by Judith Jerald

Introduction
Challenges
Resources
Head Start Bureau Goals
Conclusion

With the reauthorization of the Head Start program in 1994, Congress established a new program for low-income families with pregnant women, infants, and toddlers: Early Head Start. In creating this program, Congress was responding to strong evidence suggesting that early intervention through high quality programs enhances children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development; enables parents to be better caregivers and teachers to their children; and helps parents meet their own goals, including economic independence.

Early Head Start (EHS) focuses on the current best practices essential to quality programs: child development, family development, community building, and staff development, all of which are embedded in the Head Start Performance Standards. The services provided by EHS programs are designed to reinforce and respond to the unique strengths and needs of each child and family. These services include:

• Quality early education both in and out of the home;
  
• Home visits, especially for families with newborns and other infants;
  
• Parent education, including parent-child activities;
  
• Comprehensive health and mental health services, including services to women before, during, and after pregnancy;
  
• Nutrition; and
  
• Ongoing support for parents through case management and peer support groups.

Early Head Start is going through a period of rapid expansion. In 1995, there were 68 EHS programs. Currently there are more than 600 programs serving nearly 45,000 children.

As Early Head Start continues to expand, our highest priority is to maintain quality programming that reflects the needs of individual children, their families, and their local communities. The Head Start Program Performance Standards represent a constellation of comprehensive services to serve children's and families' individual and changing needs. The Performance Standards are an important tool in managing and implementing change. They define the services that are to be provided to children and families without being prescriptive in how the services must be carried out. Within the framework of the Performance Standards, programs are encouraged to develop and provide services in ways that fit individual family needs and are driven by family, community, and program goals.

Challenges

EHS leaders face the challenge of maintaining high standards of program quality while simultaneously meeting specific local needsin other words, balancing quality and flexibility. In addition, EHS programs face other significant challenges, including:

Transitionsfrom pregnancy to birth, from EHS to Head Start and other preschool programs; from home-based services to center-based services, and sometimes center-based to family child care or home-based depending on families' changing needs.

Welfare reformmeeting the challenges by supporting self-sufficiency goals while maintaining the focus on child and family goals, including work.

Special populationsfathers, teenagers, families from a variety of cultures.

Whether programs can meet these challenges may depend in large part on their ability to:

• Embrace innovation to meet changing family and community needs;
  
• Develop and maintain a clear and strong leadership structure;
  
• Build strong, respectful linkages with community institutions while enhancing community knowledge of and commitment to the EHS population;
  
• Ensure appropriate staff selection and ongoing professional development; and
  
• Plan and implement meaningful self-evaluation and continuous improvement activities.

Resources

The Head Start Bureau has established a network of resources and support for EHS programs, including Central and Regional Office staff, Senior Early Childhood Associates in each region, Infant/Toddler Specialists at the Quality Improvement Centers (QICs) in each region, specialists at the Quality Improvement Centers for Disabilities Services in each region, and the Early Head Start National Resource Center at Zero-to-Three. These and many other resources are described in this issue of the Head Start Bulletin.

Head Start Bureau Goals

Our goals in continuing to build and strengthen the Early Head Start program are to:

• Develop and clarify policies on service delivery and the Program Performance Standards as they relate to EHS in home-based, center-based, family child care, and combination options;
  
• Develop a national communication structure and system that integrates the regionally-based Senior Early Childhood Associates, the Infant/Toddler Specialists, Regional Office staff, and staff within the Bureau's Central Office in Washington;
  
• Raise awareness of the comprehensiveness and complexity of EHS, in terms of service intensity, the need for flexibility, and the need for quality services that are comprehensive, collaborative, and continuous over time;
  
• In collaboration with the Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Branch, implement strong, national professional development systems and start-up planning systems;
  
• Help programs to recognize the value of continuous improvement and self-evaluation, and to make a commitment to these efforts;
  
• Help programs focus on theories of change and outcomes; and
  
• Provide a variety of training and technical assistance opportunites.

Through the pursuit and achievement of these goals, the Head Start community will create a quality Early Head Start system that embraces the Program Performance Standards; responds to family and community needs; follows national best practice standards for early learning and family development; and focuses on outcomes.

Conclusion

Early Head Start is expanding rapidly in response to the critical need for quality infant/toddler care in communities across the country. Programs are building partnerships and leveraging community resources to the benefit of young children and their families. We hope that you find the information and resources provided in this issue of the Head Start Bulletin to be useful in your efforts to respond to the changing needs of children and families in your local communities.

Judith Jerald is the National Early Head Start Coordinator at the Head Start Bureau, T: 202-205-8074, E: jjerald@acf.dhhs.gov.