News from California Head Start Association

Message from chsasmlogo

CHSA Executive Director

A group of Head Start directors and I recently attended NHSA's Leadership Institute in Arlington, VA, where we received briefings on the new course being set in Washington, D.C. A couple of themes emerged:

Collaboration: In presentations from White House staff, Senate Committee staff and the Departments of both Health and Human Services and Education, the key word was collaboration. For example, Head Start veteran Joan Lombardi now holds a brand new position, serving as an "Inter-Departmental Liaison" from Health and Human Services to promote collaboration with other federal departments. We heard about joint task forces, for example, where leaders of HHS and the Department of Education are talking and planning together for the first time. The message was that this Administration will be breaking down barriers which hinder quality care and they expect localities to do the same.

New Directions: We recently heard of the appointment of Carmen Nazario as Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, and now most recently, the appointment of Yvette Sanchez Fuentes as the new Director for the Office of Head Start. While this new energy is positive and exciting, we were also reminded that it will require something new from us as providers. The Obama administration and Congress are seeking to raise the bar for the quality of services delivered, which means evolution and change for us as providers.

Quality Standards: In 2007, Congress envisioned challenge grants to create state planning councils for improving the quality of early childhood education. In California, the precursor to this is ELQIS (Early Learning Quality Improvement System) and we expect that Governor Schwarzenegger will soon expand ELQIS Advisory Committee
membership to include Head Start representation and to create an Early Learning Advisory Council.

This goes to the heart of why Head Start agencies come together as an association - assuring quality care for young children. So, at CHSA we are not waiting to get involved in the quality discussion. A CHSA board subcommittee has already drafted quality standards for preschools in California, based on Head Start experience and encompassing the full range of child needs. (Thanks to Esmirna Valencia of Riverside, Denyse Cardoza of Placer, and Naomi Quiring-Mizumoto of Fresno for their leadership in developing these recommendations.) I am happy to report that Board President Kay Wernert presented CHSA's recommendations at the ELQIS Design Subcommittee's September meeting, where they were well received.
A copy of our recommendations is available on our website.

Because of Head Start's experience with quality measures and practice, you all have a tremendous amount to contribute to this conversation. We encourage you to attend meetings in your area. The work is organized into subcommittees which meet around the State, and representatives from local programs are always encouraged to attend. To find out about upcoming meetings in your area, visit:
Early Learning Quality Improvement System Advisory Committee.

California Outcomes Data: In a few weeks, we expect to be hearing news of the national impact study of Head Start, which was commissioned by Congress several years ago. In the meantime, however, CHSA is working locally with Child Care Results, which is compiling data from sixteen of our programs' DRDP-R reports (generated for the State of California). This sample of programs represents 16,000 children and is a strong, credible cross section. The initial data review is promising. This is the first time that our programs have released this data to be compiled and released to the general public. Please look for our report next month.

Winter Conference: Finally, we had our initial meeting of the Planning Committee for CHSA's annual education conference, to be held in Long Beach Feb 3-5, preceded by the Edward Zigler West Coast Research Institute. We have a great team hosted by Dr. Linda Perry and the staff at Long Beach Head Start, and staffed by Christina Hake at CHSA. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

Rick Mockler,
CHSA Executive Director