Testimony of Jeff Alexander
Assistant Head Start Director
Big Five Community Services, Inc., Oklahoma
Before the
Subcommittee on Education Reform
Committee on Education and the Workforce
U.S. House of Representatives
April 21, 2005
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, good morning. I am Jeff Alexander, Assistant Head Start Director for Big Five Community Services, Inc., a Community Action Agency in rural, southeastern Oklahoma. I have served in this position for the past three years.
I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and to share with this distinguished panel Oklahoma’s success story in terms of collaborative efforts among federal, state and local programs offering early childhood services. I will detail what we have done and continue to do in Head Start on the local level to maximize benefits, avoid gaps in service, and create quality, comprehensive systems when it comes to early childhood programs. Coordination and collaboration is not a new concept in Oklahoma; my director, Ms. Jackie Watson, has been collaborating in some form with public school districts and others for nearly 20 years. She began in a small, rural school in Yuba, Oklahoma, where, as the Superintendent of Schools likes to say, "the sun kisses the earth every morning." That collaboration has been expanded and today includes 18 school districts and four day care facilities, serving a total of 807 children and families in a five county area.
COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION: A NATIONAL PICTURE
Head Start has a long history of delivering comprehensive and high quality services designed to foster healthy development in low-income children. Head Start programs deliver a range of individualized services in the areas of education and early childhood development; medical, dental, and mental health; nutrition; and parent involvement in the development of their children. In order to provide these services, Head Start programs work with an array of community partners.
All Head Start programs must adhere to the Head Start Program Performance Standards, which define the services to be provided to the children and families they serve. The Performance Standards constitute the expectations and requirements that Head Start grantees must meet. They are designed to ensure that the Head Start goals and objectives are implemented successfully, that the Head Start philosophy continues to thrive, and that all programs maintain the highest possible quality.
The Head Start Program Performance Standards encourage collaboration and coordination by specifying that all programs must:
"take an active role in community planning to encourage strong communication, cooperation, and the sharing of information among agencies and their community partners and to improve the delivery of community services to children and families."
take affirmative steps to establish ongoing collaborative relationships with community organizations to promote the access of children and families to community services that are responsive to their needs, and to ensure that Early Head Start and Head Start programs respond to community needs." In addition to local elementary schools, these community organizations include those that provide health care, family, disability, child protective, and child care services.
"make specific efforts to develop interagency agreements with local education agencies."
"establish and maintain procedures to support successful transitions for enrolled children and families from previous child care programs into Early Head Start or Head Start and from Head Start into elementary school, a Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act preschool program, or other child care settings."
Head Start program administrators understand the importance of coordination among their programs, child care programs and other pre-K and state education programs. Indeed, collaboration with other community agencies is central to Head Start’s mission and service delivery design because it is fundamental to delivering high quality, comprehensive services.
Coordination and collaboration is occurring in many states and at the local level all over this country. In fact, many Head Start programs provide full day, full year services by leveraging child care funds to extend their services. Similarly, pre-kindergarten services often co-locate with Head Start programs to provide extended education and comprehensive health and nutrition services to a larger group of children.
Dr. Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledged the extent of collaboration taking place in testimony before this Committee:
…despite its federal-to-local program structure, Head Start has always recognized that the states play an important role in the formulation and implementation of policies and initiatives that affect low-income children and their families. Partnerships have always been one of Head Start’s highest priorities. These include partnerships with local school districts – nearly 450 of which operate Head Start programs – and local governments ….
The Head Start Bureau, in a recent 228-page report, Head Start-State Collaboration Offices, extensively documents how Head Start programs are collaborating with states, localities, and private organizations. In the report, the Head Start Bureau catalogued the extent of this collaboration by providing summaries of activities for every state in the country. These partnerships and collaborative efforts often are facilitated by Head Start State Collaboration Offices and are intended to:
· Help build early childhood systems and enhance access to comprehensive services and support for all low-income children;
· Encourage widespread collaboration between Head Start and other appropriate programs, services and initiatives, augmenting Head Start’s capacity to be a partner in State initiatives on behalf of children and their families; and
· Facilitate the involvement of Head Start in State policies, plans, processes, and decisions affecting the Head Start target population and other low-income families.
COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION: THE OKLAHOMA EXPERIENCE
Head Start programs in Oklahoma have formed partnerships with community agencies and others to ensure that comprehensive, quality services are provided to the children and families enrolled in our programs. Compliance with the Head Start Performance Standards demands no less of us. For example, Head Start provides family advocates to help families find needed resources, such as a family medical facility. A family in need of electricity or other utility can be assured that we will find a resource in the community to help fulfill this need. In instances where parents have not completed High School, we work with institutions or businesses in the community to find classes offering G.E.D. tutoring. We know a better-educated parent is more likely to create a stronger learning environment at home. Parents in need of employment may be referred to the local Workforce Investment (WIA) office for job training opportunities. These are but a few of the services we are able to provide through collaborative efforts with others in the community.
Although state and local level leaders met regularly to identify and remove barriers to locally-driven partnerships, it was legislation passed by the State Legislature in 1998 that served as the catalyst for a strong partnership between Head Start and local school districts.
Legislation passed in 1998 authorizes public school districts in Oklahoma to provide pre-kindergarten programs to four-year olds and to receive state funding according to a weighted formula that provides more funding per child for disabled, bilingual and poor children. This expanded pre-K program is run by the public schools on a voluntary basis, through collaborations with Head Start programs and day care centers.
Oklahoma has made a commitment to program quality and requires all pre-K teachers to have a college degree and a certificate in early childhood education. Pre-K teachers must also receive the same compensation and benefits as teachers in public elementary schools. These two requirements distinguish Oklahoma’s pre-K program from child care centers in the State. By law, group sizes for Oklahoma’s pre-K program are set at 20 and child/staff ratios cannot exceed 10/1. These requirements correspond to Head Start program guidelines. The State does not require use of a specific curriculum but leaves that decision in the hands of local school districts.
Today, Oklahoma public schools, Head Start and child care programs collaborate to meet the needs of working families. The result is that more children and families are receiving quality, comprehensive services on a full-day, year-round basis. There is a more qualified staff, more licensed facilities, and longer hours and days of service. In short, more children are being served with higher quality, more comprehensive programs. The system is locally-driven but facilitated and supported by the State. Each program must meet the highest standards of the collaborating partners. So, for example, Head Start programs delivering the State’s pre-K services must have degreed teachers. Highly dedicated people at the state and local level make the system work.
CONCLUSION
The Oklahoma experience demonstrates that it is possible within the existing structure to have a high degree of coordination and collaboration among Head Start programs, state pre-k programs and child care programs. What it takes are committed and dedicated personnel at each program to make it work. Simply changing the funding structure isn’t going to make otherwise unengaged state officials more interested in early childhood education and services. And, it is clear that the existing funding structure is not an impediment to close coordination and collaboration.
In Oklahoma, state and local leaders are working together to use Head Start, pre-K and child care funds both to improve the quality of the programs and to meet the needs of working families. At the same time, these partnerships are strengthening programs by putting funds together to bolster program quality and support comprehensive services that otherwise would not be available.
The quality of Oklahoma’s delivery system is in great measure due to framing our services based on Head Start’s exacting program performance standards. Head Start’s Program Performance Standards are the foundation for quality, comprehensive services. They require attention to literacy, math, science, arts, physical, social, emotional and other areas of children development. The Standards are rigorous and programs are regularly monitored for compliance. They help guide good teaching and assessment. They should not be sacrificed in the name of flexibility. The Oklahoma experience is that they work to improve the lives and school readiness of children. Ladies and gentlemen, Head Start works!
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also:
Committee on Education and the
Workforce
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