Head Start

Head Start and Early Head Start programs are administered by the Office of Head Start (OHS), within the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

OHS administers grant funding and oversight to 1,600 public and private nonprofit and for-profit agencies that offer Head Start services in local communities. Head Start and Early Head Start grant recipients provide services to more than 1 million children every year, in every U.S. state and territory, in farm worker camps, and in more than 155 tribal communities. OHS is appropriated more than $10 billion per fiscal year for programs under the Head Start Act. Funding details may be found at Head Start Program Facts.

OHS also provides federal policy direction and a training and technical assistance (TTA) system to assist grant recipients in delivering comprehensive services to eligible young children and their families. Learn more about Head Start services.

OHS was appropriated $10 billion in fiscal year 2019. Of that amount, $9.65 billion was awarded directly to public agencies, private nonprofit and for-profit organizations, tribal governments, and school systems to operate Head Start programs in local communities. To improve the quality of services provided by grant recipients, more than $239 million was directed to TTA. Half that amount was awarded directly to grantees to be used for local TTA and the other half funded the regional and national systems. More details about OHS funding and the services provided through this funding can be found in the Head Start Program Facts sheets.

The Governor's Task Force on Early Childhood Development and Education recommends that in Kentucky:

School readiness means each child enters school ready to engage in and benefit from early learning experiences that best promote the child’s success.

Families, early care and education providers, school staff and community partners must work together to provide environments and developmental experiences that promote growth and learning to ensure that all children in Kentucky enter school eager and excited to learn.

In developing the above recommendation, the Task Force recognized the five developmental areas for school readiness are:

•  Approaches to learning;
• Health and physical well-being;
• Language and communication development;
• Social and emotional development; and
• Cognitive and general knowledge.

In addition to the definition of school readiness, the Task Force developed a series of indicators related to the above developmental areas. These readiness indicators provide an overview of the expectations of primary schools for incoming students and provide guidance to families and communities on how to prepare children for school.

Also, a readiness indicator provides teachers, child care providers and parents a tool to better inform them on the specific strengths and needs of each individual child. These indicators represent the hopes and aspirations for incoming students, not the expectations. Children develop at different rates, not every child will have mastered all of the skills and behaviors at the beginning of a primary program.

Kentucky Department of Education parent Involvement Survey