AASA Rural Update
November 2007
AASA Works for Rural and Small Schools
Head Start Is Set for President’s
Signature
In mid-November, Congress passed a Head Start
reauthorization conference bill that focuses on serving younger
children and includes provisions to boost service quality. This
bill now awaits President Bush’s signature. (It is expected that
the president will sign it.) The reauthorization, titled
Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, has
five major components: it rejects the administration proposal to
turn Head Start over to state governments and halts a controversial
annual assessment of four-year-olds; strengthens and expands Early
Head Start; increases access to Head Start; bolsters program
quality; and increases collaboration.
Highlights from the Head Star reauthorization bill include:
- Strengthen and Expand Early Head Start
- Sets aside half of all expansion funds for Early Head Start expansion and gives Head Start programs flexibility to convert slots previously used for preschoolers to slots for infants and toddlers
- Increases credential requirements for all teachers providing direct services to children and families in Early Head Start centers
- Increase Access to Head Start
- Allows up to 35 percent of the children served by a grantee to have a family income between 100 percent and 130 percent the rate of poverty, as long as the grantee can demonstrate that children with family incomes below 100 percent of poverty are already being fully serviced
- Ensures that children with disabilities are promptly identified and served
- Allows part-day Head Start programs the flexibility to convert to full–day year-round services
- Boost Program Quality
- Reserves 40 percent of new Head Start funds for quality enhancements in programs, including salary increases for Head Start staff
- Sets aside a minimum of 2.5 percent and up to 3 percent for training and technical assistance
- Requires all Head Start teachers to have an associate’s degree by 2011 and all Head Start curriculum specialists to have at least a bachelor’s degree
- Requires all Head Start teachers to have at least 15 hours of in-service training every year
- Increase Collaboration
- Requires states to establish state advisory councils on early education and care
- Provides new early education and care federal incentive grants to states to promote the development and expansion of state early education systems
—Noelle Ellerson
