Talking Points
About Talking Points
Foundations for Families brings expertise, academic credentials, up-to-date research and regulatory knowledge to you. Working with others, we learn more about what’s important. With a mission to promote excellence in early childhood education, FFF believes that bringing more voices to the table makes for richer conversation.
This blog is a forum for thought leaders in early childhood education. We invite them to share their multi-disciplinary perspectives in 0-8 education.
Foundations for Families was created to meet the business, management and professional development needs of early childhood educational providers and systems.

Community Assessment Reveals Data to Help Meet Families’ Needs in Rural Kentucky
Missy Saylor, Child Development Director of KCEOC Community Action Partnership, shares her experiences conducting a Head Start/Early Head Start community needs assessment with Foundations for Families. She provides reflections about the process, surprising data, and advice for Head Start/Early Head Start programs about how to make the most of information learned through community assessment.
Develop and Update Policies and Procedures for Compliance and Clarity
Developing or updating policies and procedures is an important activity for any Head Start/Early Head Start program. An intentional and regular focus on maintaining high-quality policies and procedures is also a core component of DRS risk mitigation. In this blog post, we explore why a focus on policies and procedures is important, provide examples, and offer tips for success in this area.
How to Use Self-Assessment to Mitigate Risk in Head Start
Self-assessment is a process that, when planned well and conducted comprehensively, can yield useful information to improve program quality and mitigate risk in Head Start/Early Head Start. Risks may be specific or broad, and with the greatest risk being a program receiving a DRS designation and failing to successfully compete for funding. Through the annual self-assessment, programs evaluate their effectiveness in providing program services and identify strengths and areas in need of...
Three Guiding Principles to Improve Community Assessment
Community assessment is foundational in a grantee’s program planning process and can be part of a risk mitigation strategy to improve program quality and competitiveness. Information gathered through the community assessment process provides context for determining community needs and whether the program is meeting those needs. It will determine if there are changes in the community and will inform a program’s self-assessment. Here, we present three guiding principles to improve your program’s...
Planning for Your Focus Area 2 Review in FY2021
Fiscal Year 2021 Head Start Monitoring will look different than in years past, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CLASS reviews are suspended, and Focus Area 1 (FA1) and Focus Area 2 (FA2) reviews will take place virtually. This is a big change for FA2, in particular, which typically takes place during a multi-day, on-site visit. If your program will have a FA2 review in FY2021, now is the time to prepare. This is an important part of risk mitigation to improve program quality and prevent...
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