The start to fall has been a busy time for Head Start regional conferences. As we’ve been out and about, we’ve heard from experts and professionals from across the field who have offered updates and insights into the current status and future of Head Start. Here, we share some of the highlights we learned. We hope you’ll find them useful!
As the government shutdown continues, there are concerns delays will persist even when the government reopens. With the Office of Head Start (OHS) regional office consolidations and staff cuts that took place earlier this year, it seems that staff workloads have increased as responsibilities were redistributed. Over the last few months, some programs have – understandably – noted less frequent communication with regional office staff or longer timelines for response on pending items. Programs should anticipate that when the government reopens, it will take some time for staff to “catch up,” which could lead to further delays. We recommend that you continue to submit communication regarding important deadlines through HSES and elevate concerns, as appropriate, and take proactive steps for document management.
DRS competitions are coming, and the timing and turnaround could look different. The turnaround time for DRS competitions is typically about 9 weeks from the publishing of a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to when applications are due. And, DRS competitions are usually open by now. This means that if OHS intends to stay on its timeline for awards (new grants beginning July 1), the turnaround time for applications might be shorter than usual. While its uncommon for OHS to issue a competitive grant competition with a turnaround time of a few weeks, we have seen this happen a couple of times in the past.
The Full Enrollment Initiative (FEI) remains active. While FEI hasn’t had the front and center attention that it did a year or more ago, OHS continues to implement this initiative. Unfortunately, many programs report that timelines for receiving letters from the Office after the initial designation are often delayed. Experts advised that programs should continue to actively address enrollment concerns to avoid being in the FEI, which could put their program’s funding at risk, and once in FEI continue to focus on achieving enrollment benchmarks. All activities should be documented.
Updates to the Head Start Program Performance Standards (Performance Standards) could be on the horizon. When the Performance Standards were updated in August 2024, short- and long- term requirements related to staff compensation were a central component. A key date in the Performance Standards is August 2031, the time by which programs must implement a salary scale or similar structure and must show progress toward pay parity with elementary school staff. We learned that proposed updates to the Performance Standards may be forthcoming and could focus on changes to some of the requirements that were established in the August 2024 updates. We recommend that, until anything is final, programs maintain their progress toward achieving the compensation benchmarks in the current version of the Performance Standards.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing, and so it’s its use by programs, but it should be intentional. AI has been a hot topic in recent months, and we came across a couple of conference sessions on this topic. We learned there is a wide range of programs’ use of AI; some programs were early adopters and are using it for a variety of purposes, while it is still new and not utilized much by others. We heard questions about if and when program might leverage AI and an interest in understanding the cautions that come along with it. We plan to publish a blog post on AI soon. In the meantime, consider checking out our Statement on Artificial Intelligence.
Foundations for Families offers a variety of consulting services to Head Start programs. If your agency needs assistance with a specific project or is interested to explore how we can assist your program, please reach out. We would be glad to discuss your program’s needs.
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