WADE F. HORN, PH. D., was named the Assistant Secretary for Children and
Families in the Administration for Children and Families, U. S. Department
of Health and Human Services, on July 30, 2001. Prior to this appointment,
Dr. Horn was President of the National Fatherhood Initiative, whose mission
is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the number of children
growing up with involved, committed, and responsible fathers in their lives.
From 1989-1993, Dr. Horn was the Commissioner
for Children, Youth and Families and Chief of the Children's Bureau in the
Administration on Children, Youth and Families. He also served as a Presidential
appointee to the National Commission on Children from 1990-1993 and was a
member of the National Commission on Childhood Disability from 1994-1995 and
the U. S. Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators from 1996-1997. Prior to these
appointments, Dr. Horn was the Director of Outpatient Psychological Services
at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D. C., and
an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington
University. From 1993 to 2001, Dr. Horn was also an adjunct faculty member
at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute and an affiliate scholar
with the Hudson Institute. Dr. Horn's article previously appeared in Children
and Families, Winter 2003.
President Bush has made managing for results
a guiding principle of his Administration since its inception. In accordance
with that principle, we are working to make sure that we measure the outcomes
of our efforts, not merely the processes and procedures that make up each
of our programs. In the end, the most important indicator of any program's
efficacy is whether it is, in fact, helping the people it is intended to help.
Nowhere is this truer than for Head Start.
Although the Head Start program has been shown to have many benefits for
parents and children, we need to do a better job of determining how well Head
Start children across the country are being prepared for academic success
once they enter school. In line with this, the President's Good Start,
Grow Smart initiative challenges us to improve the operational effectiveness
of Head Start programs by developing a systematic, nationwide approach to
assessing every child's school readiness.
I believe that this initiative offers Head Start programs the opportunity
both to showcase their achievements and to ensure that every child in Head
Start develops the full range of skills he or she needs to succeed in school
and in life.
To meet the President's challenges, we are
pursuing several approaches. The first effort, STEP (Strategic Teacher Education
Program), launched in Summer 2002, is a comprehensive professional development
program aimed at training Head Start teachers and child care administrators
in the latest research on how to enhance children's early literacy, language
and math skills. STEP-trained teachers will return to their classrooms and
become mentor-trainers for their colleagues, creating an ever-widening circle
of better-trained teachers.
Yet as vital as excellent training is for improving
the Head Start program, it is not enough to stop there. To show our commitment
to attaining positive outcomes for children, we are instituting a new outcomes-oriented
national reporting system. This system will employ a common, core set of measures
that will allow us to determine whether or not the children that Head Start
serves are developing the early literacy, language, and math skills they need
to be successful in school.
One of the strengths of the Head Start program
is its local diversity, and we have no intention of diminishing the ability
of local Head Start agencies to design programs to meet local needs. Local
programs, for example, will be able to continue to use whatever curriculum
and child-assessment systems they currently employ that are tailored for their
community's unique needs. However, it is only by establishing a common core
of outcome measures, administered by each Head Start program in the same way,
that we will be able to evaluate how well all Head Start children are doing
and help them do better.
In developing this outcomes-oriented system, we will include only reliable
and valid measurement tools that have been thoroughly tested and that take
into account cultural, socio-economic, and linguistic differences. Where no
such reliable and valid measurement instruments exist, we will enlist the
best researchers to develop and refine them before including them in the outcomes-oriented
reporting system. The goal is to include only those assessment tools that
are reliable and valid for use with economically disadvantaged four-year-old
children.
Some have reacted to news of this approach
with the fear that we intend to use the national reporting system as a "pass-fail"
test for grantees. This is just not the case. Rather, the purposes of the
system are first, to help with educational planning, and second, to identify
which programs may need additional training and technical assistance to achieve
good outcomes for children. If a particular program is not achieving the kinds
of results we all want for children enrolled in Head Start, the response will
not be to de-fund the grantee, but to provide intensive assistance designed
to increase the capacity of that program to help children achieve good outcomes.
Of course, despite all our efforts, a particular program may be unable to
produce good outcomes for its children. As prudent managers, we would take
that into account along with other factors examined during our normal monitoring
process. In some cases, we may determine that a different agency would be
in a better position to deliver effective Head Start services. This approach
is not a departure from procedures already in place to monitor how well grantees
are performing.
I am also aware that some fear this system will become the equivalent of
an entrance exam for kindergarten. Again, absolutely not. Yes, the information
gathered by this system can— and should— be used to help children make the
transition from Head Start to kindergarten. But it should never be used— and
will not be used— to determine whether a child should be enrolled in kindergarten
in the first place.
Recently, I was asked by a reporter when I
anticipated we would start "de-funding" Head Start programs as a consequence
of this new outcomes-oriented reporting system. My answer: I hope it will
be never. That's because I am confident that this new outcomes-oriented system
will be an effective tool in helping Head Start deliver quality services to
children. Delivering quality services to economically disadvantaged children
is what Head Start is all about. Working together, we will continue to do
just that.
Wade F. Horn is the Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children
and Families.
