We’re about four months away from an important milestone on the journey for Head Start and Early Head Start programs to implement the new Head Start Program Performance Standards! August 1, 2017 is the compliance date for multiple standards, including:
- Assessment
- Coordinated coaching strategy and coaching staff qualifications
- Curricula for center-based and family child care programs
- Curriculum for home-based programs
- Early Head Start home-based service duration
- Management of program data
- Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and Data Systems
With August 1 just around the corner you might be on your way to implementation of these standards. If you’re beginning to turn your attention to these areas we want to remind you of resources that may be valuable to you. The Office of Head Start (OHS) has provided information to help ease the transition to the new standards. The Head Start Program Performance Standards Showcase and the OHS HSPPS Talk Webinar Series are particularly useful to ground yourself in the standards and hear from OHS first hand about why changes were made to the standards, what those changes mean and where they plan to offer additional guidance.
Here at Foundations for Families we also provided guidance on our blog to assist you as you work toward compliance. In our post, A New Year – New Performance Standards, by Julie Shuell, Senior Consultant, we laid out strategies for how to tackle meeting the new HSPPS. In particular, thinking about the standards in buckets – standards you are meeting now, standards you are close to meeting or could meet with minor tweaks, and standards you are not meeting.
Next, we took a closer look at how to address standards you are close to meeting. In the blog post, Step by Step to HSPPS Compliance, you will find a list of steps you can take to compile an implementation team, develop and implement action plans, and communicate with staff, parents, the Board and Policy Council about your progress.
Finally, earlier this month in the blog post, A Plan of Action to Achieve the New HSPPS, we ventured into how to organize your team to implement your program’s hardest-to-meet standards. We discussed how continuous improvement and reflecting on your progress toward implementation will help you on your journey. We also touched on an essential question to ask yourself as you plan – what can our program address in-house and what type of external support might we need?
Follow our blog during the next couple of months as we dig into the areas of the HSPPS that have upcoming compliance dates. If your program needs assistance developing a plan of action to address the new HSPPS, we are here to help. Foundations for Families’ consulting staff have significant experience and expertise advising Head Start and Early Head Start grantees. Please be in touch to explore ways we can assist your program.
Thank you.
Contact Us
We have successfully worked with agencies in every round of recompetition to write winning grants, design competitive programs, confirm prudent budgets, and plan for a manageable start-up period. Contact Amy Augenblick, Executive Director, at (703) 599-4329 or [email protected] to learn about how we can help.
“It was clear that we needed some significant expertise and help to put the organizational, fiscal, program and policy structure in place to run this program well and remain in compliance. Linda Dunphy from Foundations for Families was the lead consultant working with our local team. She helped us to make quick progress on the learning curve and brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise from working with programs around the county.”
Dave Kontur, Executive Director
Lucas County Family and Children First Council, Toledo, Ohio