Head Start Program

SUMMARY: The Administration for Children and Families is issuing this

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement the statutory provisions for

establishing program performance standards for Early Head Start

grantees and Head Start grantee and delegate agencies providing

services to eligible Head Start children from birth to five years and

their families as well as pregnant women, and for taking corrective

actions when Head Start agencies fail to meet such standards.

DATES: In order to be considered, comments on this proposed rule must

be received on or before June 21, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Please address comments to the Associate Commissioner, Head

Start Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, P.O. Box

1182, Washington, D.C. 20013.

In order to ensure that public comments have maximum effect in

developing the final rule, we urge that each comment clearly identify

the specific section or sections of the regulations that comment

addresses and that comments be in the same order as the regulations.

Beginning 14 days after close of the comment period, comments will

be available for public inspection in Room 2218, 330 C Street, S.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20201, Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00

a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Comments that concern information collection requirements must be

sent to the Office of Management and Budget at the address listed in

the Paperwork Reduction Act section of the preamble.

A copy of these comments may also be sent to the Department

representative cited above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: E. Dollie Wolverton, Head Start

Bureau, (202) 944-5450.

Deaf and hearing impaired individuals may call the Federal Dual

Party Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 between the hours of 8:00 a.m.

and 7:00 p.m. EDT, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Summary

The Head Start program is authorized under the Head Start Act (the

Act), as amended (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.). Founded in 1965, the program

currently offers comprehensive services including high quality early

childhood education, nutrition, health, and social services, along with

a strong parent involvement focus, to low-income children nationwide.

The overall goal of the program is to bring about a greater degree of

social competence in preschool children from low-income families.

Social competence refers to the child's everyday effectiveness in

dealing with both his or her present environment and later

responsibilities in school and life. It takes into account the

interrelatedness of cognitive, intellectual, and social development;

physical and mental health; and nutritional needs.

Since the 1970's, the program performance standards have played a

central role in the Head Start program. The program performance

standards provide a standard and definition of quality services for the

approximately 2,112 community-based organizations nationwide that

administer Head Start as grantees or delegate agencies; serve as

training guides for staff and parents on the key elements of quality;

articulate a vision of service delivery to young children and families

that has served as a catalyst for program development and professional

education and training in the preschool field; and provide the

regulatory structure for the monitoring and enforcement of quality

standards in Head Start. Thus, their importance to the Head Start

program and to preschool education generally goes far beyond the

typical role of Federal regulations.

The authority for this Notice of Proposed Rule Making is sections

641A (a) and (d), 644 (a) and (c), and 645A(h)(2) of the Head Start

Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.). More specifically, the

purpose of this NPRM, the first wide-ranging revision of the program

performance standards in over 20 years, is to carry out the language in

the 1994 amendments to the Head Start Act providing for an update of

the Head Start Program Performance Standards.

Key provisions in the 1994 amendments require a review of the

performance standards in order to bring them up to date, cover new

topics, and include services to low income pregnant women and families

with infants and toddlers. In particular:

The new section 641A provides that the Secretary must

establish, by regulation, performance standards covering: (1) A range

of services for children and families, including health, education,

parental involvement, nutritional, and social services as well as

transition activities; (2) financial management and administration; and

(3) facilities. Subparagraph (a)(3)(C) of the new section provides that

the Secretary must review and revise, as necessary, the performance

standards in effect under prior law.

The amendments further provide that any revisions should

not result in an elimination or reduction of requirements regarding the

scope or types of health, education, parental involvement, nutritional,

social, or other services to a level below that of the requirements in

effect on November 2, 1978.

Section 641A(d) prescribes procedures for corrective

actions or termination to be taken with agencies which fail to meet the

standards described in subsection (a).

Section 645A(h)(2) requires that the Secretary develop

program guidelines for Early Head Start, the newly authorized program

for low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers,

and to publish performance standards for such programs.

A fundamental challenge that we addressed in developing this NPRM

was to find the right balance among three important goals: (1)

Addressing the critically important new areas for regulation identified

in the statute; (2) maintaining quality and avoiding any reduction in

the level of services prescribed by the regulations, as mandated by the

statute; and (3) attempting to streamline the regulations, avoid

regulatory burden, and encourage flexibility, and innovation.

Our approach to identifying the right balance included wide-ranging

consultation with many different individuals and groups, consistent

with the new statutory requirements at Section 641(A)(a)(3) regarding

the consultations which the Secretary has to undertake and the factors

which the Secretary has to take into consideration in developing the

revised program performance standards. Following both the statute and

the Administration's regulatory reinvention principles, ACYF offered

extensive opportunities for program experts, local agencies, and other

interested parties to review and discuss the current program

performance standards.

In the late summer of 1994, ACYF formed a 33-member working group

composed of Central and Regional

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Office staff to draft a plan for the development of these regulations.

The group was given responsibility both for developing standards

related to the new service expectations of the Early Head Start and

Head Start programs--e.g., transition services and services to pregnant

women and families with infants and toddlers--and for making

appropriate revisions to the existing standards which would support

quality services, better meet the individual needs of the diverse

population of Head Start children and families, and improve program

management. Over the summer, fall, and winter of 1994-1995, this group

convened 70 focus groups involving approximately 2,000 individuals. The

participants at these meetings were drawn from a cross-section of

program practitioners, including local sponsors of Head Start programs

as well as subject experts, parents, educators, technical assistance

providers, Federal Head Start staff from across the country, and

individuals with extensive experience conducting Head Start program

monitoring in a variety of settings.

Based on this broad consultation, as well as on the work of two

national Advisory Committees (the 1993 Advisory Committee on Head Start

Quality and Expansion and the 1994 Advisory Committee on Services to

Families with Infants and Toddlers), ACYF developed the following key

elements of its approach to this regulation: (1) The current program

performance standards should be reorganized to reduce fragmentation and

duplication, encourage holistic approaches, and emphasize partnerships

with families and communities; (2) a single set of integrated standards

for services from birth to age five should be developed; (3) the

regulation should focus on requirements that are key to maintaining

quality services and meeting new and emerging needs; and (4) the least

burdensome approach to maintaining quality and meeting emerging

challenges should be sought.

ACYF is particularly interested in receiving comments on the extent

to which the proposed rule forms the least burdensome approach to

regulation in order to protect grantee flexibility to innovate and

achieve quality outcomes in the most effective way possible, while

recognizing the statutory mandate to ensure that there is no reduction

in services and to provide standards supporting the implementation of a

range of new statutory requirements. Further, within this framework,

ACYF has consistently sought ways to make the regulation more outcome-

focused and less process-oriented. We urge commenters to share their

ideas on ways that we can continue to move in this direction.

II. The Head Start Program

The Head Start program served approximately 740,000 low-income

children and families in fiscal year 1994 through a network of 1,405

grantees and over 600 delegate agencies. (Delegate agencies have

approved written agreements with grantees to operate the program.)

Programs are funded through a direct Federal-to-local relationship, and

grantees include a wide range of local agencies: community action

agencies, single-purpose nonprofit agencies, local governments, and

school districts, among others. About 95 percent of the children in

Head Start programs are from low-income families (below the Federal

poverty line); about 13 percent of the children have disabilities; and

about 90 percent of the children served are 3 to 4 years old. As

described below, the 1994 Head Start amendments created a new

initiative within Head Start to expand and focus on services to infants

and toddlers.

Key principles of Head Start since its inception in 1965, and

reaffirmed most recently through a thorough review by the bipartisan

Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, include the

following:

Comprehensive services. To develop fully and achieve

social competence, children and their families need a comprehensive,

inter-disciplinary approach to services, including education, health,

nutrition, social services, and parent involvement. The range of

services available must also be responsive and appropriate to each

child and family's unique developmental, ethnic, cultural, and

linguistic experience and heritage.

Parent involvement and family focus. The Head Start

program is family-centered and is designed to foster the parent's role

as the principal influence on the child's development and as the

child's primary educator, nurturer, and advocate. Local Head Start

programs work in close partnerships with parents to develop and utilize

parents' individual strengths in order to successfully meet personal

and family objectives. In addition, parents are encouraged to become

involved in all aspects of Head Start, including direct involvement in

policy and program decisions that respond to their interests and needs.

Community Partnerships and Community-Based Services. Head

Start programs are intended to be community-based, with different

specific models of service provision flowing out of the differing needs

of differing communities. In addition, the most effective Head Start

programs have always been, in the words of the Advisory Committee on

Head Start Quality and Expansion, ``central community institutions''

for low-income families, building linkages and partnerships with other

service providers and leaders in the community.

III. Legislative and Programmatic History

In May 1994, the President signed into law the Head Start

Reauthorization Act of 1994. This legislation, enacted with bipartisan

sponsorship and support, amended the Head Start Act to extend the

program authorization period through fiscal year 1998. It also made a

number of changes to ensure that all children and families enrolled in

Head Start are offered high quality services that are responsive to

their needs. The legislation built on the vision and recommendations

contained in Creating A 21st Century Head Start, the report of the

Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, which was

issued in December 1993.

The Secretary formed the Advisory Committee in June 1993 to look at

Head Start quality and program expansion issues. The Committee worked

for six months before issuing its report. The report included numerous

recommendations, centered around:

--striving for excellence in staffing, management, oversight,

facilities, and research;

--expanding to better meet the needs of children and families; and

--forging new partnerships with communities, schools, the private

sector and other national initiatives.

In its report, the Advisory Committee reaffirmed the role and value

of the existing Head Start Program Performance Standards. However, it

also recommended that the standards be reviewed and revised to reflect

the changing nature of the Head Start population, the evolution of best

practices, program experience with the existing standards, and the

pending program expansion. Reviews in several specific areas were

recommended including: business practices and financial management;

staff levels and qualifications; developmentally appropriate curricula

and emergent literacy; transitional services; mental health;

nutritional requirements; family services; parental roles; services for

the ``birth-to-three'' population; transportation; and program

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coordination. It also recommended the consideration of: (1) Standards

and systems in effect in other early childhood programs; (2) work in

other fields to establish outcome-based accountability systems; and (3)

the guiding principles of the Administration's National Performance

Review (i.e., increased responsiveness to clients, and the minimization

of regulations and paperwork). As principles for the review effort, it

called for the promotion of quality, responsiveness to community needs,

and the strengthening and streamlining of the standards. Finally, it

advised consideration of the special needs and circumstances of

programs serving American Indians and migrant and seasonal farm

workers.

In making its general recommendations, the Advisory Committee noted

the dramatic changes which had occurred in the world of Head Start

families between 1965 and 1993:

The needs of poor children and families are more

complicated and urgent. Violence, substance abuse, homelessness, lack

of education, and unemployment are helping to make them so. At the same

time, more of the Head Start service population is coming from single-

parent families, increasing numbers of parents are working, and family

literacy is increasingly being recognized as an important service need.

Over the past 28 years, the landscape of community

services has changed dramatically. There are new roles and enhanced

capacities for serving young children and their families. Today, we

also have new knowledge about the attributes of services and supports

that are effective in changing long-term outcomes for young children,

new knowledge about the importance of the first three years of life,

and new knowledge and appreciation for the continuum of developmental

and comprehensive services often needed before school and into the

early years to help children succeed in school.

While the Advisory Committee found that Head Start has succeeded in

improving the lives of young children and their families, it cited some

areas where further improvements were possible. These include: (1)

Consistency in the quality of programs; (2) responsiveness to the

diverse needs of Head Start families; (3) addressing the large unmet

need for Head Start services; and (4) coordination of Head Start with

other early childhood programs and elementary schools.

The 1994 Head Start amendments reflect similar concerns on the part

of the Congress. They include a number of provisions designed to

improve program quality--including new requirements with respect to

quality standards and program monitoring, technical assistance and

training, staff qualifications and development, and an allocation for

quality improvement activities. They also include a number of

provisions to expand the nature and scope of services and to make

programs more responsive to the needs of their service populations. For

example, they add new requirements with respect to family literacy

services and parental involvement, provide for an initiative for

pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers (Early Head

Start), expand opportunities for parental involvement, add requirements

to facilitate the successful transition of Head Start children to

elementary school, and mandate a study of the adequacy of full-day/

full-year programs.

The amendments further provide that, in revising the current

program performance standards and in developing new ones, the Secretary

must consult with experts in the fields of child development, early

childhood education, family services (including ``linguistically and

culturally appropriate services'' to children and families for whom

English is not the primary language), and administration and financial

management. They also require consultation with individuals with

experience operating Head Start programs.

Additionally, the amendments require that the Secretary take

several factors into consideration in developing the program

performance standards. These include: past experience with the existing

standards; changes over time in the Head Start service population;

developments in best practices with respect to child development,

children with disabilities, family services, program administration,

and financial management; projected needs related to Head Start

expansions; existing and potential standards and guidelines related to

the promotion of child health; the projected needs of expanded Head

Start programs; changes in the population of eligible children

(including changes in family structures and languages spoken in the

home); and local policies and activities designed to ensure the

successful transition of Head Start children to elementary school.

The Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and

Toddlers was formed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in

July 1994 to advise and inform the Department on the development of

program approaches for the new Head Start initiative serving low-income

pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers (later named

``Early Head Start''). The Advisory Committee drew upon the experience

of a number of different programs (such as the Comprehensive Child

Development Program, Parent and Child Centers, and Head Start Migrant

Programs), the insights provided by participants in over 30 focus

groups, three decades of research on child and family development, and

extensive consultations with experts and practitioners in the field.

In September 1994, the Advisory Committee on Services for Families

with Infants and Toddlers issued a formal statement setting forth both

its vision and goals and its recommendations for program principles and

cornerstones. It called for the development of a range of service

strategies that would support the growth of the young child within the

family and the growth of the family within the community. Thus, it

envisioned program approaches that were family-centered and community-

based. Its program principles included: (1) A commitment to excellence

in the quality of the services provided as well as in program

management; (2) the prevention and early detection of and early

intervention with problems; (3) the early, proactive, and ongoing

promotion of a child's healthy development; (4) the promotion of

positive, continuous relationships that nurture the child, parents,

family, and caregiving staff; (5) the promotion of parent involvement;

(6) the inclusion of children with disabilities and respect for

individual children and adults; (7) respect for home language and

culture; (8) responsiveness to the unique strengths and abilities of

the children, families, and communities served; (9) ensuring smooth

transitions; and (10) collaboration and the active pursuit of

partnerships with kindred programs.

A local education agency using funds under Title I of the

Elementary and Secondary Schools Act to provide early childhood

development services to low-income children below the age of compulsory

school attendance must comply with the Head Start Program Performance

Standards for such services beginning in fiscal year 1997. The proposed

performance standards governing early childhood development services

are found in Section 1304.21, Education and Early Childhood

Development. (Title I preschool programs using the Even Start model or

Even Start programs which are expanded through the use of Title I

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funds are exempt from this requirement.) We have sought consultation

with school officials and education experts, as well as early childhood

experts, and have worked closely with the U.S. Department of Education

in developing this section of the NPRM.

Local educational agencies, school personnel, and persons

affiliated with Title I preschool programs are referred to the

Department of Education's Notice of Interpretation regarding the

applicability of Head Start performance standards to Title I preschool

programs that appears elsewhere in this Federal Register. We encourage

comments from local educational agencies, school personnel, and persons

affiliated with Title I preschool programs regarding the content of 45

CFR 1304.21 and its impact.

IV. Consultation and the Development of the NPRM

In keeping with the requirements of the statute and the

Administration's regulatory reinvention principles, ACYF sought

extensive public input prior to the development of these proposed

standards. As noted above, over the summer, fall, and winter of 1994-

1995, we conducted 70 focus groups involving approximately 2,000

individuals including subject experts, parents, educators, technical

assistance providers, local sponsors of Head Start programs, Federal

staff, and individuals with extensive program monitoring experience.

Fifteen of the focus groups addressed standards related to specific

subject areas such as child development and education; child medical,

dental, nutrition and mental health; and parent involvement. Subject-

area experts were key participants in those groups. Over 30 of the

focus groups addressed standards for pregnant women and families with

infants and toddlers. In addition, a focus group was convened with the

Department of Education to discuss the compatibility of these standards

with the Title I Improving America's Schools Act programs. The parents

of Head Start children were present at many focus groups, and one focus

group was devoted entirely to Head Start parents. In addition, one

group was devoted to obtaining recommendations from long-term leaders

of the Head Start movement who could provide unique insights into the

program's experience and development over time as well as the program

strengths and weaknesses that should be addressed.

Representatives from a wide array of national organizations and

agencies with particular interest in child and family issues also were

consulted. Among these organizations were the national, State, and

Regional Head Start Associations, Zero to Three, the National Center

for Learning Disabilities, the Family Impact Seminar, the Family

Resource Coalition, the National Black Child Development Institute, the

Elementary School Principals Association, the National Association for

the Education of Young Children, and the National Committee to Prevent

Child Abuse.

The ACYF also undertook a consultation process to draw upon the

expertise of Federal agencies and staff responsible for administering

related programs and serving related populations. The purpose of these

efforts was to promote greater consistency in the service and

regulatory approaches taken by various Federal programs and to solicit

expert advice on how to promote quality in Early Head Start and Head

Start services. Among the critical links in this process were those

with health and mental health agencies; the U.S. Public Health Service,

including the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal

and Child Health Bureau, the Indian Health Service and the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention; the Health Care Financing

Administration, and the Center for Mental Health Services; the U.S.

Department of Education, including the Office of Educational Research

and Improvement; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In reviewing and revising the standards, ACYF also carefully

reviewed the standards and performance criteria established by national

organizations and policy experts in early childhood development, health

and safety, child care, and related fields. Key documents reviewed

include the National Head Start Association's ``Quality Initiative''

draft report, the National Association for the Education of Young

Children's ``Accreditation Criteria and Procedures'' and

``Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs,''

the U.S. Public Health Services', Health Resources and Services

Administrations' Maternal and Child Health Bureau's ``National Health

and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child

Care,'' developed in collaboration with the American Academy of

Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association, and produced in

collaboration with the Health Care Financing Administrations's Medicaid

Bureau ``Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants,

Children, and Adolescents'' report. The proposed rule also reflects the

guidance provided by contemporary academic literature in such fields as

early childhood education, child health and safety, family services,

and program management.

In addition, ACYF undertook an analysis of the current program

performance standards with which grantees have the most and,

conversely, the least difficulty in complying, as measured by results

from Head Start's monitoring instrument, the ``On-Site Program Review

Instrument'' (OSPRI). Finally, ACYF also studied the wealth of non-

regulatory material issued by ACYF and the Head Start Bureau since

1978, such as Information Memoranda, reports on demonstration programs,

and task force reports, which address key policy issues of possible

relevance to the program performance standards.

In drafting the proposed rule, ACYF also considered the

recommendations of both the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality

and Expansion and the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with

Infants and Toddlers. These two groups included a wide range of

distinguished national experts, including practitioners, academics,

policy-makers in the Executive and legislative branches,

representatives of State government and the foundation community, and

parents. In addition, both groups commissioned considerable staff work

to support their deliberations. Thus, the collective efforts of these

two groups allowed access to a wealth of expertise, program experience,

and supporting documentation that would not otherwise have been

available.

Findings From the Consultation Process

The consultation process yielded the following major objectives for

revising the standards:

The organization of the standards should be improved to

promote a more integrated, holistic approach to service delivery;

The standards should serve as models for program quality

and encourage programs to strive for excellence;

The standards should achieve a better balance between the

clarity and precision of regulatory intent and regulatory flexibility

so that programs can be most responsive to local needs, settings, and

circumstances;

The standards should place greater emphasis on family-

focused aspects of the program by strengthening links with local

community providers, helping families identify and address

individualized goals, and ensuring that

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the standards address important contemporary issues facing families

such as community violence, substance abuse, and literacy;

The standards regarding health and safety practices need

to be updated, with special attention to infant/toddler concerns,

current medical best practices, and serious blood-borne diseases, such

as HIV and Hepatitis B; and

New standards addressing financial and administrative

management should be added in order to strengthen program

accountability and management practices.

V. Approach of The Proposed Rule

Based on this extensive consultation, we sought to achieve a

balance among three critical goals: (1) Updating the program

performance standards to meet new challenges, as required in the

statute; (2) maintaining quality and ensuring no reduction in services,

as required in the statute; and (3) streamlining the standards to

minimize regulatory burden and encourage grantee innovation and

flexibility. We first made decisions about the scope of the proposed

rule, since a number of closely related regulations could have been

included or not included in a performance standards revision, and then

identified key principles regarding the structure and approach of this

proposal.

Scope of the Proposed Rule

This proposed rule deals most specifically with implementing the

amendments in section 641A(a) and (d) of the Act. It addresses the

requirements at: paragraph (a)(1) regarding the establishment of

standards; paragraph (a)(2) regarding the specification within the

regulations of minimum levels of accomplishment; paragraph (a)(4)

regarding the establishment of standards with respect to obligations to

delegate agencies; and paragraph (d) regarding the procedures to follow

when corrective actions or terminations are necessary. It also responds

to Sections 644(a) and (c) that require the issuance of regulations for

the organization, management, and administration of Head Start

programs. Finally, it addresses Section 645A(h), which requires that

the Secretary publish performance standards for programs that serve

low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers.

The current Head Start Program Performance Standards are found at

45 CFR Part 1304. Additional regulations which are applicable to Head

Start agencies also are found at 45 CFR Parts 1301 (Head Start Grants

Administration), 1305 (Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment,

and Attendance in Head Start), 1306 (Head Start Staffing Requirements

and Program Options), 1308 (Disabilities Services), and Parts 74 and 92

(concerning the administration of grant awards).

As we considered the input from our consultation process, we

concluded that we needed to review these additional regulations to find

out whether a streamlined, integrated, and customer-friendly set of

performance standards in 45 CFR Part 1304 should bring together

requirements now included somewhere else. Therefore, in addition to

revising 45 CFR Part 1304, we also reviewed the regulations in 45 CFR

Parts 1301, 1305, 1306, and 1308 to determine where further technical

changes were needed.

In this NPRM, ACYF proposes to revise 45 CFR 1301.31 on personnel

policies and to make minimal technical modifications to 45 CFR Parts

1305, 1306, and 1308. A cross-reference will be added in these Parts to

ensure that they are used in conjunction with the provisions of Part

1304.

Additionally, as we reviewed the information gathered from our

consultations regarding services to infants and toddlers, we revised

somewhat our approach to regulations in this area. In the Early Head

Start program announcement, published in the Federal Register on March

17, 1995 (60 FR 14548), only 45 CFR Parts 1301, 1304, and 1305 were

cited as being applicable to Early Head Start programs. Upon further

consideration, we have determined that 45 CFR Parts 1306 and 1308 also

are generally applicable to these programs and are indicating this in

the proposed rule, with specific exceptions being noted.

Finally, the proposed rule does not address the amendments at

section 641A(b) related to the development of Head Start Program

Performance Measures or at 641A(c) related to the monitoring of local

agencies and programs. The statute does not mandate regulations in

these areas, and ACYF does not anticipate issuing regulations to

implement these provisions.

However, we are working to ensure that the substantive

deliberations and policy development currently underway on the program

performance measures and monitoring are effectively linked to the

revision of the program performance standards, since the three

activities must work in tandem to ensure consistent program quality. In

addition to ensuring linkages among the Federal work groups developing

these approaches, we will ensure that Early Head Start programs, Head

Start programs, and other interested parties receive program issuances

related to the development and implementation of the program

performance measures and revisions to the monitoring system as they

become available.

Briefly, the activities related to performance measures and

monitoring are as follows:

The Head Start Program Performance Measures are designed

to assess the quality and effectiveness of the Head Start program

nationally by providing program indicators and outcomes for children

and families. As such, they will provide a snapshot of how well the

Head Start program is performing, nationally and regionally, at a given

point in time and a process for the continuous improvement of local

programs. However, they will neither be used to evaluate individual

programs nor to monitor them for compliance with the Head Start Program

Performance Standards.

The ACYF is currently considering how the Head Start

monitoring system as a whole can be revised and improved. This effort

needs to mesh with the work on the revision of the program performance

standards so that the Head Start monitoring instrument (the Head Start

On-Site Program Review Instrument, or OSPRI) remains consistent with

the standards, as revised. Each grantee is monitored at least once

every three years.

Themes of the Newly Revised 45 CFR Part 1304

In drafting this proposed rule, we sought to achieve the delicate

balance described above: addressing new challenges and new statutory

areas for regulation, maintaining existing quality and services, and

streamlining the regulations to reduce burden and encourage innovation.

Our overall approach is built on four key themes.

1. The Head Start program performance standards should be

reorganized to reduce fragmentation and duplication, encourage holistic

approaches, and emphasize partnerships with families and communities.

Based on what we heard during the consultation process, we are

proposing an organizational structure for the program performance

standards that departs considerably from the structure of the current

version of the regulation. In particular, the overall structure of the

new standards is more holistic and integrated than the current

component-based organization, leading to better linkages among related

standards and less duplication and fragmentation.

[[Page 17759]]

Such an integrated structure was first suggested as part of the

work of the Advisory Committee on Services to Families with Infants and

Toddlers, which identified four cornerstones of successful programs for

very young children: child, family, community, and staff. This

recommendation for a broad-based, integrated structure was echoed in

the focus groups, where we heard that the most effective grantees

attempt to integrate their services across components and train their

staff to understand and serve children and families from a broader,

more comprehensive perspective. For this reason, previously separate

components, such as Parent Involvement and Social Services, and

dispersed standards, such as those addressing parent education and

program management issues, have been brought together under three

broader topical program areas that roughly follow the four cornerstones

proposed by the Advisory Committee: Early Childhood Development and

Health Services, Family and Community Partnerships, and Program Design

and Management.

Under these broad areas, we have proposed some additional

consolidations or reorganizations to improve clarity, bring together

related standards or emphasize areas of newly emerging or critical

importance. For example, the new section on ``Community Partnerships''

is intended to capture one of the most critical recommendations of the

Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, which also

emerged frequently in our focus group consultations: that, ``as Head

Start improves and expands, it must fit into the increasingly complex

array of Federal, State, and community level services and resources

available to low-income children and families.'' The proposed standards

in this area, which are largely new but are also drawn from the earlier

component standards for social services, require community

collaboration and identify key agencies with which local Early Head

Start and Head Start grantees must coordinate.

The standards in Subpart D entitled ``Program Design and

Management'' are comprised of four sections on Program Governance;

Management Systems and Procedures; Human Resources Management; and

Facilities, Materials, and Equipment. This structure brings together

requirements which were previously scattered and adds selected new

requirements in order to ensure a more intensive focus on program staff

and management. This more intensive focus responds to a statutory

requirement to develop improved administrative and financial management

standards; to a concern about the management of ever-more-complex

programs that was frequently heard in the consultation process; and to

explicit recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Head Start

Quality and Expansion to ``focus on staffing and career development,''

to ``improve the management of local programs,'' and to ``provide for

better facilities.''

2. A single set of integrated standards for services from birth to

age 5 should be developed. Initially, we anticipated issuing separate

NPRM's for services to low income pregnant women and families with

infants and toddlers (Early Head Start) and for Head Start grantees

serving children aged 3 to 5. Through the consultation process,

however, we concluded that it would make more sense to issue an

integrated set of standards, both for grantees, who might be operating

both types of programs, and for children and families, who might be

moving from one program to another and deserve continuity of services

and requirements to the extent possible. However, we were extremely

mindful of another critical point that we heard from both health and

child development experts: that infants and toddlers are not just small

preschoolers, and that it is critical for children's health, safety,

and development to ensure clear standards for quality that are

appropriately different for the different ages.

Therefore, our approach was to create a unified, integrated

structure, with age-specific standards where appropriate. For example,

in areas such as Early Childhood Development and Health Services, and,

to a lesser extent, in Family and Community Partnerships, it was

necessary to develop discrete standards that are applicable only to

grantees serving infants and toddlers (and, by extension, pregnant

women).

The decision to develop an integrated set of standards has

substantially reduced potential requirements on grantees. The NPRM

which was published on June 19, 1990 (55 FR 24899), entitled ``Program

Performance Standards for Head Start Programs Serving Infants, Toddlers

and Pregnant Women,'' (which was subsequently withdrawn on September

30, 1994, 59 FR 46806) contained 26 sections in all. The current NPRM

contains only 16 sections, yet covers services to Head Start eligible

children from birth to five years and their families. We believe that

this integrated approach saves grantees and delegate agencies

significant problems in having to work with two sets of regulations.

3. The regulation should focus on requirements that are key to

maintaining quality services and meeting new and emerging needs. One of

the major goals of the proposed rule is to update expectations for

grantees to ensure quality and to meet new and emerging program

challenges, with a specific focus on issues identified in the

reauthorizing legislation and by the two Advisory Committees. For

example, both the Advisory Committees and our own consultations

identified health services as being a critical component that needs

more attention to ensure quality outcomes for children and their

families. We heard that health services require special attention for

many reasons: because some Head Start programs have had difficulty with

some aspects of quality; because community-wide trends may be

endangering children's health and limiting their access to health care;

and because of the new program focus of Early Head Start, which serves

families with infants and toddlers and pregnant women. Examples of new

or revised requirements that emerged from our consultations include a

revision of the procedures and schedules for the assessment and

identification of child health, nutrition, and developmental concerns,

in order to meet current medical best practice; requirements related to

child safety in the presence of serious diseases such as

cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV);

requirements related to prenatal care for pregnant women; proper

procedures for handling child health emergencies; and improved mental

health services for troubled children and families.

Similarly, the proposed rule addresses emerging family and

community issues identified through consultations and in the statute.

One of the most frequently mentioned quality issues in the work of the

Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion and in our own

consultations was the effect of the changing conditions of families--

including increased stress, family violence, substance abuse, poverty,

and homelessness--on the ability of programs to work effectively with

children and parents. These stresses require that programs focus

increased staff attention on individualized family support and goal-

setting. While we have not chosen the most prescriptive approaches to

providing such assistance, such as prescribing a ratio of families to

family service workers or specifying academic qualifications for those

workers, we have proposed a number of more flexible program

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requirements. Programs must ensure that staff managing family service

workers have appropriate training and experience; they must carry out

the statutory mandate for family literacy services; and they must

strengthen their assessments of family needs and goals and provide

improved follow-up and coordination of service delivery with community

agencies, including elementary schools and Title I Improving America's

Schools Act preschool programs. The proposed rule also addresses the

other most frequently mentioned issue of emerging family needs: the

need to respond to working families, including developing parent

involvement approaches that meet the needs of working parents in the

Early Head Start and Head Start programs.

The proposed rule also addresses critical issues of program quality

related to agency management of increasingly complex programs, such as

governance; planning; communication, record-keeping, and reporting

systems; human resources management and professional development; and

facilities management. These issues were frequently raised throughout

the consultation process, including by grantees themselves.

Additionally, the proposed rule also addresses Federal enforcement

of minimum quality standards in cases where local agencies are

seriously deficient in their provision of program services. This

requirement (contained in Subpart E, entitled ``Implementation and

Enforcement'') implements specific statutory language in section 641A

of the Head Start Act concerning the corrective or termination

procedures to be followed when local agencies fail to comply with the

Head Start Program Performance Standards. This proposal also carries

out a central recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Head Start

Quality and Expansion that all programs should provide quality services

that live up to the Head Start vision.

4. The least burdensome approach to maintaining service quality and

meeting emerging challenges should be sought. At the same time that the

proposed rule implements a range of new statutory requirements and

complies with the statutory mandate to ensure that there is no

reduction in services, we have sought the least burdensome approaches

to regulation in order to protect grantee flexibility to innovate and

achieve quality outcomes in the most effective way possible. Among our

key approaches to achieving this balance, where possible, was to

identify process requirements in the current standards which could be

deleted or replaced with a simpler requirement without reducing the

quality of services. For example, we deleted an existing requirement

that Head Start programs provide child-sized eating utensils and

furniture. We also eliminated considerable duplication as a result of

the new organizational structure, and we pruned out-dated material,

such as a lengthy appendix related to staff personnel policies. We

eliminated a proposed requirement for the ``daily'' recording of

progress on each child because it would place a considerable paperwork

burden on programs, and because the requirement for the

individualization of services and individualized observations would

serve the aim of maintaining quality. And, we extended the required

time period for the completion of medical and dental assessments from

45 days to 90 days in response to comments, particularly from rural

communities, that the shorter timeframe was unrealistic and that

service quality can be protected with prompt action, but a more

realistic deadline.

The ACYF has consistently sought to design the new requirements in

ways that offer grantees flexibility in their implementation of the

requirements. For example, although the new transition requirements

carry out the specific intent of the statute, they also leave room for

local agencies to design their own specific procedures for implementing

these new requirements. Likewise, where possible, ACYF has sought to

add increased flexibility to the current regulation. For example, on

the advice of focus group participants, we have added a provision

allowing agencies operating the center-based program option to conduct

home visits outside the home when parents request such an arrangement

or when visits to the home present safety concerns for staff.

Also to streamline the regulation, we reduced the amount of

regulatory text devoted to discussing objectives and setting the

context for the program performance standards. While this material is

very important, much of it is not regulatory in nature. Therefore, we

have included it in this preamble, rather than in the regulatory text.

We also attempted to provide sufficient flexibility in the

standards so that they can apply to the wide range of auspices under

which individual programs are operated (such as elementary schools,

private non-profit agencies, and local governments, to name a few) and

to the wide range of program options from which agencies can now choose

(such as center-based programs, home-based programs, combinations of

center- and home-based programs, and locally designed program options).

While most of the standards apply equally to all program options, where

necessary we have created separate standards for the home-based program

or, alternatively, have indicated where particular standards apply only

to the center-based program option.

Finally, we looked for opportunities to make the regulations more

outcome-focused and less process-focused. One key example is the

regulation in Section E, which implements the new statutory requirement

for a corrective action process for deficient grantees leading to

prompt termination if services do not improve after the provision of

technical assistance. Our proposal is intended to focus monitoring

attention on those programs whose deficiencies affect the quality of

services and outcomes for children, rather than on those programs that

may have areas of non-compliance which need to be corrected but do not

seriously compromise their fundamental ability to promote children's

healthy development and social competence. ACF solicits comments on

additional ways to make the regulations more outcome-based.

VI. Summary of the Proposed Regulation

Objective

The Head Start Program Performance Standards are a means for

ensuring that all local agencies maintain the highest possible

standards in the provision of Early Head Start and Head Start services.

The standards are designed to ensure that the objectives of the Early

Head Start and Head Start programs are achieved. To that end, they

specify, in concrete terms, the features expected of a quality Early

Head Start and Head Start program, and they hold local agencies

responsible for meeting specific responsibilities in all program areas.

Just as local grantees and delegate agencies are expected to honor

the culture and to maximize the strengths and experiences of each child

and family, we recognize the differences and uniqueness of each local

program and the community in which it operates. Therefore, while all

agencies are expected to comply with the standards in this proposed

rule regarding program operations and activities, we will be providing

agencies with guidance material designed to suggest best practices for

implementing the standards in a manner appropriate to their local

circumstances. We also plan a variety of additional technical

assistance activities to assist agencies in

[[Page 17761]]

understanding and implementing the new standards.

VII. Section by Section Discussion of the NPRM

The following sections in the preamble discuss in more detail the

specific provisions in the proposed revisions to 45 CFR Part 1304. We

have attempted in our discussion to focus particularly on those

standards, or features of the standards, that are new to the proposed

rule, rather than provide an exhaustive explanation of every aspect of

the standards, some of which are unchanged from the current regulation.

Subpart A--General

Section 1304.1--Purpose and Scope

This section describes the purpose and scope of the proposed rule

and references the sections of the Head Start Act upon which the

proposed rule is based.

Section 1304.2--Effective Dates

This section provides that the proposed rule applies to all Early

Head Start and Head Start grantees and delegate agencies as of the

effective date. We welcome comments on whether we should provide for

waivers on certain requirements which are believed to be too difficult

for all affected agencies to meet by the effective date and which do

not compromise the safety or developmental needs of Early Head Start or

Head Start children.

Section 1304.3--Definitions

Paragraph (a) of this section provides definitions of the terms

used throughout the proposed rule and paragraph (b) cross-references

them to other definitions. Key words and phrases defined include:

developmentally appropriate, family, infant, toddler, preschooler,

assessment, policy group, program attendance, referral, staff, staff

caregiver, teacher, and volunteer.

The definitions in this section are consistent with the definitions

found in other Parts of this chapter and in other applicable Federal

regulations. Among the other sources we consulted in developing these

definitions are: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American

Public Health Association and the Health Resources and Services

Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau's ``National Health

and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home-Care''

(1992); the American Heritage Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin Company:

Boston (1992); the California Department of Education, Child

Development Division's ``Developmental Program for Infants/Toddlers''

(1993); the Department of Public Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,

Pennsylvania Code (1992); the National Association for the Education of

Young Children's ``Accreditation Criteria and Procedures of the

National Academy of Early Childhood Programs'' (1991); the Office of

Human Development Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, Chapter XIII, Subchapter B--the Administration on Children,

Youth and Families, Head Start Program, 45 CFR Parts 1301-1308; the

U.S. Department of Education, 34 CFR Part 303, Early Intervention

Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities; and the

Administration for Children and Families, Child Abuse Prevention and

Treatment Act, as amended, November 4, 1992.

Subpart B--Early Childhood Development and Health Services

General Objectives

The objective of this Subpart of the proposed rule is to provide

high quality, comprehensive services that foster each child's social

competence by supporting and nurturing the child's social, emotional,

cognitive, and physical development. Agencies must provide a safe,

comforting, stimulating, and secure environment for children that is

responsive to their varied ages, developmental levels, and special

needs. In addition, they must provide a variety of individualized

learning experiences that accommodate each child's unique temperament,

cultural and ethnic heritage, personal preferences, and style of social

interaction. As the first and primary educators of their children,

parents must be integrally involved in educational activities provided

both by the program and in the home. The learning experiences also must

be multi-dimensional, integrating the educational aspects of medical

and dental health, nutrition, and mental health services into program

activities.

Head Start services under this Subpart must place a great deal of

emphasis on medical, dental, and mental health. Each child's physical

and emotional health must be assessed as early in the program year as

possible, and strenuous efforts should be made to link each child and

family to a ``medical home'' or accessible system of ongoing preventive

health care and treatment. To ensure the continued healthy development

of children after they leave the Early Head Start or Head Start

program, agencies must collaborate actively with parents as partners in

their children's health care. Agencies must emphasize the benefits of

preventive health care: for instance, they must help parents understand

the link between sound nutritional habits and good health, and the

importance of creating a nurturing environment that supports the mental

well-being of children. Likewise, agencies must emphasize safety,

sanitation, and hygienic practices that promote continued good health.

Every aspect of Head Start services under this Subpart must be

responsive to children's individual strengths, circumstances and

special needs. For example, the nutrition program must be sensitive to

individual cultural and ethnic food preferences and accommodate special

dietary requirements, while also helping children to broaden their

nutritional experiences. Together, parents and staff must ensure that

children with special behavioral or other mental health concerns

receive appropriate mental health interventions and classroom

accommodations that enable them to enjoy the full benefits of Early

Head Start and Head Start participation. In addition, agencies must be

prepared to handle individual health emergencies, injuries or

infectious conditions that children may have in a manner that best

promotes the recovery of the affected child and that minimizes any

risks to other children, staff, and parents.

Consistent with these objectives, the proposed revisions would

place more emphasis than the current regulation on issues such as: (1)

The scope and quality of child assessments (including developmental and

behavioral assessments); (2) the involvement of parents and families in

the delivery of Head Start services and the promotion of healthy child

development; (3) the recognition of individual needs and cultural and

linguistic differences among children; (4) contemporary practices which

promote the child's physical, dental and mental health; and (5)

appropriate safety practices and procedures for addressing emergency

health problems. The proposed revisions also incorporate requirements

specifically related to the special developmental needs of infants and

toddlers.

Section 1304.20--Child Health and Developmental Assessment

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to ensure

that all health and developmental concerns are identified for each

enrolled child. Also, agencies must link children and families

[[Page 17762]]

to a system of ongoing preventive health care--a ``medical home''--to

ensure that health care needs are met, and can continue to be met, by

the time the children and families leave the Early Head Start or Head

Start program. Therefore, it is vitally important to the healthy

development of children that staff actively involve parents as partners

in their children's health care so that they can understand the

importance of regular, ongoing preventive care and how to obtain it.

The picture of each child's development and physical health

obtained during the assessment process must be used to individualize

the program for each child to ensure that the child's potential is

fully developed. In addition, the process must be used as the basis for

further assessment and treatment, as specified in 45 CFR 1304.22.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Assessment Process

The proposed rule would require an assessment which gathers and

records, to the greatest extent possible, all relevant historical

information about each child's health and development to enable a

health professional's review of a child's status on established

schedules of well child care and immunization no later than 90 calendar

days from the first day of each child's enrollment in programs with

durations of greater than 90 days. Grantee and delegate agencies

operating programs of shorter duration (90 days or less) must gather

the information and assure it has been reviewed by a health

professional(s) within 30 calendar days after each child's enrollment

in the program. Section 1304.20(a) of this Part cites the schedules of

diagnostic procedures and immunizations that must be followed for each

child and the sources of these schedules. These sources are: the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on

Immunization Practices and the schedule of well child care used by the

Health Care Financing Administration's Medicaid Bureau for the Early

and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program for

the State in which a Head Start program operates. The schedules must be

compared with each child's historical health information to determine

what, if any, procedures and/or immunizations are required.

When the health professional's review of a child's status on the

schedules of well child care and immunization indicates the child's

care/immunization are not up-to-date, then the program must work

collaboratively with the parents to secure the specific diagnostic

procedures and/or immunizations established in these schedules within

90 calendar days of the first day of the child's enrollment in the

program. Grantees and delegate agencies operating programs of shorter

duration (90 days or less) must implement a plan to secure the needed

services/immunizations within 30 calendar days of the first day of

enrollment in the program. For children who have received appropriate

care, programs must ensure that appropriate care continues. The

determination of appropriate care for a child will be based on the

recommendations of the child's health care provider.

The new assessment process proposed in the revised standards builds

in greater flexibility for local agencies, as they no longer will be

required to secure the same set of assessment procedures for each

enrolled child, but only those assessments which the review by health

professional(s) identifies as not-up-to-date by the established

schedules. Similarly, the expanded timeframes, from 45 to 90 days for

most programs, provides greater flexibility for programs, and is based

on feedback received during the focus groups that 45 days is often

insufficient to complete the assessments, particularly in rural areas.

The 30-day timeframe for programs operating 90 days or less is based on

concerns, also expressed during the focus groups, that a shorter period

is needed to assure that assessments are completed on all children

before they leave programs of shorter durations, such as migrant

programs.

The ACYF invites comments regarding the proposed 90- and 30-day

timeframes. The ACYF is particularly interested in whether these

timeframes would pose difficulties for grantee and delegate agencies,

whether they would allow sufficient time to gather information, and the

impact that these timeframes would have on the quality of health care

received by children who are enrolled in the program.

(b) Parent Involvement in the Assessment and Treatment Process

Paragraph (b) specifies the procedures that agencies must follow to

involve parents in their children's assessments and treatments. It

includes provisions on parental education, obtaining authorizations for

care (or documenting that such authorization was not obtainable),

ensuring that parents are properly informed about assessments and the

results of diagnostic and treatment procedures, and properly informing

the child of pending procedures.

(c) Medical and Dental Health Assessment

Paragraph (c) specifies an updated list of items which must be

included in the medical and dental health portion of the assessment,

such as size measurements; blood pressure, urinalysis, tuberculosis,

vision, and hearing tests; a check of immunization status; and other

appropriate tests based on individual, group and community risks. These

items will enable agencies to identify any deficiencies in the child's

development or health care history and are in keeping with the

recommendations of the major medical authorities previously cited.

(d) Developmental and Behavioral Assessment

Paragraph (d)(1) proposes requirements for the developmental and

behavioral assessments which must be performed for all children. Such

assessments must cover motor, language, cognitive or thinking, and

perceptual skills and must be performed in accordance with the schedule

referenced in section 1304.20(a)(2).

Agencies must involve mental health professionals in these

assessments either as a full staff member or on a consultant basis.

Also, they must consult a variety of information sources, including

members of the child's family, teachers, and others, in gathering

information on the child's social and emotional development. Further,

the assessments must be culturally sensitive and linguistically and age

appropriate for each child.

(e) Ongoing Assessment

Paragraph (e) proposes the requirements for ongoing assessments of

health and development even when no specific need for follow-up has

been identified. They specify the essential elements that must be

included in these ongoing assessments, including regular observations

of changes in physical appearance (e.g., illness), emotional and

behavioral patterns, and developmental progress as well as the regular

use of parental, staff, and mental health consultant observations.

(f) Individualization of the Program

Paragraph (f) provides that assessment, medical evaluation, and

treatment results, as well as insights from the child's parents, must

be used to help Early Head Start or Head Start staff and parent(s)

determine how they can best respond to each child's individual

characteristics and needs.

[[Page 17763]]

Individual Family Service Plans (IFSPs) must also be developed for each

infant and toddler with an identified disability, if one has not

already been developed, in accordance with Part H of the Individuals

with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The development of the IFSPs does not place an additional burden on

Early Head Start or Head Start programs because no assessments are

required by Head Start beyond what is stipulated in Part H. A seamless

set of services can occur for children with disabilities since they can

participate in Part H through Early Head Start or Head Start programs.

Section 1304.21--Education and Early Childhood Development

Objectives

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to provide

each child with a safe, nurturing, stimulating, enjoyable, and secure

environment in order to help him or her gain the skills and confidence

necessary to be prepared to succeed in their present environment and

with later responsibilities in school and life. The varied experiences

provided to each child will help children achieve the overall goal of

social competence through the acquisition of social, emotional,

intellectual and physical skills in a manner appropriate to each

child's age and stage of development. Program learning experiences must

be tailored to each child's unique temperament, cultural and ethnic

heritage, preferences, and style of interaction.

To provide each child with a comprehensive learning experience, the

educational aspects of medical and dental health, nutrition, and mental

health services must be integrated into the daily program of activities

for children. As the primary educators of their children, parents must

be integrally involved in the development of educational activities for

the program and the home. Particular attention must be paid to the

educational priorities of enrolled families and the local community

when providing child development and education services.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Child Development and Education Approach for All Children

Paragraph (a)(1) provides the general framework for the agencies'

approach to child development and education services in keeping with

the recommendations of such organizations as the National Association

for the Education of Young Children. The approach must be

developmentally and linguistically appropriate. The approach also must

recognize individual preferences and individual patterns of development

as well as different ability levels, cultures, ages, and learning

styles.

Parents must be integrally involved in the development of the

program's curriculum and approach to child development and education

and must be provided opportunities to increase their child observation

skills in order to help plan the learning experiences.

Paragraph (a)(3) specifies the practices that agencies must follow

to support each child's social and emotional development. These include

new or modified concepts, such as support and respect for home

languages and cultures and the provision of an unrushed atmosphere and

predictable routines and transitions.

Paragraph (a)(4) specifies the practices agencies must follow to

support the development of cognitive and language skills. These include

developmentally appropriate activities, the explicit encouragement of

play and learning by doing in both indoor and outdoor settings, the

provision of opportunities for self-expression through the arts, and

support for developmentally appropriate literacy and numeracy

development through materials and activities.

Subsection (a)(5) specifies the practices that agencies must follow

to promote each child's physical growth. They include a slight

modification to an existing standard addressing the provision of

adequate time, space, equipment, and materials for active play or

movement that support the development of large muscles, and require an

appropriate environment for the participation of children with special

needs.

(b) Child Development and Education Approach for Infants and Toddlers

Paragraph (b)(1) specifies the special environmental and

developmental needs of infants and toddlers. It specifies the

additional requirements agencies must meet in serving these youngest

children.

Under paragraph (b)(1) agencies must provide an environment which

helps infants and toddlers develop secure attachment relationships,

develop trust and emotional security, and explore sensory and motor

experiences. Paragraph (b)(2) specifies that they must also provide an

environment which helps promote the social and emotional development of

infants and toddlers. More specifically, the environment must encourage

the development of self-knowledge, self-awareness, autonomy, self-

expression, and the emergence of communication skills.

Paragraph (b)(3) specifies the environmental conditions which

agencies must provide to promote the physical growth of infants and

toddlers. They must provide opportunities for small-motor development

that encourage the control and coordination of small, specialized

motions. The environment also must support the development of the

emerging physical skills of infants and toddlers (e.g., grasping,

pulling, pushing, crawling, walking, and climbing); and support the

appropriate use of toilet facilities (consistent with parental views).

(c) Child Development and Education Approach for Preschoolers

Paragraph (c) specifies the requirements needed to meet the special

developmental and educational needs of preschoolers. For the first

time, agencies are required to develop or select a curriculum with the

parents and apply it consistently, while also recognizing the need for

individualized activities that support each child's distinct pattern of

growth and development. Likewise, agencies must ensure that the program

environment helps children develop emotional security and facility in

social relationships. Through different types of indoor and outdoor

activities, agencies must promote a child's self-understanding and

feelings of competence, self-esteem, and positive attitudes toward

learning. We encourage comments on whether these requirements

adequately address the developmental and educational needs of

preschoolers to enable them to gain the skills and confidence necessary

to be prepared to succeed in their present environment and with later

responsibilities in school and life.

Section 1304.22--Child Health and Safety

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to support

each child's healthy physical development through a range of medical

and dental health treatments and through an emphasis on safety

practices. Specifically, agencies must be prepared to handle health-

related emergencies as well as any injuries, illnesses, or infectious

conditions children may have in a manner that best promotes the

recovery of the affected child and that minimizes any risks to other

children and staff. In addition, agencies must emphasize the prevention

of injuries, illness, and the spread of disease. Finally, agencies must

actively involve parents in all aspects of

[[Page 17764]]

the medical and dental health area so that the parents understand the

importance of regular preventive care and treatment and how to obtain

them.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Medical and Dental Follow-Up and Treatment

Paragraph (a)(1) proposes requirements for agencies related to

referrals for medical and dental care, including further diagnostic

testing, examinations, and treatment for each child with an observable,

suspected, or known health or developmental problem. It specifies that

these referrals must be made as early in the program year as possible

unless parental authorization for such services is denied. Such denial

must be documented. Paragraph (a)(2), as in the current regulation,

sets forth the specific requirements for the treatment of the medical

and dental conditions of each enrolled child. Additional standards on

parent involvement are in 45 CFR 1304.20(b).

(b) Health Emergency Procedures

The proposed standards in this section have been developed to

increase protections for enrolled children and to avoid potential legal

liability problems for agencies. Paragraph (b) details the procedures

agencies must employ to deal with medical and dental health

emergencies. It first requires that agencies have written policies and

procedures for responding to health emergencies with which all staff

must be familiar and trained. These policies and procedures must

include the posting of policies and plans of action for emergency

situations where rapid response of the staff or immediate medical

attention is required. Likewise, the location and telephone numbers of

emergency care facilities and providers must be posted, and information

about how to contact responsible family and staff members must be

readily available.

Agencies must also post emergency evacuation routes and safety

procedures for the handling of other types of emergencies (e.g., fire-

or weather-related). (See 45 CFR 1304.53 of the proposed rule,

Facilities, Materials, and Equipment, for additional, related

requirements.)

In the event of emergencies involving enrolled children, agencies

must have written procedures specifying how the parents would be

notified. This section also requires that agencies establish methods

for handling cases of suspected or known child abuse and neglect that

are in compliance with applicable State laws.

(c) Conditions of Short-Term Exclusion and Admittance

The new standards in this section respond to current health

practices (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the

Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child

Health Bureau, the American Academy of Pediatrics) regarding ways to

safeguard against the spread of serious illness while also protecting

the civil rights of individual enrolled children. Paragraph (c)

mandates that agencies must not deny program admission to or exclude

any child from program attendance in center-based activities solely on

the basis of his or her health care needs or medication requirements.

Paragraph (c)(2) specifies the conditions under which agencies must

exclude ill, injured, or contagious children from program

participation. A child must not be excluded if the program is able to

make reasonable modifications in its policies, practices, and

procedures which would enable the child to participate without

fundamentally altering the nature of the program.

Regarding children with illnesses in center-based settings,

paragraph (c)(3) mandates that agencies must use policies and

procedures consistent with professionally established guidelines on

short-term exclusions and readmittance of children. Agencies must also

notify the parent or other authorized person immediately to take the

excluded child home.

Paragraph (c)(4) requires grantee and delegate agencies to request

that parents inform them of any health risks their child may pose which

would require special health or safety precautions. When a child who

may pose a health risk is enrolled, the agency must inform responsible

staff of the child's condition so that they can take appropriate

actions, including precautions. However, the sharing of this

information must be consistent with any constraints imposed by the

program's confidentiality policy.

(d) Medication Administration

Paragraph (d) specifies the procedures agencies must follow with

respect to the administration of medications.

Agencies must establish and maintain written procedures regarding

the administration, handling, and storage of medication for every

child. These procedures include those specified in 45 CFR 1308.18 as

well as the need to label and store all medications safely and to train

staff in appropriate techniques for administering, handling, and

storing medications and the equipment used to administer them.

(e) Injury Prevention

Paragraph (e) proposes agency responsibilities to promote the

prevention of injuries by fostering an awareness of safety concerns and

safety practices, and by incorporating safety awareness into the

program's regular education activities for children and parents.

(f) Hygiene

Paragraph (f) describes the hygienic practices that agencies must

employ to prevent the spread of contagious diseases and to reflect

contemporary medical practice and recommendations. We recognize that

these requirements are very specific. However, we believe that the

level of detail is needed because the regulations for the first time,

cover services to infants and toddlers who are especially vulnerable to

contagious illnesses and other health threatening conditions. Public

Health officials who were consulted in the development of these

standards stressed the need for clear requirements on hygiene. We

welcome your comments on these requirements.

Paragraphs (f) (1), (2), (3), and (4) specify the minimum

circumstances under which staff, volunteers, and children must wash

their hands; that latex gloves must be worn by staff when in contact

with spills of blood or other bodily fluids; and the additional clean-

up and disposal procedures that agencies must follow when bodily fluids

are spilled.

Paragraph (f)(5) provides that agencies must adopt diapering

procedures that adequately protect the health and safety of children

served by the program and staff. Agencies must also ensure that

relevant staff are trained to follow these procedures properly.

Paragraph (f)(6) specifies the procedures which agencies must

follow when potties are utilized in a center-based setting.

Paragraph (f)(7) specifies that, in programs serving infants and

toddlers, agencies must provide space for each child's crib or cot to

be at least three feet apart to avoid the spreading of contagious

illness. We welcome comments about whether the proposed requirements

regarding the spacing of cribs and cots would pose any difficulties for

grantees.

(g) First Aid Kits

Under paragraph (g) agencies must maintain, at each site, well-

supplied first aid kits that are appropriate for the ages served. They

must keep these kits

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readily available both at the site and on outings away from the site.

Each kit must be accessible to staff members at all times, but must be

kept out of the reach of children. Agencies are also responsible for

ensuring that the kits are restocked after use and that inventories are

conducted at regular intervals.

Section 1304.23--Child Nutrition

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to supply

nutritional care for enrolled children that supplements and complements

that of the home and community. Further, nutrition staff must work

collaboratively with parents to help them understand the link between

nutrition and health, and must promote sound nutritional habits for

each child and family that they will take with them when they leave the

program. Agencies must use meal and snack times as social and learning

opportunities to help toddlers and preschoolers develop social

competence and knowledge about healthy eating. While the nutrition

programs must be sensitive to individual cultural and ethnic food

preferences and must accommodate special dietary requirements, at the

same time, they must also help children broaden their nutritional

experiences.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Nutritional Assessment

Paragraph (a) of this section proposes requirements for agencies in

identifying the nutritional needs of enrolled children. Many of these

requirements are similar to existing regulations. Additions include:

(1) taking into account information about family cultural preferences

and infant and toddler feeding requirements; and (2) assessing detailed

information on the feeding patterns and habits of infants and toddlers,

updating this information regularly and sharing it daily with parents.

This last standard is an important part of quality nutritional services

for infants and toddlers and their families.

(b) Nutritional Services

Paragraph (b) specifies the requirements for agency nutritional

services and indicates which requirements apply only to center-based

programs.

It requires that agencies design and implement nutritional programs

that meet the nutritional needs, feeding requirements, and feeding

schedules of each child that are responsive to family, community, and

cultural eating preferences and dietary choices. As in the current

regulation, it specifies the quantities and kinds of food children must

receive in center-based settings and the schedule in which they must

receive it. However, the revised standards eliminate references to

specific required intervals between meals for children aged 3 to 5 to

avoid potential conflict with U.S. Department of Agriculture

requirements in this area. The nutrition standards have been broadened

to include infants and toddlers to ensure that they receive food

appropriate to their nutritional needs, developmental readiness, and

feeding skills. For example, infants and young toddlers who need it

must be fed ``on demand'' to the extent possible or at specifically

bounded intervals. In addition, agencies must comply with the more

specific nutritional guidelines of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Food served to preschoolers must use fat, sugar, and salt sparingly, in

keeping with contemporary research (e.g., the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child

Health) concerning proper nutritional guidelines that promote good

health.

Finally, grantees must promote effective dental hygiene among

children in conjunction with meals.

(c) Meal Service

As in the current standards, paragraph (c) specifies the conditions

under which food must be served in center-based settings, with the

expectation that nutritional services contribute to the development and

socialization of enrolled children. The current standards make it clear

that eating should be a communal and socializing experience for

preschoolers, and the proposed standard extends this requirement to

toddlers. Other additions include requirements that staff hold infants

when feeding them and not put infants to bed with a bottle, in keeping

with recognized medical authorities regarding infant safety. In

addition, agencies must accommodate special medically based diets and

other special dietary requirements. The current standard requiring

child-sized utensils and furniture has been deleted in response to the

recommendations made by staff of local Head Start programs during the

focus groups.

Agencies should give children the opportunity to assist in meal

preparation and service only when they are developmentally ready.

(d) Family Assistance with Nutrition

Agencies must assist individual families with food preparation and

nutrition skills as part of their group socialization and parent

education activities.

(e) Food Safety and Sanitation

Paragraph (e) specifies the practices that agencies must employ to

ensure that food handling, preparation and consumption do not result in

any safety risks.

The new standards require that agencies establish whether the food

services with which they contract are properly licensed as an

indication that they are in compliance with appropriate food safety and

sanitation laws. Paragraph (e)(2) requires that programs serving

infants and toddlers provide facilities for the proper storage and

handling of breast milk for mothers who choose to breast feed their

children.

Section 1304.24--Child Mental Health

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to provide

parents and staff with a better understanding of the contribution that

mental health services can make to the well-being of each child.

Specifically, parents and staff must understand the importance of

creating a nurturing environment that supports the mental health of all

children. Since parents are the primary nurturers of their children,

their involvement in mental health services is especially critical in

order to enhance their role in their child's mental wellness by the

time they leave the Early Head Start and/or Head Start program.

Together, parents and staff must ensure that children with special

behavioral and mental health concerns receive appropriate mental health

interventions that will enable them to enjoy the full benefits of Early

Head Start and Head Start participation. Finally, staff must receive

the professional guidance they need to design effective program

interventions for children with special mental health and behavioral

concerns.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Mental Health Services

Paragraph (a)(1) describes the specific ways in which agencies must

work collaboratively with parents to promote the mental health of their

children, such as soliciting parental information, observations, and

concerns about their child's mental health, and discussing and

identifying with parents appropriate responses to their child's

behavior.

Paragraph (a)(2) provides that agencies must secure the services of

a mental health professional on a schedule of sufficient frequency to

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identify and respond to family and staff concerns about each child's

mental health. This standard also addresses the concern of the Advisory

Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion about the need to assist

those children who are facing an increasingly complex array of problems

and family crises.

Paragraph (a)(3) specifies the topics of the mental health

consultations that must take place among the mental health

professional, program staff, and parents. New standards include

consultation on how to design and implement program practices

responsive to identified concerns and how to promote children's mental

wellness through staff and parent education.

Subpart C--Family and Community Partnerships

General Objectives

The objective of this Subpart of the proposed rule is to ensure

that each enrolled family is supported in fostering their child's

development and in attaining their personal family goals. Agencies must

create trusting partnerships with parents and families that build on

family strengths and competencies and support their culture and

language. An essential part of these partnerships is the voluntary

involvement of parents in the full range of children's services,

including opportunities to serve in the classroom and to assist with

the choice of the program curriculum and the child development

approach. Parents also must be viewed as integral partners in the

processes of program planning, decisionmaking, and governance.

Agencies should work with families as partners to identify the

personal goals of participating families, help them overcome barriers

which prevent them from leaving poverty and help them gain the skills

needed to foster healthy connections with their communities. Support

should begin as soon as possible in the program year and should

emphasize prevention and early intervention, rather than remediation

and treatment. In addition, if families are not already linked to

services in the community, agencies should serve as a single point of

entry to help families find access to more specialized services and to

assist them in establishing support networks in the community and among

parents themselves that will promote family self-sufficiency beyond the

Early Head Start and Head Start programs. When Head Start families are

already working with another community agency to address family goals

for self-sufficiency, the grantee or delegate agency must coordinate,

to the greatest extent possible, with these other agencies and the

family to avoid duplicative, or conflicting, efforts.

To achieve this goal of collaborative, integrated, and

comprehensive services for families, agencies must provide the

leadership necessary to create a community environment that is

supportive of all low-income families and children, and a community

network of coordinated, accessible services that is responsive to their

needs. Agencies must work proactively to establish community

partnerships that engage in collaborative action, including continuous

community planning, service coordination, joint staff training, and the

joint identification and resolution of service delivery problems.

Special efforts must be made to establish fully functioning

partnerships with local education agencies, such as coordination with

Part H programs and schools providing Title I Improving America's

Schools Act services to preschool children.

Section 1304.40--Family Partnerships

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to build

trusting relationships between grantees and parents that will assist

parents in meeting their personal goals and in fostering their child's

development. These relationships must be built by working with families

in a variety of ways that are responsive to their individual

circumstances and issues. Efforts must always be made to communicate

and develop relationships with families in their primary language.

Family partnerships must be used by agencies to identify families'

personal goals and the manner in which they can best be achieved. These

goals may involve the fulfillment of a range of needs, such as housing,

transportation, employment, and the development of effective parenting

and household management skills. Likewise, each family may be wrestling

with special concerns, such as domestic or community violence or

substance abuse. Agencies must have the capacity and staff expertise to

work intensively with families and link them to appropriate services in

the community to address these individual concerns and to accomplish

their personal goals.

In developing partnerships with parents, agencies must ensure that

parents are included as integral members of the Early Head Start or

Head Start team. As the primary educators of their children, agencies

must encourage parents to assist in the development of all of their

children's services, including the program's curriculum and child

development approach. Specifically, staff should provide opportunities

for parents to develop knowledge, skills, and experience in child

development and education, health promotion and disease prevention, and

family nutrition.

Agencies should also involve parents in assessing their children's

individual progress and special needs and help them learn to advocate

for their children's well-being in the community, including school and

child development settings. Agencies must also assist parents in

establishing individualized support networks in the community that will

promote family self-sufficiency beyond their participation in the Early

Head Start and Head Start programs.

While the participation of parents must remain voluntary, agencies

should make concerted efforts to encourage such participation by

demonstrating the importance of their participation as equal partners

in the program and by accommodating the parents' schedules.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Assessment and Goal Setting

This section of the proposed rule requires that agencies

collaborate with families to build partnerships, establish mutual

trust, and identify family goals, strengths, and necessary supports.

Agencies must begin the process of building these partnerships as early

in the program year as possible. This section responds specifically to

the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and

Expansion to ``strengthen the assessment of family resources and

needs.''

As part of this partnership-building process, agencies must work

with parents to help them develop and implement, throughout the year,

individualized Family Partnership Agreements. These Agreements must

describe family goals and responsibilities, timetables and strategies

for achieving these goals, as well as progress toward achieving them.

The Family Partnership Agreements must appropriately reflect the

information provided by the family and by other community agencies

concerning preexisting family plans and goals to assist families toward

the goal of self-sufficiency.

Agencies have a responsibility to provide parents with a variety of

opportunities throughout the year to discuss their progress and to

update the Family Partnership Agreement, as

[[Page 17767]]

necessary. In meeting these responsibilities, agencies must respect

each family's cultural and ethnic background.

(b) Accessing Community Services and Resources

This section represents only a slight modification of the standards

in the current rule under the social services component. Greater

emphasis has been placed on referrals to services and resources that

address the types of assistance contemporary families may require, such

as counseling for problems related to substance abuse and domestic

violence and for employment training and location services.

Paragraph (b)(1) requires agencies to collaborate with all

participating parents to identify and access appropriate services and

resources. These might include emergency or crisis assistance;

education and other appropriate interventions regarding issues that

place families at risk; and opportunities for continuing education and

employment training and other employment services.

Paragraph (b)(2) specifies agency responsibilities to follow-up

with parents when referrals are made to determine whether the family

receives appropriate services on a timely basis and whether the

services meet the family's needs. We welcome comments regarding the

capacity of Head Start agencies to meet the requirement for staffing

and resources.

(c) Services to Pregnant Women Who Are Enrolled in Programs Serving

Pregnant Women, Infants, and Toddlers

In keeping with the mandates of both the Head Start Act, as

amended, and the Advisory Committee on Services to Families with

Infants and Toddlers that high quality services for infants, toddlers,

and pregnant women be established, this section requires that agencies

provide assistance to pregnant women in obtaining immediate access,

through referrals, to comprehensive prenatal care and postpartum care,

including early and continuing risk assessments, health promotion and

treatment, and mental health interventions and follow-up, as needed.

This set of standards also ensures strong preventive health care for

both mothers and their infants.

Paragraph (c) requires that agencies provide pregnant women and

other family members with prenatal education on a variety of specified

issues. The information will be made available through coordinated

efforts with local maternal and child health agencies. Under paragraph

(c)(3), they must provide information on the benefits of breast feeding

to all pregnant and nursing mothers and must also provide arrangements

necessary to accommodate mothers who choose to breast feed in center-

based programs.

(d) Parent Involvement--General

This section restates the general requirements of parent

involvement contained in the current rule with only slight

modifications.

(e) Parent Involvement in Child Development and Education

This section of the proposed rule lays out requirements for

parental involvement in child development and education that are very

similar to the requirements in the current rule.

Under paragraph (e)(3), agencies must directly or indirectly

provide opportunities for children and families to participate in

family literacy services by increasing their access to appropriate

materials and services and by helping them recognize and address their

own literacy goals.

(f) Parent Involvement in Health, Nutrition, and Mental Health

Education

The requirements of this section are also similar to those

contained in the current rule. Minor changes include requiring agencies

to assist parents in understanding how to enroll and participate in a

system of ongoing health care. In addition, mental health education

must include opportunities for parents to discuss issues related to

child mental health and to the mental health of their own child and

family in particular.

(g) Parent Involvement in Community Advocacy

This section incorporates a number of standards in the current rule

with only minor changes. The most notable addition is that agencies

must provide a comprehensive community resource list, if available, to

parents as part of the provision of the technical support necessary to

enable parents to secure community assistance on their own behalf.

(h) Parent Involvement in Transition Activities

This set of standards responds to the provisions of the Head Start

Act, as amended, to carry out specific actions to ``promote the

continued involvement of parents of children that participate in Head

Start programs in the education of their children upon transition to

school.'' Improved transition services are also key recommendations of

both Advisory Committees. Agencies must assist parents in becoming

their children's advocates as their children transition into Early Head

Start or Head Start from the home or other child development settings

and from Head Start to elementary school, Title I Improving America's

Schools Act preschool programs or other placements.

Staff must work to prepare parents to become their children's

advocates through such transition periods. At a minimum, they must meet

with parents toward the end of the child's participation in the program

to explain their child's progress while enrolled in Early Head Start or

Head Start.

In order to promote the continued involvement of parents in the

education and development of their children upon transition to school,

agencies must give parents information about their rights and

responsibilities within the school system and help them learn to

communicate with school personnel and to participate in decisions

related to their children's education. (See 45 CFR 1304.41(c) for

additional standards related to children's transition to and from Early

Head Start or Head Start.)

(i) Parent Involvement in Home Visits

This section augments the requirements of 45 CFR Part 1306

regarding home visits in all program options by making home visits as

convenient and safe as possible for both parents and staff. As in the

current regulation, agencies must not require that parents permit home

visits as a condition of their child's participation. However, every

effort must be made to explain the advantages of home visits to the

parents.

In addition, whenever possible, home visits must be scheduled to

permit the participation of both the enrolled child and the parents.

Also whenever possible, staff must conduct home visits in all program

options at times that are most convenient for the parents or primary

caregivers.

Home visits conducted under the center-based program option may now

take place outside the home, either at the parent's request or for

safety reasons, at an Early Head Start or Head Start site or at another

safe location that affords privacy.

Agencies serving infants and toddlers must arrange for health staff

to visit newborns and their families within two weeks after the

infant's birth to ensure the well-being of both the mother and child.

[[Page 17768]]

Section 1304.41--Community Partnerships

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to ensure

that Early Head Start and Head Start agencies become active partners in

their communities, both to advocate for low-income families and to help

create a community environment that shares responsibility for the

healthy development of all of its children. Successful partnerships

require proactive behavior on the part of Early Head Start and Head

Start programs, and involve the commitment of significant staff time

and agency resources. Grantee and delegate agencies must provide

leadership in the community by working with parents and other service

providers to promote access to appropriate services that will enhance

each family's well-being and their movement toward self-sufficiency.

Agencies also must engage in continuous community planning to promote

collaborative action with other agencies in order to improve, share and

augment services, staff, information and funds. This includes service

coordination, joint training, and the joint identification and

resolution of service delivery problems.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Partnerships

As a way of addressing the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality

and Expansion's concern about local agencies' struggles with planning

and the coordination of services, and to promote the Advisory Committee

on Services to Families with Infants and Toddler's Program Cornerstone

of Community Building, the standards in this section have been

augmented to encourage greater collaboration on the part of Early Head

Start and Head Start agencies with other community service providers

that will enhance family services.

Paragraph (a)(1) requires that agencies take an active role in

community planning to ensure strong communication, cooperation, and the

sharing of information among grantees and their community partners and

to improve the delivery of community services to children and families.

(See 45 CFR 1304.51 for additional planning requirements.)

To promote access to community services that are responsive to

their clients' needs and to ensure that Early Head Start and Head Start

programs respond to community needs, agencies must take affirmative

steps to establish collaborative, ongoing relationships with community

organizations including health providers; mental health providers;

providers of nutritional services; providers of services to children

with disabilities and their families; family support and resource

organizations; providers of family preservation and support services;

children's protective services; educational and cultural institutions;

and child care providers. (See the existing regulations at 45 CFR

1308.4 for specific service requirements for children with disabilities

and their families.)

Agencies also must perform outreach to encourage appropriate

individuals from the community to participate as volunteers in the

Early Head Start and Head Start programs.

To enable the effective participation of children with disabilities

and their families, agencies must make specific efforts to develop

interagency agreements with local educational agencies (LEAs) and other

agencies within their service area. (See 45 CFR 1308.4 for specific

requirements concerning interagency agreements.)

(b) Advisory Committee

Paragraph (b) requires that agencies establish and maintain a

Health Services Advisory Committee which includes professionals and

volunteers from the community. Agencies also must establish and

maintain other Advisory Committees, as they deem appropriate, to

address service issues and to help agencies respond to community needs.

While a number of focus group participants strongly recommended that

additional Advisory Committees in other areas beyond Health Services be

required, these recommendations were not implemented to allow latitude

for agencies to establish any additional Advisory Committees that they

deem would be appropriate for their local programs.

(c) Transition Services

The following group of standards respond specifically to the new

statutory requirements for transition services as well as to the

recommendations of both Advisory Committees that program transition

activities be addressed in the standards. These new requirements

closely parallel the language of the Head Start Act, as amended.

Agencies must establish and maintain procedures to support the

successful transition of enrolled children and families from previous

child care and development programs into Early Head Start or Head Start

and from Head Start into elementary school, Title I Improving America's

Schools Act preschool programs, or other child care settings. They must

coordinate with appropriate agencies, and among migrant programs, on

the transfer of records; perform outreach to encourage staff to

communicate with their counterparts in the school and other child care

settings; initiate meetings involving parents and teachers to discuss

the developmental progress and abilities of individual children; and

initiate joint transition-related training with school or other child

development staff. (See the proposed rules at 45 CFR 1304.40(h) for

requirements related to parental participation in their child's

transition to and from Early Head Start or Head Start.)

Subpart D--Program Design and Management

General Objective

The objective of this Subpart of the proposed rule is to provide

the foundation for quality services to children and families. Strong,

committed governing bodies and policy groups that represent Early Head

Start and Head Start parents and the larger community must be

established to provide effective leadership to and oversight of the

program. Effective management systems and procedures must be in place

to support the implementation of program services, such as systematic

program planning procedures, responsive and smooth communication

systems, and efficient record-keeping and reporting systems. In

addition, agencies must create processes for program self-assessment

and delegate agency monitoring that ensure that progress in meeting

program objectives is carefully monitored and that program weaknesses

are identified and remedied.

Since the success of local programs depends, in large part, on the

quality of its staff, agencies must also implement human resource

management systems that ensure that dynamic, highly qualified staff are

selected for employment and that staff and volunteers are supported in

their work at the Early Head Start and Head Start programs. Agencies

must establish effective organizational structures that encourage a

coordinated, team approach to service delivery. They also must ensure

that staff to child ratios and classroom sizes are small enough to

support optimal caregiving relationships and individualized program

activities that protect the children's safety. In addition, agencies

must set reasonable job expectations for staff that are commensurate

with their demonstrated

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skills and experience. Finally, agencies must support staff and

volunteers in meeting the challenges they face in their jobs by

providing adequate and appropriate supervision, regular feedback, and

structured opportunities for professional development.

The provisions of this Subpart also ensure that program facilities,

materials, and equipment support appropriate child development

practices and the program's unique features and design. Facilities,

materials, and equipment must be safe, developmentally appropriate, and

accessible to all children. In choosing an Early Head Start or Head

Start site, agencies must make the selection based on the findings from

the Community Needs Assessment and must be responsive to the needs and

circumstances of the community, children, and families served and aware

of environmental and safety risks that may affect the healthy growth

and development of children.

Section 1304.50--Program Governance

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to ensure

that each local agency establishes governing bodies and policy groups

to oversee the implementation of the Head Start legislation,

regulations, and policies and to ensure that the program delivers high

quality, comprehensive services to enrolled children and families. As

stewards of the local program, the members of the local policy groups,

including Policy Councils, Policy Committees, and Parent Committees,

must adequately represent Early Head Start and Head Start parents as

well as individuals and organizations in the larger community who have

a concern for low-income families and their children. In order to serve

the local program well, members of the policy groups must understand

and perform a number of key oversight functions with dedication and

care. Performing these responsibilities should be an experience of

growth and empowerment for parents.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Policy Group Structure

As in the current standards, paragraph (a) sets forth the

requirements for a formal structure of governance which enables

parental participation in policy-making and program operations. The

regulation is unchanged for grantee agency Policy Councils and delegate

agency Policy Committees. Center Committees have been renamed Parent

Committees, which must be established at the center level for center-

based programs. For other program options, a Parent Committee must be

established at the local program level.

Furthermore, it states that all policy groups must be established

as early in the program year as possible, and that Policy Councils and

Policy Committees may not be dissolved until their successors are both

elected and seated. It then provides clarification that the governing

body (formerly called the ``corporate board'') and the Policy Council

or Policy Committee may not have identical memberships and functions.

While none of the focus groups expressed any major concerns about the

current requirements regarding policy groups, we welcome any comments

you may have in this area.

(b) Policy Group Composition and Formation

Proposed regulations as to whether such groups, as defined in the

regulation, provide sufficient flexibility to meet local program needs

do not differ substantially from the current regulation. Minor changes

have been made to provide clarification or to increase agency

flexibility.

Paragraph (b)(1) sets forth requirements regarding the composition

and procedures by which policy group members are chosen, which must be

determined by the governing body of each program and approved by the

Policy Council or Policy Committee consistent with the regulations in

this Part.

Policy Councils and Policy Committees must include the parents of

currently enrolled children and community representatives. At least 51

percent of the members of each of these policy groups must be the

parents of currently enrolled children.

All parents of currently enrolled children serving on policy groups

must stand for election or re-election annually.

Policy Councils and Policy Committees must establish and maintain

procedures for selecting community representatives to serve on the

Policy Councils or Policy Committees. Community representatives must be

drawn from the local community and from local organizations that have a

concern and provide resources and services to low-income children and

families. Community representatives may include the parents of formerly

enrolled children.

To provide greater flexibility to local agencies, Policy Councils

and Policy Committees must determine and establish the terms of

membership for their policy groups.

Early Head Start or Head Start staff and agency managers with

responsibility for the program (and members of their families) may not

serve on the Policy Councils or Policy Committees.

Parent Committees must be comprised exclusively of the parents of

currently enrolled children.

The parents of children currently enrolled in all program options

must be adequately represented on established policy groups.

Paragraph (c) sets forth the minimum responsibilities for each of

the three types of policy groups that are described in Appendix A of

Section 1304.50.

(d) The Policy Council or Policy Committee

The responsibilities of Policy Councils and Policy Committees have

remained almost exactly the same as in the current regulation. Policy

Councils and Policy Committees must help develop, review and approve or

disapprove major governance and management policies and procedures

connected with local Early Head Start or Head Start programs. These

include: (1) Applications for grants and application amendments

(including indirect cost rates, program budgets, and operational

plans); (2) procedures describing how the governing body and the

appropriate policy group will implement shared decision-making; (3)

program planning procedures; (4) agency philosophy statements and

statements of program objectives; (5) the selection of delegate

agencies and their service areas (applies only to Policy Councils); (6)

group compositions and procedures by which policy group members are

chosen; (7) recruitment, selection and enrollment policies; and (8)

procedures for the agency's annual self-assessment of its progress in

carrying out the programmatic and fiscal intent of its grant

application, including any planning actions that may result from the

review of the annual audit and the Federal Performance Monitoring

Review.

With respect to personnel administration, Policy Councils and

Policy Committees must help to develop, review and approve or

disapprove: (1) Program personnel policies and policy changes

(including standards of conduct); and (2) decisions to hire and

terminate any person paid from Early Head Start or Head Start funds,

including the Early Head Start or Head Start director.

Under paragraph (d)(2), Policy Councils and Policy Committees also

have responsibility for a number of parent and community outreach

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activities. They must: (1) Serve as a link to the Parent Committees,

agency governing bodies, public and private organizations, and the

community; (2) assist Parent Committees in communicating with parents

to ensure that they understand their rights and opportunities as

program participants; (3) assist Parent Committees and staff in

planning, coordinating, and organizing program activities for parents;

(4) assist in recruiting volunteer services and in mobilizing community

resources; and (5) establish and maintain procedures for working with

the grantee or delegate agency to resolve community complaints about

the program.

(e) Parent Committee

Under paragraph (e), the minimum responsibilities of Parent

Committees include: (1) Advising Early Head Start and Head Start staff

in developing and implementing local program policies, activities and

services; (2) planning, conducting, and participating in activities for

parents and staff; and (3) consistent with the guidelines established

by the governing body, Policy Council, and Policy Committees,

participating in staff recruitment and screening.

(f) Policy Group Reimbursement

To enable full participation by low-income individuals in policy

group activities, agencies must provide reimbursements for reasonable,

activity-related expenses, if necessary.

(g) Governing Body Responsibilities

In response to the many comments received from local Head Start

agencies during the focus groups, agencies must have written policies

defining the roles and responsibilities of governing body members and

informing them of the management procedures and functions necessary to

implement a high quality program.

(h) Internal Dispute Resolution

In response to the specific statutory requirement regarding

mediation procedures in section 646 of the Head Start Act, as amended,

each agency and Policy Council or Policy Committee must jointly

establish written procedures for resolving internal disputes, including

impasse procedures, resulting from shared decision-making

responsibilities. We are developing mediation procedures implementation

at the Federal level as required by section 646, when needed.

Section 1304.51--Management Systems and Procedures

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to ensure

that local agencies are performing the management functions necessary

to enhance staff performance; deliver high quality services to children

and families; and comply with Federal, State, and local laws.

Specifically, they must conduct systematic program planning to guide

staff in the accomplishment of program goals and objectives and in the

delivery of responsive program services in a timely and fiscally

responsible manner. In addition, communications must flow easily among

governing bodies, policy groups, staff, families, and the larger

community, and must respond rapidly to ongoing informational needs.

Record-keeping and reporting systems also must support the program's

informational needs in a timely and efficient manner, while ensuring

that the privacy of staff and families is protected. Finally, self-

assessment and delegate monitoring procedures must ensure that progress

in meeting program objectives is carefully and regularly evaluated and

that program weaknesses are identified and addressed.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

The proposed standards in the Management Systems and Procedures

area directly respond to Section 641A(a)(1)(B) of the Head Start Act,

as amended, which requires the establishment of administrative and

financial management standards.

(a) Program Planning

Paragraph (a) sets forth the requirements for agencies in

developing and implementing a program planning process. These standards

have been strengthened in accordance with the Advisory Committee on

Head Start Quality and Expansion's concern about the need to strengthen

local program planning and in response to focus group requests for the

delineation of a specific planning process in the standards. The

process must be systematic and ongoing; and include consultation with

the program's governing body, policy groups, program staff, and other

community organizations. The program planning activities, per se, must

include: (1) An assessment of community strengths, needs and resources,

in accordance with the requirements of 45 CFR Part 1305; (2) the

formulation of ``long-range'' program goals and short-term program and

financial objectives; and (3) the development of written implementation

plans for each program area covered by this Part (i.e., Early Childhood

Development and Health Services, Family and Community Partnerships, and

Program Design and Management).

(b) Communications--General

Standards on communications in this section simply represent a

reorganization and compilation of current standards and pre-existing

On-Site Program Review Instrument (OSPRI) requirements (which are based

on the current standards) regarding communication. No new requirements

have been added. Paragraph (b) provides that agencies must establish

and implement systems to ensure the timely and accurate provision of

information to parents, policy groups, staff, and the general

community.

(c) Communication With Families

Paragraph (c) requires that agency systems ensure regular,

effective two-way comprehensive communication between staff and

parents. Written and oral communications must be carried out in the

parents' primary language or through an interpreter, to the extent

feasible.

(d) Communication With Governing Bodies and Policy Groups

As in the current regulation, paragraph (d) requires that governing

bodies and members of policy groups, including Policy Councils and

Policy Committees, regularly receive information, such as policy

guidances and other communications.

(e) Communication Among Staff

This section requires that agencies have mechanisms for regular

communication among all program staff to facilitate quality outcomes

for children and families.

(f) Communication With Delegate Agencies

This section partially fulfills the statutory requirements of

Section 641A(a)(4) of the Head Start Act, as amended, regarding the

establishment of standards relating to obligations to delegate

agencies. Grantees must have procedures for ensuring that the governing

bodies, Policy Committees, and all staff of the grantee and delegate

agencies receive regulations, policies, and other pertinent

communications in a timely manner.

(g) Record-Keeping Systems

The proposed standard requires grantees to establish and maintain

record-keeping systems on children,

[[Page 17771]]

family and staff under the program. Comments are invited about whether

the standards should require that record-keeping systems be supported

by appropriate computer technology, and whether such a requirement

would pose an unreasonable burden for programs.

(h) Reporting Systems

The proposed standards respond to statutory requirements for

administrative and financial management standards. Again, however, ACYF

welcomes comments regarding the perceived burden of these standards and

whether ACYF should require that reporting systems be supported by

appropriate computer technology.

Paragraph (h) specifies the functions the agency reporting systems

must perform. Agencies must establish and maintain efficient and

effective reporting systems. The systems must generate regular

financial and program reports and official reports as required by

Federal, State, and local authorities.

(i) Program Self-Assessment and Monitoring

Under paragraph (h), agencies must conduct a self-assessment at

least once each program year in consultation with other community

agencies to evaluate their effectiveness and progress in meeting their

program goals and objectives. Agencies also must consult with their

policy groups and secure their participation in the conduct of these

self-assessments.

Grantees must also establish and implement procedures for the

periodic monitoring of delegate agencies and their compliance with

Federal regulations. If grantees identify any deficiencies in delegate

agency operations, they must inform the governing bodies of the

delegate agency and assist the delegate agency in developing plans,

including a timetable, for addressing the problems which were

identified. This standard also responds to the statutory requirement to

develop standards relating to obligations to delegate agencies.

Section 1304.52--Human Resources Management

Objective

The objective of this section of the proposed rule is to ensure

that programs recruit and select dynamic, well-qualified staff who

possess the skills and experience needed to provide high quality,

comprehensive services to children and families in the program. Staff

selected for employment in Early Head Start or Head Start should be

knowledgeable about the community served by the program in order to

enhance the delivery of services. In addition, they should be assisted

by the program to seek out opportunities for the development of new

skills and competencies that will improve their job performance. Since

no one staff member can possess all of the knowledge and skills

necessary to provide the wide-ranging services offered, staff members

should be selected for their ability to work as members of a

productive, mutually supportive team. Finally, staff must be willing to

abide by the program's strict standards of conduct for interacting with

children and families and must be of sound physical and emotional

health

Another objective of this section is to ensure that local agencies

provide an environment that is strongly supportive of program staff and

volunteers. First, agencies must establish dynamic and effective

organizational structures that encourage a coordinated, team approach

to service delivery. Second, agencies must ensure that staff to child

ratios and classroom sizes are small enough to support optimal

caregiving relationships and individualized program activities. Next,

agencies must set reasonable job expectations for staff that are

commensurate with their demonstrated skills and experience. Finally,

agencies must support staff and volunteers in meeting the challenges

they face in their jobs by providing adequate and appropriate

supervision, feedback, and opportunities for professional development.

The inclusion of detailed requirements for staff qualifications

reflect ACYF's commitment to improving the quality of services and

program management as well as a strong consensus among the sources

consulted about the need to strengthen requirements in these areas.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Organizational Structure

In keeping with the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and

Expansion's recommendation to focus on staffing plans and personnel

policies, and with the statutory requirement to improve administrative

and financial management, paragraph (a) provides that agencies must

employ (and document) an organizational design that supports the

accomplishment of program objectives. The documentation must set forth

the major roles and responsibilities of each staff position and

demonstrate that adequate mechanisms for staff supervision and support

are in place. However, the proposed standard is structured to promote

the maximum flexibility possible on the part of local agencies in

carrying out its provisions.

At a minimum, agencies must formally assign responsibilities for

program management (i.e., to the Early Head Start or Head Start

director); for management of the different child development services;

and for management of family and community partnerships, including

parent activities.

(b) Staff Qualifications--General

Some of the requirements in this section are very similar to those

in the current rule. In addition, however, agencies must ensure that

staff have the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to perform

their assigned roles and functions responsibly. Although this has been

a long-standing unstated requirement of local agencies, it is now

stated explicitly to respond to the concerns of the Advisory Committee

on Head Start Quality and Expansion about staff qualifications and to

the mandate of Section 644(a)(2) of the Head Start Act, as amended, to

``assure that only persons capable of discharging their duties with

competence and integrity are employed.* * *'' Agencies must also ensure

that managers, supervisors, fiscal officers, classroom teachers, staff

working with infants and toddlers, home visitors, health staff, mental

health professionals, and nutritionists and dieticians meet more

specific qualification requirements, as noted below.

(c) Management Staff Qualifications

The proposed standards related to management staff qualifications

respond to the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion's

concerns about staffing and to statutory requirements that standards

for administrative and financial management and staff qualifications be

established. The proposed standards, however, broadly require agencies

to hire staff with relevant ``training and experience'' to give local

agencies as much flexibility as possible in meeting them. The ACYF

welcomes comments regarding the perceived burden of these proposed

standards.

Paragraph (c) includes specific qualification requirements that

apply to staff responsible for agency management.

The Early Head Start or Head Start director must have training and

experience relevant to early childhood or human services program

management.

Agencies must secure, on a regularly scheduled or ongoing basis,

the services

[[Page 17772]]

of a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or an individual with other

appropriate credentials to serve as fiscal officer.

Staff managing education services must meet the requirements

specified in section 648A(a)(1) of the Head Start Act (and referenced

in 45 CFR 1306.21). They must also have training and experience in such

areas as the theories and principles of child growth and development,

early childhood education, and family support.

Staff managing health services must have training and experience in

public health, nursing, health education, prenatal and postpartum care

or health administration.

As in the current regulation, a certified or licensed nutritionist

or dietician either must manage the nutrition services as a full-time

staff person or supervise the nutrition services on a periodic and

regularly scheduled basis.

Staff managing family and community partnership services must have

training and experience in field(s) related to social, human or family

services.

Staff managing parent involvement services must have training,

experience and skills in assisting the parents of young children in

advocating and decision-making for their families.

Staff managing disability services must have training and

experience in securing and individualizing needed services for children

with disabilities.

(d) Mental Health Professional Qualifications

In order to respond effectively to the complex contemporary

challenges facing many of the families served by Early Head Start and

Head Start programs, a licensed or certified mental health professional

with experience and expertise in serving young children and their

families must provide services to these programs on a regularly

scheduled basis. The ACYF welcomes comments about whether this proposed

standard places a reasonable burden on local agencies.

(e) Health Staff Qualifications

To the extent that health staff perform health screenings,

immunizations, or other health procedures for children, they must have

appropriate professional licenses or certification to perform those

procedures. The proposed standard simply states this requirement

explicitly.

(f) Infant and Toddler Staff Qualifications

A necessary feature of high quality programs for infants and

toddlers, supported by research, is that staff working with infants and

toddlers have the training and experience necessary to develop

consistent, stable, and strongly supportive relationships with very

young children. This paragraph cross references the qualifications in

section 648A of the Head Start Act which includes as one possible

qualification persons who have earned a Child Development Associate

(CDA) credential. In addition to the statutory qualifications, they

must also have knowledge of infant and toddler development and of

methods for communicating effectively with infants and toddlers, their

parents, and other staff members. The ACYF welcomes comments, however,

on whether the qualifications that are cross-referenced pose

implementation problems for grantees and delegate agencies.

(g) Standards of Conduct

The proposed standards on staff standards of conduct respond to the

recommendations of focus group participants that specific staff

standards of conduct be established to safeguard children, families,

and staff themselves from perceived or actual abuse or civil rights

violations that may inadvertently occur during program hours as a

result of staff actions. In addition, these proposed standards comply

with section 644(a)(2) of the Head Start Act, as amended, to ``assure

that only persons capable of discharging their duties with competence

and integrity are employed...''

Agencies must ensure that all staff, consultants, and volunteers

abide by the program's standards of conduct. These standards must

protect against stereotyping and abuse and help ensure confidentiality,

child safety, and appropriate (positive) disciplining methods.

Agency standards of conduct must also cover the award and

administration of contracts or other financial awards for individuals

engaged in such activities. Employees may not solicit nor accept

personal gratuities, favors or anything of significant monetary value

from contractors or potential contractors.

Personnel policies and procedures must include provision for

appropriate penalties for violating the standards of conduct.

(h) Staff Performance Appraisals

Agencies must conduct annual performance reviews of each staff

member and use the results to assist staff in improving their skills

and professional competencies. This proposed standard responds, in

part, to section 644(a)(2) of the Head Start Act, as amended, which

requires that ``* * * employees are promoted or advanced under

impartial procedures calculated to improve agency performance and

effectiveness.''

(i) Staff and Volunteer Health

The following proposed standards augment current standards on staff

and volunteer health and conform to the latest recommendations of

leading health authorities (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention) regarding methods for ensuring that, insofar as possible,

both staff and child health are protected in local program settings.

Staff members must have regular, ongoing health appraisals, including

tuberculosis tests, as recommended by their health care provider or as

mandated by State and local laws.

Agencies must ensure that volunteers are screened for tuberculosis

before having contact with children. In no event may such screenings be

conducted less frequently than every two years.

Agencies must provide assistance to staff with mental health and

wellness concerns that may affect their job performance.

(j) Staffing Patterns

Agencies must meet the requirements of 45 CFR 1306.20 and current

requirements under this Part regarding program staffing patterns and

communication with families.

Two proposed standards have been added to ensure proper staff to

child ratios for very young children, as recommended by current

literature and by the Advisory Committee on Services to Families with

Infants and Toddlers. Agencies must ensure that each staff caregiver

working with infants and toddlers has responsibility for no more than

four infants and toddlers and that no more than eight infants and

toddlers are placed in any one room. Agencies serving mixed age groups

must ensure that each staff member has responsibility for no more than

six children, of which no more than two may be infants or toddlers. We

welcome comments on these staff to infant/toddler ratios.

Also, to improve safety protections for children and to guard

against legal liability problems for local agencies, the methods used

by staff to supervise the outdoor and indoor play areas must ensure

that children's safety can be easily monitored.

(k) Training and Development

The proposed standards on training and development have been added

to meet the recommendations of the

[[Page 17773]]

Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion to focus more

strongly on staffing, training, and career development. However, in

order to protect local agency flexibility, these standards are

presented in general terms, and do not specify the particular topical

areas in which staff must be trained, as they do in current regulation.

The one exception is the specification that management training be

provided to governing body and Policy Council and Policy Committee

members, since this was a specific recommendation of the Advisory

Committee.

Agencies must provide an orientation to all new staff, consultants,

and volunteers. This orientation must cover, as required in the current

rule, the goals and philosophy of Early Head Start and/or Head Start

and the ways in which they are implemented in the local program.

Similar to the requirements of the current rule, agencies must also

establish and implement a structured approach to staff training and

development for program staff and volunteers that includes academic

credit, where possible, so that they will have the knowledge and skills

needed to fulfill their job responsibilities in accordance with the

requirements of 45 CFR 1306.23.

This approach must include an ongoing education program which is

responsive to the needs of relevant staff and volunteers.

Agencies also must provide training to governing body members and

Policy Council and Policy Committee members which will enable them to

carry out their program governance responsibilities effectively.

Section 1304.53--Facilities, Materials, and Equipment

General Objectives

The objectives of this section of the proposed rule are to ensure

that agencies plan carefully to provide facilities, materials, and

equipment that support appropriate early child development and

education practices and the unique features of the program, such as

size, choice of program option, service emphases, local community

resources, and the special circumstances of enrolled children and

families. The facilities, materials, and equipment must be safe,

developmentally appropriate, and accessible to all children. It is

important to note that these standards refer exclusively to facilities,

materials, and equipment owned and managed by local agencies and not to

those owned by enrolled families. In choosing an Early Head Start or

Head Start site, agencies must be responsive to the needs and

circumstances of the community, children, and families served and aware

of environmental and safety risks that may affect the healthy growth

and development of children.

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

(a) Head Start Physical Environment and Facilities

The proposed standards in this section augment those contained in

the education component of the current regulation (45 CFR Part 1304.2-

3) in keeping with the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Head

Start Quality and Expansion that additional regulations on facilities

be established and the requirement in Section 641A(a)(1)(C) of the Head

Start Act, as amended, for standards addressing the condition and

location of facilities. In addition, the proposed standards have been

expanded to address safety concerns related to infants and toddlers and

to conform with the recommended standards of leading public health

authorities (e.g., the Health Resources and Services Administration's

Bureau of Maternal and Child Health in the U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services and the American Academy of Pediatrics).

As in the current regulation, the Early Head Start or Head Start

facility and physical environment must be both conducive to learning

and reflective of the different stages of development of each child. To

ensure that the standards are applicable to all program options,

agencies must strive to achieve such an environment in their respective

program settings.

Also as in the current regulation, agencies operating center-based

programs must provide appropriate space, organized into functional

areas, for program activities. (See 45 CFR 1308.4 for specific access

requirements for children with disabilities.)

To provide strong safety protections for infants and toddlers, the

indoor and outdoor space in Early Head Start or Head Start centers used

by mobile infants and toddlers must be located away from general

walkways and from areas used by older children.

As an explicit statement of a traditionally implicit requirement,

agencies must provide for the maintenance, repair, and security of all

Early Head Start and Head Start facilities, materials and equipment.

Agencies operating center-based programs also must provide an

indoor and outdoor environment free of toxins, such as cigarette smoke,

pesticides, herbicides, other air pollutants, and soil and water

contaminants. No child may be present when pesticide or herbicide

spraying is conducted. The inclusion of pesticides and herbicides in

the proposed standard responds to the particular concerns of migrant

programs.

As in the current regulation, agencies must provide barriers for

outdoor play areas at center-based programs which prevent children from

wandering away and getting into unsafe and unsupervised areas. To

promote child safety and reduce agency liability concerns, children

must not be exposed to vehicular traffic without supervision when

enroute to play areas.

Agencies must conduct annual safety inspections of their facility's

space, light, ventilation, heat, and other physical systems to ensure

that they are consistent with the health, safety and developmental

needs of children. At a minimum, they must meet specific requirements

related to the safety and effectiveness of the facility required by the

current regulation. Minor changes include proposed standards regarding

a safe and effective cooling as well as heating system; the

flammability of furnishings, decorations and materials that emit toxic

fumes when burned; appropriate numbers of smoke detectors; the

visibility and posting of exits and evacuation routes; protections for

electrical outlets and glass doors and windows; and the location of

diapering activities.

(b) Head Start Equipment, Toys, Materials, and Furniture

The proposed regulations pertaining to furniture, equipment, and

materials owned and operated by grantee or delegate agencies are almost

identical to those contained in the current rule. However, in keeping

with current public health advice, infant and toddler toys must be made

of non-toxic materials that can be sanitized.

Subpart E--Implementation and Enforcement

General Objectives

The objective of this Subpart of the proposed rule is to ensure

quality across programs serving children ages 3 to 5 by requiring that

areas of non-compliance or deficiencies with the Head Start Program

Performance Standards and regulations be remedied as quickly as

possible and that poorly performing programs be terminated. These

proposed standards are drawn from the specific statutory language of

section 641A(d) (1) and (2) of the Head Start Act, as amended,

concerning corrective

[[Page 17774]]

actions and quality improvement plans for poorly performing agencies.

They also respond to the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on

Head Start Quality and Expansion that prompt action be taken to address

concerns with poorly performing agencies.

Section 1304.60--Compliance

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

Head Start grantees and delegate agencies funded for indefinite

project periods as specified in 45 CFR 1304.2 must comply with the

requirements of Part 1304 within 6 months after the date of publication

of the final rule. The ACYF invites comments about whether the six-

month timeframe poses particular difficulties for programs.

The proposed regulations in this section differ from those in the

current rule regarding the processes grantee and delegate agencies must

follow in eliminating areas of non-compliance with the program

performance standards. In accordance with 641A(d) of the Head Start

Act, as amended, a new distinction is made between ``non-compliance''

(i.e., a single instance of a grantee's failure to conform to some

specific requirement) and ``deficiencies'' which involve a grantee

displaying such serious problems in one or more areas of its program

that the grantee's ability to provide quality Head Start services is

being compromised. Less critical areas of non-compliance must be

remedied within 90 days.

Section 1304.61--Quality Improvement Plan

Proposed Regulatory Provisions

Programs with areas of non-compliance that constitute a program

deficiency must submit a Quality Improvement Plan to the responsible

HHS official. This plan, if approved, must be implemented within a time

period not to exceed 12 months.

Other Regulatory Changes

Revisions to 45 CFR 1301.31--Personnel Policies

This section has been revised to reflect clarifications and policy

updates (including guidance received from the Advisory Committees and

the focus groups) on the requirements governing personnel policies that

grantees and delegate agencies must meet to operate a quality Head

Start program in accordance with the Head Start Act, as amended and the

implementing requirements in 45 CFR Chapter XIII, Subchapter B. For the

most part, each paragraph has been expanded or updated depending on the

need.

The current regulations at section 1301.31(a), among other things,

require Head Start agencies to establish and implement personnel

policies for themselves and their delegate agencies and list the

minimum areas which the policies must govern. The proposed revisions to

this paragraph extends the requirement for setting up personnel

policies to grantee and delegate agencies for the purpose of

flexibility.

Proposed paragraph (a) requires grantees and delegate agencies to

have written policies, which the Policy Council must approve, that

govern staff, consultants, and volunteers. The policies must cover: (1)

Staff qualifications, paragraph (f) of the current regulation with

modifications; (2) procedures for recruitment, selection and

termination, paragraph (a) of the current regulation but now expanded;

(3) standards of conduct, not in the current regulation; (4) training

and development, in paragraph (a) of the current regulation but

expanded; and (5) staff performance appraisals, paragraph (a) of the

current regulations but expanded. With the exception of the requirement

for recruitment, selection, and termination policies, the details for

the other policies are cross-referenced to specific sections of the

performance standards at 45 CFR Part 1304. The requirement for written

standards of conduct is proposed to be added to this paragraph in order

to assure that staff and volunteers have a document they can refer to

on such matters.

Paragraph (a) also proposes to add requirements for a written

policy on employee-management relations which was in current regulation

but has been expanded and now contains assurances of non-

discrimination. In addition, references to ``volunteers'' have been

incorporated throughout this paragraph, as appropriate, to ensure that

this important group is covered by the written policy.

Proposed paragraph (b) combines paragraphs (c), (e), and (g) of the

current regulation, but with edits and one additional requirement. It

sets forth the requirements for staff recruitment and selection

procedures and contains requirements related to the conduct of

interviews, verifications of personal and employment references,

criminal records checks, and signed declarations by all current and

prospective employees regarding criminal arrests/charges and

convictions related to child abuse and neglect. The new provision in

paragraph (b) requires grantee and delegate agencies to perform

outreach services to encourage individuals from the community to

participate as volunteers in Early Head Start and Head Start programs.

Paragraph (c), as proposed, retains the declaration exclusions which

are in paragraph (d) of the current regulation. Modifications have been

made, as necessary, in order to update the list of items that can be

excluded.

Paragraph (d) of the proposed section 1301.31, currently at

paragraph (f), is unchanged.

Proposed paragraph (e), the last proposed paragraph in revised 45

CFR 1301.31, corresponds to the last paragraph (h) of the current 45

CFR 1301.31. It retains the requirement that grantees and delegate

agencies must develop a plan for responding to suspected or known child

abuse or sexual abuse and adds a cross-reference to the definition of

child abuse and sexual abuse found in 45 CFR 1340.2(d). The reference

to Appendix A, ``Identification and Reporting of Child Abuse and

Neglect,'' in the current regulation has been deleted because much of

the content contains dated information, and because references to staff

responsibilities and training with respect to child abuse and neglect

reporting have been updated and inserted in this section at paragraph

(e).

Technical and Conforming Amendments

The purpose and scope sections at 45 CFR 1305.1 and 1306.1 are

proposed to be amended in order to require that these Parts be used in

conjunction with, as applicable, the requirements at 45 CFR Part 1304

on performance standards. For example, some requirements in Part 1304

expand the comparable requirements in either Part 1305 or 1306, and the

cross-reference has been added to ensure that grantee and delegate

agencies take this into consideration. (Part 1308 already has a cross

reference to Part 1304 in its purpose and scope section.) Section

1306.1 also is proposed to be amended in order to include the time

frame in which there is an exception for Parent Child Centers as

consistent with section 645A(e)(2) of the Head Start Act, as amended.

In sections 45 CFR 1303.14(b) and 1303.15(c) revisions were made to

comport with the inclusion of sections 1304.60 and 1304.61 on

compliance and Quality Improvement Plans.

In addition, 45 CFR 1306.20, Program staffing patterns, is proposed

to be revised by adding a new paragraph (a) and redesignating the other

paragraphs. The new paragraph cites, for particular emphasis, the

requirement on staffing patterns that are set forth in section

1304.52(j). Section 1306.21, Staff qualification requirements, has been

[[Page 17775]]

revised to reflect the amendments in the Head Start Act that

redesignates staff qualifications from section 648 to 648A. Section

1306.30, Provisions of comprehensive child development services,

paragraph (c) is proposed to be revised to update the cross-reference

to Part 1304. For the same reason, the cross-reference in section

1306.33, Home-based program option, to the performance standards has

been corrected.

We propose to revise 45 CFR 1308.6(b)(1), Assessment of children,

to cross-reference the health and development assessment timeframes in

45 CFR 1304.20 and to retain the statement that screening may start in

the spring before program services begin in the fall.

VIII. Impact Analysis

Executive Order 12866

Executive Order 12866 requires that regulations be drafted to

ensure that there is consistency with the priorities and principles set

forth in this Executive Order. The Department has determined that this

rule is consistent with these priorities and principles. This Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking implements the statutory authority to promulgate

regulations for Head Start Program Performance Standards. The Head

Start Act, as amended, requires the addition of new performance

standards in the following areas: administrative and financial

management, transition activities, family literacy, a family needs

assessment and consultation process, and standards for programs serving

pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers. Many of the new

standards in this proposed rule are directly related to these specific

legislative mandates. Congress made no additional appropriation to fund

these new requirements, however, and so any funds spent toward the

improvement of services, facilities, infrastructures, or other purposes

related to this regulation are funds that would have been otherwise

spent by the program or other programs from the same appropriation

amount. In addition, new standards have been added in the areas of

health and developmental assessments, health emergency and safety

procedures, and family and community partnerships which are responsive

to the legislative mandates and Advisory Committee recommendations to

improve the quality of the Head Start program and to establish the

Early Head Start program. We believe that these proposed rules are

focused in ways that encourage maximum cost-effectiveness in agency

spending decisions.

Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (Public Law 96-354) requires the

Federal government to anticipate and reduce the impact of rules and

paperwork requirements on small businesses. For each rule with a

``significant economic impact on a substantial number of small

entities'' an analysis must be prepared describing the rule's impact on

small entities. Small entities are defined by the Act to include small

businesses, small non-profit organizations and small governmental

entities. These regulations would affect small entities.

However, it should be noted that all grantees and delegate agencies

are currently required to meet a large group of Head Start Program

Performance Standards. In keeping with the Head Start Act, as amended,

the new standards proposed here have been developed in consultation

with individuals who have experience operating Head Start programs.

Further, the proposed requirements that are more stringent with regard

to paperwork burden than the current requirements are based on the new

legislative mandates contained in the Head Start reauthorization, such

as the requirement for new infant and toddler standards, the need to

respond to changes over time in the kinds of services that the Head

Start population requires, the need to reflect best practices in the

field of early childhood development, and the need to promote Head

Start program quality and to facilitate Head Start expansion. Finally,

we believe that meeting these proposed requirements would not be

burdensome to grantee and delegate agencies because we are providing a

six-month phase-in period for compliance. We also believe that, as

grantee and delegate agencies implement these requirements, there will

be no ongoing burden.

For these reasons, the Secretary certifies that these rules will

not have a significant impact on substantial numbers of small entities.

Paperwork Reduction Act

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, all

Departments are required to submit to the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) for review and approval any reporting or record-keeping

requirement inherent in a proposed or final rule. This NPRM contains

information collection requirements in certain sections which the

Department has submitted to OMB for its review.

The sections that contain information collection are 1304.20, 22,

23, 40, 50, 51, 52, 60, and 61 which respectively pertain to: child

health and developmental assessment; child health and safety; child

nutrition; family partnerships; program governance; management systems

and procedures; human resources management; compliance; and quality

improvement plan.

The respondents to the information collection requirements in the

rule are Early Head Start and Head Start grantee and delegate agencies

which may be State or local non-profit agencies or organizations. The

Department needs to require this collection of information in order to

assure that, Early Head Start and Head Start programs are operating

quality programs in accordance with the mandate of the Head Start Act,

as amended, and the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Head

Start Quality and Expansion that Head Start programs be operated as

quality programs. Also, in order to monitor the programs, the

Department needs information on Early Head Start and Head Start

programs' efforts to provide and maintain quality services.

The frequency of grantee and delegate agency responses are

generally annual with the exception of start up activities for Early

Head Start and new Head Start programs. We estimate the annual average

burden hours per each grantee or delegate agency to be 787.46 hours.

Currently, there are a total of 2,112 agencies (1,433 grantees and 679

delegates) operating Early Head Start and or Head Start programs. The

total annual estimated information collection is 1,663,116 hours

(787.46 hours x 2112 agencies=1,663,116). It is important to note,

however, that most of the information collection requirements reflected

in the proposed revisions to Part 1304 are currently being implemented

by existing Head Start programs.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) will consider

comments by the public on these proposed collection of information in:

Evaluating whether the proposed collections are necessary

for the proper performance of the functions of ACF, including whether

the information will have practical utility;

Evaluating the accuracy of ACF's estimate of the burden of

the proposed collections of information;

Enhancing the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the

information to be collected; and

Minimizing the burden of the collection of information on

those who are to respond.

[[Page 17776]]

OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collections of

information contained in these proposed regulations between 30 and 60

days after publication of this document in the Federal Register.

Therefore, a comment is best assured of having its full effect if OMB

receives it within 30 days of publication. This does not affect the

deadline for the public to comment to the Department on the proposed

regulations. Written comments to OMB for the proposed information

collection should be sent directly to the following: Office of

Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th Street,

NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attn: Ms. Wendy Taylor.

List of Subjects

45 CFR Part 1301

Administrative practice and procedure, Education of the

disadvantaged, Grant program/social programs, Selection of grantees.

45 CFR Part 1303

Administrative practice and procedure, Education of disadvantaged,

Grant programs--social programs, Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements

45 CFR Part 1304

Dental health, Education of the disadvantaged, Grant programs/

social programs, Health care, Mental health programs, Nutrition,

Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

45 CFR Part 1305

Education of the disadvantaged, Grant programs/social programs,

Individuals with disabilities.

45 CFR Part 1306

Education of the disadvantaged, Grant program/social programs.

45 CFR Part 1308

Education of the disadvantaged, Grant programs/social programs,

Health care, Individuals with disabilities, Nutrition, Reporting and

recordkeeping.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 93.600,

Project Head Start)

Dated: April 10, 1996.

Mary Jo Bane,

Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.

Approved: April 10, 1996.

Donna E. Shalala,

Secretary.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 45 CFR Chapter XIII,

Subchapter B is proposed to be amended as follows:

1. Part 1304 is revised to read as follows:

PART 1304--PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR OPERATION OF HEAD

START PROGRAMS BY GRANTEE AND DELEGATE AGENCIES

Subpart A--General

Sec.

1304.1 Purpose and scope.

1304.2 Effective dates.

1304.3 Definitions.

Subpart B--Early Childhood Development and Health Services

1304.20 Child health and developmental assessment.

1304.21 Education and early childhood development.

1304.22 Child health and safety.

1304.23 Child nutrition.

1304.24 Child mental health.

Subpart C--Family and Community Partnerships

1304.40 Family partnerships.

1304.41 Community partnerships.

Subpart D--Program Design and Management

1304.50 Program governance

1304.51 Management systems and procedures.

1304.52 Human resources management.

1304.53 Facilities, materials, and equipment.

Subpart E--Implementation and Enforcement

1304.60 Compliance.

1304.61 Quality improvement plan.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.

Subpart A--General

Sec. 1304.1 Purpose and scope.

This part prescribes regulations implementing sections 641A, 644

(a) and (c), and 645A (h) of the Head Start Act, as amended (42 U.S.C.

9801 et seq.). Section 641A, paragraph (a)(3)(C) directs the Secretary

of Health and Human Services to review and revise, as necessary, the

Head Start Program Performance Standards in effect under prior law.

This paragraph further provides that any revisions should not result in

an elimination or reduction of requirements regarding the scope or

types of Head Start services to a level below that of the requirements

in effect on November 2, 1978. Section 641A(a) directs the Secretary to

issue regulations establishing performance standards and

This text is long and has been trimmed here. Open the source document for the complete record.