NSBA Issue Brief: Head Start Reauthorization
BACKGROUND Head Start, the main federal early education program for disadvantaged children, provides educational and other comprehensive support services to close to 1 million low-income preschoolers to help prepare them for and increase their success in school. The program, which is funded through the Department of Health and Human Services, provides grants directly to local agencies–-about 16 percent of which are local school districts–-to deliver program services.
Research shows that, on average, Head Start helps to narrow the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers as they enter kindergarten and progress through the elementary grades. Long-term positive outcomes and cost-savings also include more positive behavior, reduced special education placement, lower in-grade retention and dropout rates, and increased lifelong earning potential.
RECENT LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
In the 109th Congress, both the House and Senate education committees drafted bills to reauthorize Head Start to strengthen the educational component of the program while recognizing that other aspects of the child’s life must also be addressed. Both bills sought to improve academic, developmental, and educational outcomes, increase teacher certification, foster better coordination and collaboration local public schools, and increase accountability for the financial management of Head Start programs.
While the House passed, H.R. 2123, the School Readiness Act of 2005, in September 2005, the Senate bill never made it to the Senate floor for a vote. As a result, both bills were reintroduced in the 110th Congress.
After many false starts, lawmakers finally came together on a bipartisan basis to reauthorize the early education program in 2007. After passing their own versions of legislation, the House and the Senate overwhelmingly approved a final conference agreement by a vote of 95-0 in the Senate and 381-36 in the House. President Bush signed the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 into law on December 12, 2007.
The legislation adheres closely to NSBA’s goals of strengthening the educational component of the program through age-appropriate instruction and aligning it more closely with the expectations of local schools.
Specifically, the new law strengthens performance standards for program quality, sets new goals for Head Start teachers, improves coordination with other early childhood education programs, requires collaboration between Head Start and other publicly funded pre-k programs at the local level, and strengthens program accountability to ensure that children are ready to succeed in school and in life. In addition, it abolishes high stakes testing through the National Reporting System and expands eligibility for additional low-income children and families up to 130% of the federal poverty guideline.
The U.S. Department of Education is expected to issue regulations on the newly revised program sometime this fall.
NSBA POSITION Throughout the reauthorization process, NSBA has urged Congress to support developmentally appropriate early education standards for Head Start that are aligned with state academic content standards and reflective of the expectations of local schools. NSBA believes there should be an opportunity for local school districts to coordinate and consult with Head Start programs in their communities, to enhance the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children to ensure that they are ready to learn. In doing so, however, young children should not be pressured by high stake testing, and recognition should be given for expected variations in individual development among young children.
NSBA also supports strengthening the opportunity for coordination between Head Start programs and the schools, to ensure effective and efficient service delivery and to ease the transition between preschool, kindergarten, and the elementary grades. NSBA believes school districts should have a role in the design of Head Start programs to ensure that they are well articulated with kindergarten and early elementary school programs that students will be attending in their communities. Additionally, parents should be offered programs and activities aimed at strengthening their role to support the school readiness of their children.
Finally, NSBA encourages Congress to enhance, under state leadership, the pre-school teaching skills, credentials, and professional development opportunities of Head Start workers responsible for providing educational services so that participating children will have a meaningful opportunity to come to school ready to learn. However, the federal government must ensure adequate federal resources are authorized to support educationally enriched Head Start programs without sacrificing the other vital services that children participating in the program need.
NSBA believes that the new law reflects many of these goals. As a result, prior to its consideration in the House, NSBA sent a letter to all members endorsing the legislation.
September 2008