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HEAD START HAS A LONG, RICH AND MEANINGFUL HISTORY

HEAD START HAS A LONG, RICH AND MEANINGFUL HISTORY. LBJ announces WAR ON POVERTY Programs created to fight the war included Community Action Vista Legal Aid The Job Corps Head Start. The 60’s. Named Head of the “War on Poverty” in 1964

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HEAD START HAS A LONG, RICH AND MEANINGFUL HISTORY

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  1. HEAD START HAS A LONG, RICH AND MEANINGFUL HISTORY

  2. LBJ announces WAR ON POVERTY Programs created to fight the war included Community Action Vista Legal Aid The Job Corps Head Start The 60’s

  3. Named Head of the “War on Poverty” in 1964 Figured out quickly that the funding for Community Action would not all be spent during the first year. $300m/$26m Appointed a steering committee to discuss what could be done for young children Our CHAMPION wasSargeant Shriver

  4. These were the brilliant people in the 60’s who were champions for young children… - Ed Ziegler Dr. Robert Cooke Julius Richmond Susan Grey Jules Sugarman Dr. Cooke was the chair of the committee Shriver’s Committee Figured it Out!

  5. She is named honorary chairperson of PROJECT HEAD START She told Lyndon not to be so cheap when he proposed less than $20m for the Program She hosted White House events to sell the program and was an all round supporter of the program – until her Lady Bird weighs in

  6. Johnson makes the official announcement of Project Head Start and Actor Danny Kaye is there to help launch the announcement May 18, 1965

  7. Head Start was launched as an 8 week summer program serving more than 560,000 children • BUT… the program was SO successful and SO appreciated that President Johnson announced that in the coming year, Head Start would be a FULL school year program.

  8. And in those first years… There were NO standards other than state day care licensing standards – where they existed Children were transported in staff automobiles, passenger vans, and even in commercial vans Meals were NOT required and those who provided meals got nutritional help from the local Extension Service There were no on-site reviews Teachers had no specific education requirements other than a high school diploma It was okay to house the centers in condemned buildings Parent volunteers would bring siblings to the center and they blended right in AND… EVERYBODY LOVED IT! So… we were off and running

  9. Programs operated with minimal lesson plans partly because of political pressure (HS was seen by some as an attempt to impose a national curriculum on school systems) field trips were often spontaneous and parent involvement was overwhelming. Head Start was woefully underfunded and we made do with second hand furniture, hand made manipulatives for the classrooms – egg cartons and buttons were the big thing – , and donated everything! AND EVERYBODY LOVED IT!

  10. In 1967 under President Johnson • An obscure little demonstration project was announced which provided services to families called the Parent and Child Centers. A number of agencies across the country operated these centers successfully and they were the forerunner to Early Head Start!

  11. In 1969 Nixon tried to get rid of Community Action and Head Start along with it and was advised that Head Start was a very popular program and viable force to deal with – so, he moved Head Start Out of the Office of Econ- omic Opportunity and into HHS, thinking he would take CAA on later – That didn’t work either! In1970 we got “Maximum Feasible Parent Involvement” and 70.2 That was the FIRST official standard requirement for Head Start And in 1973 the Home Based option was added

  12. A Study by the Westinghouse Learning Corporation in 1969 was the FIRST major evaluation of Head Start and it said essentially that a summer program had no lasting effect, and the full year programs showed cognitive gains, but appeared to “fade out” by second or third grade. • We have been living with that indictment ever since! • Yet the study proved to be flawed in a number of areas, there was never an “official” refutation of the findings

  13. THE 70’S Brought us the Beetles Watergate A raging war in Vietnam Head Start Performance Standards The CDA requirement Home Based Services The first ever Head Start Expansion

  14. The first program reviews occurred in 1976 – they weren’t peer reviews then - • They were done by teams of outside consultants – supposedly experts in component fields – using a tool called the SAVI • In the early days of these reviews, they were pretty casual, and rarely was there a return review for even major infractions

  15. And… some will remember, that • For a period of 9 years – just before and during the Reagan years – there were very few reviews done at all!

  16. So… we are up to Head Start in the 80’s • Does anyone have any questions??????

  17. President Bush the First gave us our second batch of new money - $5,000,000,000(that’s half a billion!) BUSH • And the expansion boom of the late 1980’s and 1990’s began. Oversight got more stringent (and surely you’ve noticed that THAT process changes nearly every year – • (AND is about to change again –by the way, and dramatically, we are told! )

  18. And then came the Clintons – 1993 to 2001 • When Clinton took office Head Start was held in great favor and we experienced the MAJOR changes of the 1990’s

  19. Under President Clinton Major Changes Occurred… • The Study Council of 1993 • Early Head Start • Revision of the Performance Standards • Teacher Education requirements • More stringent review requirements • Major infusion of new money • Permission to purchase buildings and/or renovate buildings • An effort to make Head Start a more professional member of the education/early childhood community

  20. A battle began when Bush the 2nd was elected…. • From 2002 until 2010 there were NO funding increases, one year – 2006 - there was a 1% decrease, and there were obvious efforts from the White House to undo the program (OHS absorbed the loss so few programs were affected) • Beginning in 2003, there were contentious efforts in Congress around reauthorization and it took 4 years to finally get it done. 3 separate Congresses were in the mix. Finally got Reauthorization in 2007 when the Congress was controlled by the Democrats • During the GW Bush administration, there were efforts at a slow starvation and death by 1,000 cuts – no increases in funding and an unfriendly administration • Among other things – we got the NRS assessment system and that was very challenging!

  21. REAUTHORIZATION 2007 • Was finalized after nearly 4 years of struggle with Congress • Contained a number of changes which impacted programs and program operations • Included major staff education requirements • Changed Governance requirements dramatically • Increased requirements for serving children with disabilities… and • Introduced the Designation Renewal System (DRS) AND the CLASS system into Head Start operations

  22. And NOW… the Obama Administration • Says he wants to preserve Head Start • $2 billion in ARRA funds to expand Head Start and early Head Start that were made permanent • Wants to expand Early Head Start • Created a liaison between the US Department of Education and ACF/OHS • Now has the PreK initiative that seems to move 4 year olds from Head Start to that program, and expands Early Head Start • Wants to have this as his legacy for early childhood education

  23. But in the middle of this love fest… We got Sequestration and lost a pot load of funds (5.27%) for the first time ever (if you don’t count the 1% cut in 2006 that the OHS absorbed)

  24. So what comes next? • What does the future of our history look like? • Highest quality possible programs? • Gold standard for early childhood education? • Mixed service delivery within the community? • Zero to five programs across the nation? • Children ready for school and succeeding! • Constant battles for funding? Here are some good possibilities...

  25. We are facing a major culture shift in Head Start • Programs must be entrepreneurial… they MUST get out of the box and become creative and innovative • Programs must be community aware, poverty aware and staff must function with an increase in skill sets – staff must be appropriately educated and trained from day one • Head Start must become an evidence based program working from a range of community based choices for their program’s framework

  26. So – here’s to the future of Head Start… May we embrace positive change, so we become the GOLD STANDARD for All other early childhood programs and where our banner will wave with pride for fifty more years of success

  27. For copies of the history or more information Contact: Barbara Haxton The Ohio Head Start Association 144 Westpark Road Dayton, OH 45459 937-435-1113 haxton@ohsai.org

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