Realizing the Vision: Examining the Final Rule on Enhancing the Head Start Workforce and Ensuring Quality Programming
On August 21, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final rule updating the Head Start Program Performance Standards to enhance workforce support and service quality. These updates address critical areas, including wages and benefits for staff, mental health integration, and quality improvement measures, while responding to structural challenges affecting program sustainability.…
Read MoreHistory of Head Start
Nearly 60 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson created Head Start, a program to help meet the emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs of preschool-aged children from low-income families. Since then, the program has made significant strides, and regulations have continued to evolve. Knowing about Head Start’s past will help us plan for its…
Read MoreMulticultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders
Children and their families come to Head Start and Early Head Start rooted in a culture that gives them meaning and direction. The same statement is true of the staff and administrators who work in Head Start and Early Head Start. Head Start programs are effective when their systems and services support the cultural diversity…
Read MoreOnboarding Your Head Start Staff
Onboarding is the process by which new hires get adjusted to the social and performance aspects of their jobs quickly and smoothly, and learn the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to function effectively within an organization. Onboarding encompasses activities from pre-program year through the end of the organization’s first year. Here are the important…
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