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-98-14a |
2. Issuance Date: 12/12/98 |
| 3. Originating Office: Head Start Bureau |
| 4. Key Word: Fiscal Year 1999 Head Start Monitoring |
INFORMATION MEMORANDUM
TO: All Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies
SUBJECT: Interim Head Start Monitoring Process for Fiscal Year 1999
The Head Start Bureau is in the process of revising the head Start monitoring system. Program Review Instrument for Systems Monitoring (PRISM) is a new instrument and process that will be used by Federal staff to monitor all Head Start and Early Head Start grantees in the future.
As work on PRISM continues, we have revised the Interim Monitoring Instrument that was used to review grantees during Fiscal Year 1998. The Interim Monitoring Instrument (1-99), that will be used to monitor grantees during Fiscal Year 1999, builds on last year's interim instrument and process and incorporates some additional aspects, that will be part of PRISM. A copy of I-99 is attached to this memorandum.
The I-99 process will be used by Administration for Children and Families (ACF) staff to review all Head Start and Early Head Start grantees monitored between October 1, 1998 and September 30, 1999. This process, like that of the interim process used last year, takes a more integrated, comprehensive, and outcome-focused approach to ensure compliance with regulations. This approach promotes quality and supports programs in delivering services for children and families in a more holistic manner.
Other key principles from the interim process used last year that will remain a part of the I-99 process include:
- Reviewers determine how standards are
implemented from the context of the "big picture" instead of
concentrating on predetermined outcomes and individual standards;
- Group interviews are used to elicit
information from grantees on their community, organization and
systems and program services;
- Reviewers use interviews, observations,
documentation review and analysis to validate that agencies have
implemented the required systems and services; and
- If problem areas are identified during
the review, grantee and delegate agencies will be examined
in-depth using all of the Performance Standards;
- Teams use a consensus-building approach to determine review decisions.
The I-99 review process is based upon the idea that effective management systems are required to support high quality services. The Head Start Performance Standards and other regulations require agencies to implement an array of program services and to establish a set of management systems for supporting these services. When reviewing programs using the I-99 Framework, reviewers will examine the quality of services, the effectiveness of management systems, and the impact of systems on services. Changes in the I-99 process include:
- Team leaders will use their professional
judgment to decide which delegate agencies, centers, classrooms,
family child care homes, home visitors, and children to sample
during their review of an agency based on criteria recommended by
the Head Start Bureau. These decisions will be made in conjunction
with the grantee staff person who has responsibility for working
with the team leader to plan the review. This alternative method
of sampling is reasonable and necessary because of the size and
complexity of many grantees. Review teams will no longer be
visiting every agency, site or classroom operated by a grantee on
many reviews.
- Review team roles and responsibilities are now assigned to correspond to the questions that are part of the review instrument.
The development of the PRISM instrument has been an evolutionary process. The I-99 instrument introduces several new parts from PRISM and uses many of the same tools that were introduced last year. Some modifications were made to the tools based on experience and feedback from fiscal year 1998 reviews. These tools are a part of the I-99 instrument:
- The Management Team Interview protocol has been slightly changed. This year, review teams will conduct a separate Entrance Meeting, as an introductory
session with program staff, before the Management Team Interview.
Staff may deliver a 30-minute presentation to describe: the
agency; its organizational structure; and the children, families,
and community served by the grantee.
- The Staff Focus Group protocol replaces the System-Level Focus Group protocol used
last year. The interview assists reviewers in learning about a
grantee's program of services and management systems from direct
services staff.
- 17 Core Questions replace the 42 Key Questions used by reviewers last year to collect information
on agencies. Each question focuses on one of the management
systems or one area of service from the I-99 Framework.
- The Health and Safety Checklist has been reformatted to allow reviewers to
record their observations from four different settings on one
checklist. This information is used to answer the core questions
on Prevention and Early Intervention (Question #9) and Facilities,
Materials and Equipment (Question #17).
- A Classroom, Family Child Care, or Socialization Activity Observation Tool and a Home-Based Observation Tool were
added to assist reviewers when recording child development
observations and responding to the core question on Curriculum
(Question #12).
- A Fiscal Checklist, which contains a list of the fiscal issues that must be reviewed to answer the core question on Fiscal Management (Question #8), has been added.
The instrument begins with the Overview of the Interim-99 Review Process section which provides a detailed description of the instrument and the process. 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 the person from your agency designated to assist in planning the review.
We have worked closely with ACF Regional staff to ensure that the I-99 process is implemented consistently across and within each region of the country. A national training approach for reviewers was designed this year so that every participant received the same information about the process. We will continue to take every measure necessary to ensure that all Head Start and Early Head Start grantees are monitored in a uniform and consistent manner. We will continue to plan a thoughtful and deliberate introduction of the PRISM process to the Head Start community. As always, our goal in monitoring is to encourage programs to strive for excellence.
/S/
Helen H. Taylor
Associate Commissioner
Head Start Bureau
ATTACHMENT: Head Start Interim Monitoring Instrument for Fiscal Year 1999.
