Head Start Educator Report

It is impressive to me as a former Head Start teacher to know that since 1965 Head Start has helped over thirty million children;However, We hardly hear of success stories from Alumni of Head Start. I wonder if the program is as successful as Head Start claims it to be. I have been in Head Start in different functions since 2001 as a parent and as a center Staff. I know for a fact that teachers work hard to teach the children, spending money out of their own pocket to be able to provide the children with quality developmentally appropriate activities. As a former Head Start teacher I worked hard and did not receive the monetary benefits of my degree that I was encouraged to obtained before 2013. I feel that Head Start staff are mostly all underpaid

for the work that they do.
I think that the overall quality of early years education interventions needs attention. The children need to be taught and teachers need the time to teach instead of doing paper work all day. Head Start also need to pay attention to the “fit” between what families need and what is offered. I have seen parents with a nice car obtain a bus pass just because it is offered and easy to get the services; therefore, parents that really need the reasource are not able to obtain it. On the positive side, for some children and some measures, EHS programs are able to compensate for disadvantages in the home environment. For other children and other measures, they were able to “work to their potential” the home environment’s strengths, boosting the benefits of a positive family life. On the negative side, the question is how to make these programs “fit” for some of the more vulnerable children, such as those from homes lacking in emotional warmth. I think there are challenges to improving quality and improving “fit,” Government budgets under pressure create a major challenge for those who want to see early years education grow and reach and increase in quality. And it can be difficult to know how to assess “fit” and quality, given that “there are no agreed-upon standards and measures of quality to guide some program development.”. Centers try to implement the long list of Head Start Performance standards to no avail because if you lack the resources and are putting strain on your staff to do more than their job description. How is Head Start going to be a success.