Interim Head Start Monitoring Process

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-97-17	2. Issuance Date: 12/22/97
	3. Originating Office: Head Start Bureau
	4. Key Word: Monitoring

INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

TO: All Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies

SUBJECT: Interim Head Start Monitoring Process

Head Start grantees must fully implement the revised Head Start Performance Standards by January 1, 1998. The Performance Standards are the core set of regulations that define the services that Head Start programs are to provide to the children and families they serve. Since Federal monitoring is based on current regulations, a revision of the standards presented an opportunity to re-think the way in which programs are monitored by Federal review teams. We knew our work on a new monitoring process would need to mesh with our.work on developing the standards.

We have been working on a new monitoring instrument and process that promotes quality services and a more holistic approach to service delivery. This year, as grantees work through implementing the revised standards, Federal staff will refine the new process and continue to field test the new instrument. We expect to begin to use this new process in fiscal year 1999. While this work is being completed, we are establishing an interim process to be used by Federal staff during this transition period. Federal staff are mandated by law to monitor every grantee once over a three year period and we are committed to meeting this requirement in fiscal year 1998. For this purpose, the Head Start Interim Monitoring Instrument which is attached was developed.

The interim process will be used for grantees monitored between January 1 and September 30, 1998. The interim process emphasizes the progress of grantee and delegate agencies in implementing the revised Performance Standards. We have developed a process that reflects the importance of an integrated, comprehensive approach to services that ensures compliance with regulations. We sought to make both the standards and the interim monitoring process more outcome-focused and less process-oriented.

Other key principles that were incorporated into the interim process include:

Reviewers will now determine how standards are implemented from the context of the "big picture" instead of concentrating on predetermined outcomes and individual standards;
Federal Team Leaders and reviewers will use a more integrated, holistic approach in assessing the different programs areas and in looking at how individual standards are being met by the program;
Group interviews will be used to elicit information from grantees on their community, organization and systems;
Reviewers will use interviews, observations, documentation review and analysis to validate that agencies have implemented the required services; and
Grantee and delegate agencies may be examined in depth using all of the revised Performance Standards if problem areas are identified during the review.

The interim instrument is a hybrid containing parts of both the current OSPRI and the new process being planned for fiscal year 1999. We kept what is critical from the current process and have chosen to introduce some new tools that we believe are ready to be used by review teams. A set of questions related to the three major sections of the revised Performance Standards were developed specifically to be used for this interim period. These tools comprise the interim instrument:

A Protocol for a Management Team Interview,
A Protocol for a System-Level Focus Group,
Key Questions related to the three major areas of the Performance Standards,
A Health and Safety Checklist, and
The Financial Management section of the current OSPRI.

The instrument begins with the Guidance for the Fiscal Year 1998 Head Start Interim Monitoring Process section which provides a detailed description of each of the tools. I encourage all of you to read this information. If your agency is scheduled to be monitored this year, a Regional Office staff person will cover this information with someone from your agency when they plan the review.

All of the changes underscore our commitment to work in partnership with grantees in a fundamental way by giving program staff a greater and more proactive role in the process. This interim process will allow time for a thoughtful and deliberate introduction of the new process to the Head Start community. Although challenging, everyone is excited by the prospect of a new and improved process for program monitoring. Our goal in monitoring will always be to encourage programs to strive for excellence.

/S/
Helen H. Taylor
Associate Commissioner
Head Start Bureau