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The Early Head Start program is one of the many programs that is run out of the Head Start program which was founded in 1965 and after 47 years there mission has produce successful result. The program is national know and is used through out households for there family style example. The federal government has continually target Head Start in positive and questionable manners. “No Child Left Behind Act” one of the positive attributes toward Head Start education, teacher required to have a degree and become certified teacher.

Mission Statment

Early Head Start mission was to promote healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, to enhance the development of young children, and to promote healthy family functioning. This is a federal funded, community-based program for low-income families. Along with assisting special need, infants, toddlers, and pregnant women.

Child Care And Early Head Start

Child care is one of many services Early Head Start programs provide to families. Furthermore, the Early Head Start national evaluation found that the vast majority of Early Head Start families used child care at some point during the child’s first three years of life, and many of these families called on their Early Head Start programs to help provide or find affordable, good-quality child care. Because of the centrality of child care to many Early Head Start programs, the pervasive importance of child care for low-income families with infants and toddlers, and the challenges programs faced in developing child care options that could meet Head Start Program Performance Standards, the Administration for Children and Families commissioned this special Early Head Start policy report using data from the national evaluation. In this report, we examine patterns of child care use among Early Head Start families at points corresponding to children’s first, second, and third birthdays and then describe how Early Head Start influenced those patterns of child care use. We also examine the quality of child care used by Early Head Start children at these three birth dates. Third, since Early Head Start programs are charged with ensuring that children receive good-quality child care, we take advantage of the randomized design of the Early Head Start evaluation to examine the impact that Early Head Start had on the quality of child care experienced at all three ages, using data from the four center-based sites included in the evaluation and a subset of the mixed-approach sites, where we obtained a substantial and representative sample of observations of child care used by both program and control group children. Finally, we conducted analyses within the Early Head Start sample to examine relationships between child care use and quality and selected child outcomes at ages 2 and 3.

Classroom Daily Schedule

The following chart indicates the approximate amount of time classroom children will participate in specific activities. Each classroom has a posted daily schedule with more specific information.

Time Activities Benefit to child

1 – 1 ½ hours on Self Help Skills This includes hand washing, eating, brushing teeth, clean up from meals, toileting, and dressing for outdoor play. Good hygiene is modeled. Children develop thinking, problem solving, fine motor, socializing skills, and good eating habits.

1 – 1 ½ hours for Activity Center Choices The children are given opportunities to choose the activities they would like to do. Choices include: blocks, music, discovery/science, books, art, math/counting, manipulatives, writing, and dramatic play. Skills such as hand-eye coordination, language, creativity, social skills and letter/number recognition and math skills are developed.

½ hour for Language & Math Skills Large and small groups of children listen to books, tell stories, do finger plays, and sing songs. They also listen to music, have conversations, and play games. Math, speech, and language skills are developed. Self-esteem and confidence rise through mastering tasks and participating in activities.

½ hour for Large Muscle Activities Large muscle play includes moving to music, marching, outdoor play, running, swinging, and jumping. Coordination is improved by using large muscle movement. Children also build their social skills .

The Transiton From Early Head Start To Head Start

When a grantee operates an Early Head Start and a Head Start program, the Head Start program is expected to serve the children from the agency’s Early Head Start program. This expectation is not the case for standalone Early Head Start programs who do not offer Head Start services. In those programs, Early Head Start is not required to transition their children into the community’s Head Start program, and the Head Start program is not required to “save” spots for the Early Head Start children. It is in the best interests of children and families for the two programs to work together to develop systems that provide the coordinated and continuous services in their community. When a child leaves Early Head Start and enters Head Start, the family’s income must be reassessed to determine whether the family meets income eligibility requirements for Head Start. If the family of a child leaving Early Head Start no longer meets the income eligibility criteria for Head Start, then the Early Haed Start program can assist the family in finding an alternative preschool placement. Another possibility is that the child could be enrolled in Head Start as part of the enrollment that Head Start programs can offer to families who are above the federal poverty guidelines but who meet other eligibility and selection criteria. Some Early Head Start programs have met the challenge of providing developmentally appropriate services to 3-year-olds by creating “transition classrooms.” Grantees that offer services to children from birth to age 5 can have Ealry Head Start and Head Start children in the same classroom if they do the following (Early Head Start National Resource Center, 2004)