NPRM--Head Start Program Performance Standards 45 CFR Parts 1301, 1303, 1304, 1305, 1306 and 1308

ACYF Administration on Children, Youth and Families	U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Administration for Children and Families
	1. Log No. ACYF-IM-HS-96-07	2. Issuance Date: 04/12/96
	3. Originating Office: Head Start Bureau
	4. Key Word: Program Performance Standards

INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

TO: All Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies

SUBJECT: NPRM--Head Start Program Performance Standards 45 CFR Parts 1301, 1303, 1304, 1305, 1306 and 1308

INFORMATION: Attached for your review and comments, pursuant to Section 644(d), 42 U.S.C. 9839(d), is a copy of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the Head Start Program Performance Standards as published in the Federal Register on April 22, 1996.

Statutory Requirements
This proposed rule implements the statutory provisions of the 1994 amendments to the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9801 et.secr.) which require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, by regulation, performance standards for Early Head Start grantees and Head Start grantees and delegate agencies providing services to eligible Head Start children from birth to five years and their families as well as pregnant women. The Act further provides that any revisions to the existing standards should not result in an elimination or reduction regarding the scope or types of health, education, parental involvement, nutritional, social or other services to a level below that of the requirements in effect on November 2, 1978. Pursuant to the statute, this rule also prescribes the procedures for corrective actions to be undertaken with agencies which fail to meet the standards.

Consultation
The Administration on Children, Youth and Families has undertaken extensive consultation in developing these standards, including holding over 70 focus groups (including 24 Regional meetings) involving about 2,000 people representing a cross-section of experts, parents, educators, and several Federal agencies, including the Education Department (concerning Title I issues). An internal working group of Central and Regional Office staff developed early drafts of the standards and provided recommendations in the process of developing the NPRM.

Regulatory Approach and Summary
The approach taken in developing the NPRM reflects the efforts to balance three important goals: (1) the need to update the program performance standards to meet the new challenges facing Head start children and families since the 1970's, as required by the statute; (2) the need to maintain quality and ensure no reduction in services, also as required by statute; and (3) the need to streamline the standards to minimize regulatory burden and to encourage grantee innovation and flexibility.

The final balance that was struck was: (1) to reorganize the existing standards to reduce fragmentation and duplication, encourage holistic approaches and emphasize partnerships with families; (2) to focus the regulation on requirements that are key to maintaining quality services and to meeting the new emerging needs of Head Start families and children; and (3) to seek the least burdensome approach to maintaining service quality and to meeting emerging challenges.

In preparing these regulations, we have included the following key provisions which:

Establish proposed standards for the new Early Head Start program serving low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers and incorporate them with the revised performance standards, for the Head Start program serving preschool children and their families, thereby establishing a single set of standards for Head Start programs serving children from birth to age five and their families as well as pregnant women;
Reorganize the performance standards into three major new sections--Child Development Services, Family and Community Partnerships and Program Design and Management--in order to improve both the integration of program activities and their "user-friendliness;"
Update the section addressing Child Health and Development Assessment by outlining for grantees a schedule of preventive health care which must be applied to determine an individual child's needs for care, ongoing assessments and age appropriate care;
Establish a Program Design and Management section which contains a number of new or significantly revised standards designed to improve overall program management and accountability at the local level;
Focus two new sections on Family Partnerships and Community Partnerships in order to strengthen Head Start linkages with families and other community agencies, as recommended in the consultation process;
Incorporate into one section on Child Health and Safety a set of standards concerning issues of health, emergencies, safety and hygiene;
Assure transition services through standards for children and families moving from previous child care programs into Early Head Start or Head Start and from Head Start into elementary school, Title I Improving Americas Schools Act preschool programs or other child care settings in order to ensure there are no breaks in continuity;
Establish family literacy services for parents through a standard providing for child development and literacy skill training for parents to help children reach their full potential; and
Prescribe, based upon statutory requirements, the procedures for corrective actions or terminations to be undertaken when agencies fail to meet the standards.

Public Comments:
As explained in the NPRM, comments are to be addressed to: Associate Commissioner, Head Start Bureau, P.O. Box 1182, Washington, D.C. 20013. Comments must be submitted by June 21, 1996.

I ask that you, your staff and parents carefully review the text of the proposed regulation. All comments will be taken into account and summaries of the comments received will be published with the final rule in the Federal Register

Your comments are extremely important to the development of a final regulation that best supports quality services to children and families as well as community flexibility. Please address in your comments both those elements of the proposed rule that should stay the same in the final rule and those that should be changed.

To assist us in the review of comments, please cite the section and paragraph number of the proposed regulation that relates to each individual comment and explain the reason for each comment.

/S/
Olivia A. Golden
Commissioner

cc: Regional Administrators, ACF, Regions I-X American Indian and Migrant Programs Branch