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Board Supports
Head Start
Lorain County Community Action's Board of Directors provides oversight of all agency programs.

Most funders, including Head Start, require Board review and approval of annual program plans. The 2014-2015 Head Start and Early Head Start grant application, submitted in late April, reflects directives of the Board to improve teacher credentials and to prioritize instructional program improvements.

"There is consensus at the Board level that our children deserve the very best," said Board Chair Ron Nabakowski. "We just approved a three-year strategic plan that includes a goal about the agency fully developing a learning culture. It is good to see that happening."

This sentiment is echoed by Head Start Policy Council President and Board Member Andres Torres. Policy Council is made up of parents from across the program.

"We all want good things for our children and Head Start, well, Head Start is uniquely designed to do that," Torres said.
New to LCCAA: Practice-Based Coaching
To further bolster instruction at LCCAA's Head Start program, teachers will have a new resource this fall.

 

LCCAA has hired two practice-based coaching teachers following a new national movement in Head Start, said Head Start Director Shauna Matelski.

 

"This concept is based on both research and experience," Matelski said. "Supporting our teachers with positive and constructive feedback will improve our program even more. We have a solid base to work from, reflected in this year's Outcomes Report."

 

One coaching teacher has a master's degree and the other will finish her master's degree within six months. The positions require a minimum of a bachelor's degree with a master's degree preferred, Matelski said. Both new hires have extensive early childhood classroom experience. They will work with teachers to provide coaching and reflection in both instructional practices and classroom environment.

 

"This is something I wholeheartedly believe in," Matelski said. "There are too many great things happening in our classrooms to not do this. With these new positions, teachers will be better connected and new ideas will flow between classrooms and locations."

 

 

For more information on practice-based coaching, click here .  

Head Start Edition 
 July 2014
Head Start Students Ready for Kindergarten
LCCAA's latest Head Start Learning Outcomes Report shows the program overwhelmingly succeeds in preparing students for Kindergarten.

"This is one of our favorite reports to share with the community," said LCCAA CEO Jackie Boehnlein. "Not only do we get to go into detail about our curriculum, we get to celebrate the progress our children are making."

The report shows the gains students make between when they enroll and when they bridge to Kindergarten. Head Start uses a standard known as "widely held expectations" which measures what children should know and be able to do at their specific age.

LCCAA's goal is to help children meet or exceed the expectations for their age.

"The percentage of our children exceeding the expectations for their age skyrocketed this year," Kathryn Isabell, Education and Disabilities Services Specialist said. "We are proud of everyone in the program and their commitment to preparing children for Kindergarten."

Download the complete report by clicking here.
Team Teaching Starts This Fall

Lorain County Community Action's Head Start program will move to a team teaching model this fall to help both students and teachers. All teachers will also have a minimum of an associate's degree in early childhood education.

 

"First and foremost having two head teachers in the classroom is going to elevate instruction, no ifs, ands or buts," said LCCAA President and CEO Jackie Boehnlein.

 

The team teaching model replaces the one head teacher plus one assistant teacher model the program has been using. The degree requirements are now federal law. The changes will also help teachers improve their skills, Boehnlein added.

 

"When you put degreed teachers in the same room, they provide cross training to each other," she said. "They will be able to talk through issues with first-hand knowledge of the children and families involved, then support each other in very practical ways." 

 

Of the program's 24 current center-based head teachers, only three have incomplete degrees. Boehnlein said all three have been referred to Lorain County Community College and are being assisted by college counselors. Eleven of the assistant teachers are qualified for promotion opportunities. The remaining assistant teachers could be eligible for other positions in the program.

 

"We are working with all of our employees to match their experience and compassion with the formalized training the law now requires," Head Start Director Shauna Matelski said. "All employees are on a professional development plan and we have been working with them to seek degrees since the requirement was introduced in 2007." 

LCCAA Preparing for Future

Lorain County Community Action Agency will implement changes this fall in preparation for a different national environment in the Head Start program.

 

"The rules are changing," said CEO Jackie Boehnlein. "Head Start grantees across the country know and are rising to the challenge of the ever-increasing requirements of the funding."  

 

LCCAA has operated Head Start, a federally funded comprehensive child development program, since 1966. Head Start is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under laws enacted by the U.S. Congress.

 

In an effort to improve the program nationwide, HHS is introducing Head Start Logo competition.

 

"They want to avoid anyone being the 'presumed provider'," Boehnlein explained. "Just because we've always had the program doesn't mean we always will have the program. We have to offer a high-quality, effective program."

 

HHS grants for Head Start programs are shifting from 3-year grants to 5-year grants. LCCAA will begin its first 5-year grant this fall.

 

"At the end of that 5-year period, the grant will be opened up for all who wish to apply," Boehnlein said. "We will potentially be competing against school districts, other non-profits and for-profit entities from our county and across the region."

 

"Throughout the five-year project period and at the end of a five-year project period, grantees will be expected to provide evidence of the program's cumulative impact on the children, families and communities service," the federal Office of Head Start said in a memo to grantees a year ago. 

 

One of the biggest steps toward improvement is implementing requirements for degreed teachers. Many early childhood teachers have no recognized credential or an entry level certificate as a Child Development Associate. HHS first recommended associate's degrees in early childhood education for all Head Start teachers in 1998. When the program was reauthorized by Congress in 2007, associate's degrees were required and programs had until 2011 to comply.

 

"It's 2014 and we're still not in compliance with the credential requirement," Boehnlein said. "We have to change that to continue to offer quality services to the children and families of Lorain County."

 

Boehnlein said LCCAA's teaching staff has known about the requirements since 2007. HHS gives teachers three years to earn their associate's degree, which is typically done in two years. LCCAA offers tuition assistance but does require employees to apply for federal financial aid first. Some staff members are working toward degrees, others are making other choices.   

 

"We are doing everything we can to retain our staff," Boehnlein said. "Long-term, we want to retain our program. We are also staying true to our commitment to school readiness for children." 

 

In the agency's most recent review by Head Start, teacher credentials were the only negative in an otherwise overwhelmingly positive assessment.

 

"Seeing a long list of items marked compliant in our March 2014 triennial review was very rewarding, knowing how closely we were scrutinized," Boehnlein notes.    

 

"Our mission is always the bottom line," she added. "We are privilieged to be a Head Start grantee. In today's Head Start, that privilege has to be continually earned. It is a hard fact to argue given that our children and families are winners as a result."