Blog 2

For the Past 2 weeks I have spent approximately 3 hours with the Assistant Director between her meetings, conferences and  trainings.  The time was well spent as she gave me information on the important changes as to the direction that the Head Start Program is going.   Some of the things that she informed me  of were that instead of Kindergarten Transition for children who previously children were going to Kindergarten the fall of the next year.  For example if a child was 4 years of age when they entered the Head Start program, by the time they leave the program they will be 5 or they will turn 5 before December 1^st.   Further,  as previously stated that Kindergarten Transition will now be referred to as School Readiness for all children and not just 4 and 5 year olds.  She stated that domains for preschool children will align with kindergarten readiness goals as opposed to those stated in the Performance Standards.  She further stated that Administrative staff or Center Directors need to be revisited in effort to use them as mentors/coaches and ensure that they are in the classrooms 50% of the  time doping classroom observation.  She went on to show me the grant applications that would be required if they decided to apply for the Detroit Head Start and Early Head  Start Grants. 

I spent approximately 30 minutes with Disability Specialist who is busy trying to reach her 10% of the program’s enrollment to be qualified for Special Education.  This is requirement of the Disability Content area in The Michigan area.  Therefore, she will need 147 children, she is currently at 47 children.  She stated that children who have medical conditions as asthma or breathing conditions cannot be counted as children who are in need of special needs services.  She stated that her department is in the process of conducting  Individual Education Plans (IEPs), tracking Brigances that fell below 50 percentile and preparing a workshop on Kindergarten Readiness for Special Needs parents in an effort to make the transition from the Head Start Program to the Public School System .  One of the reasons that the time that I have had the opportunity of spending with the Disability Specialist has been limited is because her content area is being audited by a Federal Review Team.  This entails specialists in the field ensuring that the federal guidelines are followed, that fiscal procedures are followed for delivering services and making purchases are followed as well as if the procedures for recordkeeping are in line with federal regulations and guidelines, better known as the Performance Standards.

From the time that I spent with the two professionals that I worked with, the rewards were priceless.  The insights that I gained were as follows:  I got a different perspective of the work that has to be done by the top tier of management in an agency.  The assistant director has to take the Child Outcomes data that she has implemented and make sure that it aligns with the system that will be implemented that will measure a child’s progress from the time that they entered the program .  Another area that will be affected is how the data will be placing more emphasis on getting the Michigan Head Start guideline to align with the federal guidelines to make the program more effective and meaningful for children and families.  Three  quote that I heard from one of the professionals that I worked with and found useful are as follows:  “In everything that you do, surround yourselves with the  FACE OF A CHILD”;  another one is “ need to be competitive to be the best version of ourselves”;  and finally  when you make big decisions, they must be based on information: data systems, reports…”,  the authors are unknown.  The time that I spent with the Disability Specialist, I have learned that the Special Needs Content Area is widely scrutinized because of poor or slow service delivery from the Local Education Authority (LLEA and their inability to reach their 10% goals.   She said that they will be meeting to try to rectify the situation.

Blog 2

For the Past 2 weeks I have spent approximately 3 hours with the Assistant Director between her meetings, conferences and  trainings.  The time was well spent as she gave me information on the important changes as to the direction that the Head Start Program is going.   Some of the things that she informed me  of were that instead of Kindergarten Transition for children who previously children were going to Kindergarten the fall of the next year.  For example if a child was 4 years of age when they entered the Head Start program, by the time they leave the program they will be 5 or they will turn 5 before December 1^st.   Further,  as previously stated that Kindergarten Transition will now be referred to as School Readiness for all children and not just 4 and 5 year olds.  She stated that domains for preschool children will align with kindergarten readiness goals as opposed to those stated in the Performance Standards.  She further stated that Administrative staff or Center Directors need to be revisited in effort to use them as mentors/coaches and ensure that they are in the classrooms 50% of the  time doping classroom observation.  She went on to show me the grant applications that would be required if they decided to apply for the Detroit Head Start and Early Head  Start Grants. 

I  also spent approximately 30 minutes with Disability Specialist who is busy trying to reach her 10% of the program’s enrollment to be qualified for Special Education.  This is requirement of the Disability Content area in The Michigan area.  Therefore, she will need 147 children, she is currently at 47 children.  She stated that children who have medical conditions as asthma or breathing conditions cannot be counted as children who are in need of special needs services.  She stated that her department is in the process of conducting  Individual Education Plans (IEPs), tracking Brigances that fell below 50 percentile and preparing a workshop on Kindergarten Readiness for Special Needs parents in an effort to make the transition from the Head Start Program to the Public School System .  One of the reasons that the time that I have had the opportunity of spending with the Disability Specialist has been limited is because her content area is being audited by a Federal Review Team.  This entails specialists in the field ensuring that the federal guidelines are followed, that fiscal procedures are followed for delivering services and making purchases are followed as well as if the procedures for recordkeeping are in line with federal regulations and guidelines, better known as the Performance Standards.

From the time that I spent with the two professionals that I worked with, the rewards were priceless.  The insights that I gained were as follows:  I got a different perspective of the work that has to be done by the top tier of management in an agency.  The assistant director has to take the Child Outcomes data that she has implemented and make sure that it aligns with the system that will be implemented that will measure a child’s progress from the time that they entered the program .  Another area that will be affected is how the data will be placing more emphasis on getting the Michigan Head Start guideline to align with the federal guidelines to make the program more effective and meaningful for children and families.  Three  quote that I heard from one of the professionals that I worked with and found useful are as follows:  “In everything that you do, surround yourselves with the  FACE OF A CHILD”;  another one is “ need to be competitive to be the best version of ourselves”;  and finally  when you make big decisions, they must be based on information: data systems, reports…”,  the authors are unknown.  The time that I spent with the Disability Specialist, I have learned that the Special Needs Content Area is widely scrutinized because of poor or slow service delivery from the Local Education Authority (LLEA and their inability to reach their 10% goals.   She said that they will be meeting to try to rectify the situation.

Blog 2 - Module 1 - Interview

1.        I am thinking of focusing my research paper on one of the following area:  Head Start Outcomes or the Special Education Service Delivery process.  What do you think are the current issues related to these topics? 

I interviewed the Assistant Director for Children’s Services at Vistas Nuevas Head Start.  The current issues that they are being faced with in the Head Start Program are of course, the outcomes and expectations of what experiences children should have in the Head Start Program.  Currently we are facing an era where any compliant program can compete for a non-compliant Head Start centers and/or programs.  In the state of Michigan the Department of Health Human Services of the City of Detroit which is the Grantee for the Detroit area Head Start agencies has lost the contract.  Therefore, the Detroit Head Start contract is up for grabs for anyone who has a viable proposal.  Another issue related to this area is that the Child Outcomes have been revised.  There were originally 8 domains and 27 indicators which were revised to 11 domains with 37 indicators.  One of the new domains is directed towards English Language Learners and does not affect all children the other two domains involve logic and reasoning and social studies knowledge.  This has placed our agency in a dilemma because during a recent federal audit we were mandated to use the new domains as soon as possible.  We complied with the directive and the grantee rejected our data and demanded that we suspend collecting the data until they directed us to do so.  We are anticipating a follow up audit and do not have any guidance or clarification as to whether they will be looking for this data.  I asked her about the disability services process and she referred me to the Disability Specialist for current issues in the disability content area and time did not permit me to complete and interview because she was meeting with Local Education Authority or the (LEA).

2.       What other issues do you commonly encounter in your work or in discussions with colleagues?

We generally encounter salary concerns for teaching staff due to staff credentials or lack of such credentials due to changes in the requirements.  Plans for professional development to assist teaching staff in meeting the 2013 mandates are in the works.  We are currently offering Child Development Associate (CDA) classes to prepare candidates for testing to receive the credential.  We are also assisting staff in paying for their education with Training and Technical Support (T/TA) funds.  One of the areas that we are working on in our professional development trainings is conveying to teaching staff that incorporating data collection is not added or additional work but it is a natural process that assists them in knowing what children know as well as what they need to provide opportunities for children to learn. 

3.       What advocacy efforts are currently under way in your area of interest?

The advocacy efforts that are currently under way in Child Outcomes is the pending legislation in Congress for improving school readiness and positive, sustained Child Outcomes for not only Head Start children but on a larger scale to improve education for all children from birth to 8 years of age.

4.       Some insights that I gained from this experience is that per the Assistant Director, it is very important for advocates or anyone interested in the Head Start program to go on the Head Start websites and view or listen to the webinars which clearly identify everything that she discussed with me in the interview, but goes much more in depth as to the legislation and actions being taken.  In trying to understand the importance of the reauthorization of the Head Start program and its effects on at-risk children.  Further, advocates should frequently email or write legislators about their concerns, feelings or complaints.

5.       The interview was very informative and encouraging as I finalize my topic for my research paper because it gave me insight on the availability of information for my research.  The more I asked questions, the more interested I became and thirsty for more information.  Therefore, I have decided to do further investigation on the subject of Child Outcomes of Head Start children.  Three related topics that I have an interest in are Child Outcomes as it relates to Special Needs Children, Child Outcomes as it relates to English Language Learners and the Special Education Service Delivery process.