Program Performance Standards, the Head Start…

In Columbus, Ohio, where The Gravely Group is located, the city council voted last week to remove the city-wide mask mandate. Columbus Public School District, Ohio’s largest, did the same, removing any mask requirements for both children and staff. Experts are stating publicly that this might be the beginning of the end of the pandemic,…

Head Start wants to ensure that the staff and teachers who are serving local families have the appropriate education to do so. The Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC) hosts a series of briefs that outlines all the educational requirements for the majority of Head Start staff positions, everything from Executive Directors to Home…

I have a special place in my heart for foster children, having been a foster parent myself for many years. Foster children can often feel like the world has forgotten them, as the many adults around them are busy navigating the complex bureaucratic web that is the foster care system. While we all mean well,…

Office of Head Start (OHS) recently announced an update which will delay compliance requirements for background checks and the Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) until September 30, 2019. Under the initial rule, programs were required to comply by September 2017, which was delayed until September 2018. The summary from the updated rule reads: “The…

The sixth relationship based competency is family access to community resources. Know what Resources are Available For a program to be successful in connecting families to local resources, they first have to know what resources their community offers. Head Start and Early Head Start (HS/EHS) staff need to have extensive knowledge of social services programs,…

Children in temporary housing (often combined into one group using the catch-all term “homeless”) are one of the most difficult to serve populations for early childhood education programs.  According to a document by the New York State Technical and Education Assistance Center for Homeless Students (NYS-TEACHS), children in temporary housing are half as likely to…