Head Start Works with Families

Parents are their child’s irst and most inluential teachers. Head Start’s success is based upon the creation of compassionate partnerships between Head Start staf and parents on behalf of their children. We work with families to remove barriers to their success and to deepen their ability to support their children.

Early childhood experiences determine how well a child performs in school and beyond. All young children deserve a quality early educational experience and Head Start recognizes and embraces our role as the major and most successful provider of early educational services to the neediest of those children. We commit to continuing to ensure that Head Start contributes to making the American dream possible.

Head Start engages in numerous partnerships throughout the communities we serve. We will continue to play a key role in each of our communities, connecting and partnering with local schools, local providers of child care, state and local preschool initiatives and other community service providers for families on behalf of those most in need. We will continue to work in concert and share community resources with our partners to ensure that all children receive the services they need on their road to success, and that all parents have opportunities to grow in support of their children. Because of these partnerships, Head Start will continue to be the nexus of support for our families: those who have the least and need the most.

Head Start providers will maintain our commitment to continuous quality improvement, constantly seeking more efective approaches to meeting the needs of the children and families we serve. Head Start’s program performance standards provide a foundation for high quality and in-depth services for these families.

Using evidence-based methods and ield-driven research, we will continue to improve our standards and the quality of our programs to it current needs and challenges and to achieve the outcomes needed for our children and families. Head Start will work continuously to meet the changing needs of America’s poorest families, while always maintaining a focus on the core values that drive our services.

Like any program serving a disadvantaged population, Head Start programs throughout the nation struggle to secure the funding needed to provide as many low-income children as possible with the comprehensive services they need to begin school on equal footing with their middle- and upper-class-peers. It is impossible to produce long- lasting positive outcomes for children in disadvantaged families by treating the child in isolation. As with any early education program, success is more likely when the entire family is engaged and empowered to succeed. As a result of budget constraints and the high cost of comprehensive services, many programs are unable to ofer the competitive wages or beneits that facilitate low staf turnover.

Despite many challenges, Head Start has helped our children and their families get a better start by ofering quality programming, remaining lexible, advocating for families, and building vital community partnerships.