Management/Staff

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.…

We cannot continue to expect early educators to remain in these critical roles only to earn poverty wages. Those are the words of January Contreras, Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in a recent announcement for the new National Early Care and Education Workforce Center (more on that later).  We appreciate…

Mel Gravely, M.S. and Dr. Desiree Del-Zio, Ed.D, researched the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B) initiative and monitored hundreds of program practices meant to achieve the D.E.I.&B federal expectations. The Gravely Group is now offering a day-long, in-depth and immersive learning experience to understand these federal expectations better. In this training, Head Start leaders…

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…

Earlier this past summer, the National Head Start Association (NHSA) announced a new initiative for supporting the mental health of the staff within its member programs. In a press release at the time, NHSA explained that the initiative is meant to address the “unique set of difficult and challenging stressors” that Head Start staff face.…

Read our latest update on this topic: Federal Government Steps up Efforts to Increase Wages for Early Childhood Education Workforce It’s no secret, there is a shortage of workers in the early childhood education (ECE) sector. Private daycares, public preschools, and Head Starts are all competing for a rapidly dwindling labor pool. And unfortunately, the…

We’ll be honest. If you had asked us during our last Year in Review blog if we’d still be talking about COVID-19 affecting our day to day lives, we’d have said, “I sure hope not!” In December 2020 when we were writing it, the vaccines had just become available for those at highest risk and…

Early childhood education programs across the country face unprecedented shortages in staff, a problem that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The child care industry employment rate is down more than 10 percent from pre-pandemic levels and child care staff hiring has become more challenging than ever, as the Office of Head Start (OHS)…

This past June, we wrote a blog outlining Head Start’s expectations for programs in the 2021-2022 school year. In it, we explained how the Office of Head Start (OHS) is expecting all programs to work towards full in-person enrollment for this program year. We explained that while OHS had originally supported virtual and remote services…