head start & early head start 2013-14...2 highlights & changes the 2013-2014 school year was...

HEAD START & EARLY HEAD START

2013-14 ANNUAL REPORTY E A R E N D I N G A U G U S T 31 , 2 0 1 4

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TABLE OF CONTENTSProgram Description, HighlightsEnrollment, Characteristics of Children and Families,Service Opportunities for Families, Parental EngagementHealth ServicesMental Health Services, Services for Children with Disabilities,Family Services and Dental ServicesFinancial AspectsBudgetary Expenditures and Proposed Budget Federal Review Results, Preparing Children for Kindergarten and Children’s ProgressParent Satisfaction Comments

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HEAD START & EARLY HEAD STARTY E A R E N D I N G

August 31, 2014ANNUAL REPORTFOR

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HIGHLIGHTS & CHANGESThe 2013-2014 school year was yet another year of continued growth in excellence for the Region 10 ESC Head Start/Early Head Start program.

• The program continued to provide high quality services to children and families in Head Start and Early Head Start.

• The Head Start and Early Head Start program utilized Teaching Strategies GOLD to determine children’s progress on the mandated Child Outcomes.

• The results from the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) for Head Start and the results from the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R) for Early Head Start were used to guide ongoing training and mentoring in the classrooms.

• Head Start Education Consultants provided ongoing training for teaching teams throughout the year to assist them in gaining skills in instructional support. Analysis of the scores from the previous year on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, and the book, Powerful Interactions by Dombro, Jablon, and Stetson, provided the foundation for individualized training.

• The program successfully dealt with reduced funding resulting from sequestration. Three Head Start classrooms and eight Early Head Start slots were eliminated. Staff, Policy Council members, and Board members provided input on other areas of budget cuts.

• The transition from employing both Health Services Specialists and Family Services Specialists to support families was completed as these roles were combined into the position of Family Resource Specialists.

• The Head Start/Early Head Start team continued to make progress ontheunifiedbirth-to-fiveapproachforservingchildrenandfamilies in Head Start and Early Head Start. For the three districts that had both Head Start and Early Head Start, adjustments in caseloads of FamilyResourceSpecialistsreflectedfamiliesfrombothprograms. Program Coordinators’ duties were also adjusted to reflect the emphasis on continuity of services.

• Major changes occurred on the management team during the year. Two new members of the management team were added during the summer. These changes were due to the January 2014 retirement of one program coordinator and the March 2014 death of another program coordinator. Also the long-time director retired on August 31, 2014.

• In February 2014, the program received good news that assisted in the planning for the 14-15 budget – the end of sequestration and funding cuts that were in place for the 13-14 school year.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONRegion 10 Education Service Center

(ESC) was the grantee for Head Start

and Early Head Start services and

partnered with nineteen (19) school

districts in Collin, Ellis, Grayson,

Kaufman, and Rockwall counties

to provide services to a funded

enrollment of 1,058.



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ENROLLMENTThe Region 10 ESC Head Start/Early Head Start program served a total ofonethousandtwohundredtwenty-five(1,225)childreninpartnershipwith Allen ISD, Crandall ISD, Denison ISD, Ennis ISD, Farmersville ISD, Forney ISD, Frisco ISD, Gunter ISD, Kemp ISD, Mabank ISD, McKinney ISD, Midlothian ISD, Palmer ISD, Pottsboro ISD, Rockwall ISD, Royse City ISD, Sherman ISD, Waxahachie ISD and Whitesboro ISD. The total number served was sixty-eight (68) fewer children than the previous year. This decrease was because of the funding that was eliminated duetosequestration.Onethousandfifteen(1,015)threeandfour-year-old children were served in Head Start/Pre-Kindergarten wrap-around classes in these school districts. Two hundred ten (210) infants, toddlers and pregnant women were served in Early Head Start at three sites – McKinney, Rockwall and Sherman. Along with serving families from the community, the Early Head Start program was in partnership with the local school districts’ pregnant and parenting teen programs.

The program remained fully enrolled and had a waiting list at each site. Program administrators carefully monitored average daily attendance and waiting list information. Because the program was in the process of transitioning to a new data collection system at the time of the annual report,thespecificnumbersonaveragedailyattendanceandwaitinglists were not available due to technical challenges.

EthnicityIn Head Start and Early Head Start, families were asked to classify themselves as Hispanic or non-Hispanic. InHeadStart,45%wereclassifiedasHispanic and 54% as non-Hispanic. Hispanic families represented 57% of the enrollees in Early Head Start, and 43% of enrollees were non-Hispanic. The Head Start program’s percentages of Hispanic and non-Hispanic families were comparable to the previous year; however, the number of families in Early Head Start who identifiedthemselvesasHispanic increasedby14%. Races represented in Head Start and Early Head Start included American Indian, Asian, Black orAfricanAmerican,NativeHawaiianorPacificIslander, White and Bi-racial/Multi-racial.

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAMILIESHead Start and Early Head Start provided a wide array of services for children and their families. The Performance Standards stated the type of services that must be made available for families, and families chose their level of participation from the many opportunities provided. Services were available in the areas of health, mental health, nutrition, parental involvement, social services and education. Head Start/Early Head Start campuses also provided some special programs directedtowardthefatherorthemalefigureinthe child’s life. As Region 10 ESC Head Start/Early Head Start continued to provide training in the Parent, Family and Community Engagement Framework, ideas were implemented on ways to enhance parents’ understanding of school readiness as outlined in the Head Start/Early Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework.

PARENTAL ENGAGEMENTParents of all ages - including teen parents, foster parents and grandparents raising grandchildren - were encouraged to participate in special activities. These opportunities included volunteering in a class or the Head Start/Early HeadStartoffice,participatinginspecialcampusevents, attending a variety of campus Parent Committee meetings and activities, participating in training opportunities, being involved in home visits and parent/teacher conferences and serving on Policy Council, the Education Advisory Committee or the Health Services Advisory Committee.



CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES Language

InHeadStart,66%ofthefamiliesidentifiedthemselvesasmonolingualEnglish speakers,and30% identified themselvesaspredominantlySpanishspeakers.Smallpercentages(lessthan1%)offamiliesidentifiedthemselves as speakers of Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, European, Slavic and African languages; seven families declined to specify a primary language. The percentage of English and Spanish speaking families was similar to that of the previous year.

In Early Head Start, 74% of the families identified themselves as monolingual English speakers, and 26% identified themselves as predominantly Spanish speakers. These statistics indicated a 3% increaseinthoseidentifiedasSpanishspeakers,reversingthetrendfrom the previous two years of having an increase in the number of English speakers.

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HEALTH SERVICESOne area addressed in the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework was the domain of physical development and health. Because much of a child’s success in school is dependent on the condition of his or her health, accessing ongoing services for physical and mental health is always of critical importance. For children to gain access to services, funds must be available. The table below shows information about the availability of insurance for the children.

Because Early Head Start also served pregnant women, the program had twenty-one (21) women who had insurance; sixteen (16) received Medicaid, two (2) received another publicly funded insurance and three (3) received private insurance.

ForchildreninHeadStart,eighthundredfifty-eight(858)childrenwereup-to-dateonascheduleofage-appropriateprimaryandpreventivehealthcare;ninety-five(95)werediagnosedwithachronicconditionrequiringmedicalattention.HeadStartchildrenreceived assistance for health conditions as indicated on the table below.

The program also tracked the children who had received all possible immunizations at that time but were still lacking some of the age-appropriate immunizations as determined by a health professional. For Head Start, four hundred one (401) children were in this category at the time of their enrollment and three hundred ninety-seven (397) at the end of the year. For Early Head Start, twenty-seven (27) were in this category at the time of enrollment with twenty-one (21) at the end of the year.

In the area of children’s health, the program continued to provide support to families whose children had been determined to be overweight or obese. In Head Start, one hundred twenty-six (126) children were considered to be overweight based on body mass index; ninety-six (96) were considered to be obese. Families were given additional information on healthy nutrition and had the opportunity to visit with the program dietician for guidance.

For children in Early Head Start, one hundred sixty-four (164) were up-to-date on a schedule of age-appropriate primary and preventive health care; forty-one (41) were diagnosed with a chronic condition requiring medical attention. Early Head Start children received assistance for the following health conditions:

Because children must be immunized to stay healthy, Head Start and Early Head Start emphasized the importance of children receiving the age-appropriate immunizations. The table below indicates the status of immunizations in the program.



Insurance Data Start of year End of Year

Head Start children with health insurance 948 956

Early Head Start children with health insurance 186 184

Head Start children whose insurance was Medicaid/CHIP 863 868

Early Head Start children whose insurance was Medicaid or CHIP 177 176

Head Start children with private insurance 77 79

Early Head Start children with private insurance 9 8

Head Start children with no insurance 67 59

Early Head Start children with no insurance 3 5

Health Condition Number of children

Anemia 73

Asthma 27

Hearing 22

Overweight 222

Vision problems 30

Health Condition Number of children

Anemia 5

Asthma 3

HearingDifficulties 6

Vision problems 4

Immunizations Up-to-date beginning of year Up-to-date end of year

Head Start 610 612

Early Head Start 162 168

Family Services Head Start Early Head Start

Emergency/crisis intervention 113 9

Housing assistance 19 2

Mental health services 21 5

English as second language 14 0

Adult education 16 2

Job training 13 1

Domestic violence 2 1

Child support assistance 4 1

Child abuse and neglect 0 1

Health education 449 85

Parenting education 198 52

Assistance to families of incarcerated individuals 1 1

Relationship/marriage education 3 0

Number of families receiving at least one service 474 99

Males participating in organized activities 185 39

Homeless families served 34 23

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MENTAL HEALTH SERVICESAnother domain in the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework was the area of social and emotional development, an area that has been linked to academic success. For several years, the program has employed two full-time Master’s level Social Workers who served the program as Mental Health Consultants. Their caseloads included children in both Head Start and Early Head Start, and they provided support to families, staff and children. During the 2013-2014 school year, sixty (60) Head Start students were in need of additional support because of mental health issues; eight (8) Early Head Start students required additional support.

SERVICES FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIESEarly Head Start and the local Part C provider, the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program, jointly served infants and toddlers with disabilities. The local school district collaborated with Head Start to serve children with disabilities in a variety of settings. Examples of this collaboration included Head Start and the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD) teachers co-teaching in a Head Start classroom, or HeadStartteachersbeingduallycertifiedingeneraleducationandspecialeducationso that children simultaneously received special education and Head Start services. EarlyHeadStartservedthirty-five(35) infantsandtoddlerswithdisabilities,whileHead Start served one hundred ninety-one (191) children with disabilities. Although a delay in speech and language development was the most common disability among children in the Head Start program, the program also provided services for children with other disabilities including autism, intellectual impairment, health impairment, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment and non-categorical.

FAMILY SERVICESImplementing the Parent, Family and Community Engagement Framework continued to be a focus of the program during the year. The 2013-2014schoolyearwasthefirstfullyearinwhichallSpecialistsmovedfromtheirpreviousspecialtyareasofeitherhealthorfamilyservicestotheblendedroleoutlinedinthejobdescriptionoftheFamilyResourceSpecialist.Thelearningcurvewassignificantforallinvolvedinthetransitionastheprogrammovedtowardaunifiedapproachinprovidingservicestofamiliesandchildren.

As in past years, all families in Head Start and Early Head Start were encouraged to participate in the development of a Family Partnership Agreement - a tool that was used by parents and Head Start/Early Head Start staff members to assist families with developing goals and making progress in meeting them by utilizing resources from the community. The Family Resource Specialists worked closely with the families during the implementation process to provide encouragement and support. Families also received a resource directory with information about available services within the community. Family Resource Specialists assisted the families in accessing needed services and continued to provide support and follow up services to determine if the needs had been met. During the 2013-2014 school year, families received many types of services as shown on the following table.

DENTAL SERVICESChildren in Head Start and Early HeadStart oftenhave significantneeds for dental services. In the Head Start program, nine hundred twenty-eight (928) children received preventive care; three hundred nineteen (319) children needed dental treatment, and of them, two hundred sixty (260) received the necessary treatment. Within Early Head Start, one hundred twenty-six (126) children had continuous, accessible dental care at the time of their enrollment, and one hundred thirty-one (131) children had continuous, accessible dental care by the end of the enrollment year.

2013-2014 Head Start/Early Head StartBudget

15%

0%

4%8%

Personnel, $5,761,655Fringe, $1,219,009Travel, $5,784Equipment, $50,000Supplies, $304,738Other, $667,045

72%

1%

2014-2015 Head Start/Early Head StartBudget Projection

16%

0%3%

9%

Personnel, $6,246,751Fringe, $1,395,037Travel, $5,500Supplies, $314,039Contractual, $6,000Other, $754,731

72%

0%

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FINANCIAL ASPECTS 2013-2014 Forthefiscalyear(FY)2013-2014,theprogramreceivedfundingfromtheOfficeofHeadStartintheamountof$8,299,552.00,areductionof5.27%fromthe2012-2013funding.Fundswerereducedinstafftravel,fieldtrips,classroom supplies, parent meeting supplies and substitutes. Children’s slots and the number of personnel were also reduced. Despite these reductions in funds, slots and personnel, the Head Start/Early Head Start program continued operatingefficientlyandeffectivelybecauseof itsuniquepartnershipswithschool districts and the ongoing support of the Education Service Center.

Theprogram’sdirectcostswere$7,882,370,andthetrainingandtechnicalassistancecostswere$125,871foratotalof$8,008,241.Theindirectcostswere$291,311.

The children were enrolled in the school districts’ Pre-kindergarten programs and received free breakfast and lunch. Because of the partnership with school districts, the Head Start program received no funding from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); the school district partners received the USDA funds.

The charts that follow delineate the program expenditures for 2013-2014, and the proposed budget for 2014-2015.



“Theprogramreceived$2,717,024innon-federal share match meeting and

exceeding the federal requirement of 20%...”

BUDGETARY EXPENDITURES AND PROPOSED BUDGET REGION 10 ESC HEAD START/EARLY HEAD START 2013-2014

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HEAD START AND EARLY HEAD START PROGRAM

FY 2013-2014 Budget Expenditures Percentof Total

Proposed FY 2014-2015

(Basic + T & TA)Category Basic + T & TA Basic T & TA* Total

Personnel 5,863,012.00 5,725,831.00 35,834.00 5,761,665.00 72% 6,246,751.00

FringeBenefits 1,191,108.00 1,219,009.00 - 1,219,009.00 15% 1,395,037.00

Travel 5,000.00 784.00 5,000.00 5,784.00 <1% 5,500.00

Equipment - 50,000.00 - 50,000.00 1% -

Supplies 294,101.00 304,738.00 - 304,738.00 4% 314,039.00

Contractual - - - - 0% 6,000.00

Facilities Construction - - - - 0% -

Other 797,277.00 582,008.00 85,037.00 667,045.00 8% 754,731.00

Direct Costs 8,150,498.00 7,882,370.00 125,871.00 8,008,241.00 96% 8,722,058.00

Indirect Costs 240,358.00 291,311.00 - 291,311.00 4% 242,015.00

Total Amount 8,390,856.00 8,173,681.00 125,871.00 8,299,552.00 100% 8,964,073.00

*T & TA is Training and Technical Assistance

NON-FEDERAL SHARETheprogramreceived$2,717,024innon-federalshare,meetingandexceedingthefederalrequirementof20%.Non-federalshareincluded donations of goods and services, volunteer time, medical and dental services and support from the school districts for a portionoftheteachers’salariesandbenefits,classroomspace,officespaceandadministrativesupport.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FUNDS RECEIVEDHead Start and Early Head Start funds were received from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration forChildrenandFamilies,OfficeofHeadStart.Nootherpublicorprivatefundswerereceived.

RESULTS OF AUDIT FOR YEAR ENDING AUGUST 31, 2014ThecertifiedpublicaccountingfirmofEdgin,Parkman,Fleming,andFleming,PCconductedtheannualaudit.Thereportoftheauditwas approved by the Region 10 ESC Board of Directors on December 19, 2014. The auditors determined that the ESC complied in all material respects with the type of compliance requirements that could have a direct and material effect on a major program. Also, the firmdidnotidentifyanydeficienciesininternalcontrolsthatcouldbeconsideredtobematerialweaknesses.

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PROGRAM REVIEW RESULTSThe program was involved in an on-site federal review May 14-18, 2012. The federal team found many program strengths, including the partnerships with school districts. The federal team leader stated that the program was a model for the future success of Head Start programs. The only area of non-compliance was that credit card expenditures were missing in the budget report for Policy Council and the Region 10 Board ofDirectors.Thefederalteamalsoindicatedthatthefinancialreportforthe Board of Directors should include the same line-item detail as the budget reporting provided to the Policy Council. The corrective action was accomplished during the week that the review team was present, and the OfficeofHeadStart,RegionVI,conductedadeskreviewinNovember2012toconfirmthatthisareawassatisfactorilycorrected.Theprogramreceived notice in spring 2014 about the new structure for program reviews and started preparing for visits during the 14-15 school year.

EFFORTS TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR KINDERGARTENRegion10ESCHeadStart andEarlyHeadStart expandedspecificstrategies to support a model of school readiness that focused on children from birth – 5 years of age. Using the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework as a model, the management team and the staff continued implementation of goals and strategies to ensure that children were school ready.

Region 10 ESC Head Start students were well prepared for their kindergarten experience because their Pre-Kindergarten/Head Start experience enabled them to be involved in the public school. Families and students quickly became aware of the various rules and procedures related to public schools. Early in the school year, they learned about attendance policies, transportation procedures, procedures for volunteering in class and strategies that allowed them to working closely with the teacher and the principal.

The curriculum used in the classrooms also contributed to the children’s school readiness. Region 10 ESC Head Start classrooms implemented the High/Scope Curriculum and Key Developmental Indicators, Texas Pre-Kindergarten Guidelines, Head Start Early Learning Framework and the learning system/curriculum that each district partner had chosen for its Head Start/Pre-K teachers.

The state-adopted district learning systems were developed using the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Guidelines; all systems were closely aligned with the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. The systems included the domains of language development, literacy, mathematics, science, creative arts, social and emotional development, approaches to learning and physical health and development. The districts utilized Frog Street Press, Scholastic Early Childhood Program, Opening the World of Learning (OWL) and the DLM Early Childhood Express.

Head Start Education Consultants provided support and mentoring to the teaching teams throughout the school year. Each consultant evaluated the classrooms using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), a research-based tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the Head Start classrooms. While visiting classrooms, the Education Consultants provided support to teachers to maximize children’s learning by providing guidance on emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Because the program’s CLASS data from the instructional support domain indicated a need for improvement, the Education team developed specifictrainingtoaddresstheidentifiedconcernsduring the summer staff development. During the school year, the consultants continued the emphasis on the instructional support domain by providing professional development for the teaching teams using the book, Powerful Interactions by Dombro, Jablon and Stetson.



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Teaching teams encouraged children’s active learning which helped children learn to make choices and manipulate materials. Opportunities for children to develop reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making skills were provided as well. Teaching teams also labeled each part of the classroom to promote early literacy and numeracy skills along with organization,classificationandseriationskills.Postedlessonplansineachclassroomreflectedplannedactivitiesforsocialization,self-esteem,health, safety, hygiene and nutrition to address content areas using developmentally appropriate practices.

Frequently throughout the year, Region 10 Education Consultants reviewed Head Start students’ ongoing assessment data with the teaching teams. Teaching teams were encouraged to plan and modify classroom activities and experiences based on children’s interests, individual needs, and data from the ongoing assessments.

All Region 10 ESC Head Start teachers held a minimum of a bachelor’s degree,wereappropriatelycertifiedbythestatetoteachPre-Kindergarten,and they were school district employees. Because of the nature of the partnership between Region 10 ESC and the school district, both the district and Region 10 ESC were jointly responsible for the appropriate implementation of the Head Start Performance Standards.

Within the Region 10 ESC program, the focus of school readiness included Early Head Start. The Birth-to-5 Education Consultants worked with the Early Head Start Lead Teachers to administer the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale – Revised (ITERS-R) in each classroom and providedfeedbacktotheteachers.Specificprofessionaldevelopmentsessions were planned based on the results of the administration of the ITERS-R, Teaching Strategies GOLD and the DECA.


August 31, 2014 ANNUAL REPORTFOR

DOCUMENTATION OF CHILDREN’S PROGRESS INCLUDED:

Home Visits: Two per year required

Screenings: Preschool Language Scale 4 - for speech/language (English and and Spanish)

Developmental screening (Brigance) Vision Hearing Other screenings determined by the district

Assessment: Devereux (DECA) Portfolio Assessment Teaching Strategies GOLD

Documentation: Assessments Home Visits Parent/Teacher Conference Lesson Plans Anecdotal Notes Contact Notes Child Portfolio

PARENT SATISFACTION

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HEAD START

“We love, love, love this program and its teachers!”“I feel that my daughter has learned and shows so much improvement in school and home.”“The Head Start program was great all around!”“We had a great experience in Head Start! It is a very good program and isagreatbenefitforthechildren.”“My child learned a lot this school year!”

“Thanks for making my child’s first year of school a wonderful success.”“Thank you for giving my child a good place to learn.”

Parents were given opportunities to provide input and feedback throughout the program year and through the year-end survey. Feedback from families about their experiences in Head Start and Early Head Start were overwhelmingly positive as indicated by a sample of comments provided here.

FAMILY COMMENTS

10HEAD START & EARLY HEAD START

Y E A R E N D I N G


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August 31, 2014 ANNUAL REPORTFOR

EARLY HEAD START

“Very good job with my son; thanks for your patience and effort.”“I love the care that this school has given my son over the past 2 ½ years. He has learned so much here!!”“Everything and everyone is Awesome!”“Teachers were always helpful and really knowledgeable about growth and progress. Always shared strategies to try at home when necessary. I have seen much growth in my child this year, and I am certain it was due to this classroom environment/ teachers. As an educator, I am very impressed with my Early Head Start experience.”“I really love Early Head Start and appreciate what they have done for us.”

972.348.1700 | 4OO E. SPRING VALLEY RD. | RICHARDSON, TX 75081-5101



head start & early head start 2013-14...2 highlights & changes the 2013-2014 school year was...

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