HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: Literacy and Head Start Quality 

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Fall 1996 Vol. I, Issue No. 60

Literacy and Head Start Quality 

By Trellis Waxler, Program Specialist, Education Services Branch, Head Start Bureau

Research shows that exposing children to print, books, and reading aloud provides them with 

important concepts about print which prepare them to learn to read. As a result, the Advisory 

Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion has encouraged Head Start to place a 

greater emphasis on the emerging literacy concept to prepare children for reading, and 

thereby ensure their school readiness.

Through its efforts to enhance literacy acquisition as a vital component of Head Start quality, 

Head Start has supported several specific literacy initiatives designed to assist local Head 

Start programs in developing multifaceted literacy programs.

Special demonstration grants have been awarded to Head Start grantees for literacy 

enhancement efforts. These Family Service Centers (FSCs) include family literacy as a major 

component. Early findings show that Head Start grantees with FSCs have twice the rate of 

adult participation in GED programs as do grantees with no FSC programs.

Additionally, the Emergent Literacy Initiative has been established to design and implement 

strategies and approaches to support and strengthen the emergent literacy activities carried 

out by Head Start grantees. Under this demonstration, emergent literacy refers to activities 

that are conducted with young children during the period when they are beginning to become 

aware of print, to observe and experiment with reading and writing, and to understand the 

relationship between the written and spoken word. The current emergent literacy grantees are: 

University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho; Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois; and the 

Children's Literacy Initiative, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Head Start/Library of Congress Interagency Agreement was developed to demonstrate in 

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HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: Literacy and Head Start Quality 

communities nationwide how libraries that serve young children can plan and work with 

Head Start grantees to enhance both learning and parent involvement in children's literacy 

and language development.

Head Start has also collaborated with Even Start since its inception, specifically with its adult 

literacy program. The Head Start Bureau has also developed a number of publications and 

materials for its grantees on recommended practices and resources designed to help programs 

develop and/or improve their family literacy programs.

Head Start programs have implemented a wide variety of activities to encourage the emergent 

literacy of the children they serve. These activities include:

● Integrated books into the daily curriculum and various learning center activities;

● Creating an appropriate environment for quiet reading for both children and parents;

● Displaying books in an attractive manner with props to attract children;

● Providing books that are culturally and developmentally appropriate;

● Making and using reading enhancements such as puppets and flannel boards;

● Encouraging parents to read to their children and provide family literacy activities;

● Training parents and staff to select appropriate books for their children;

● Increasing the storytelling skills of staff and parents. Soon to be available from Head 

Start is a video and materials for "Stories Keep Us Connected" which encourages 

parents to support their children's growth and learning through shared stories and 

experiences. Available in English and Spanish; and

● Encouraging staff and parents to become reading models for children.

Additionally, Head Start grantees have played a key role in the family literacy movement by:

● Increasing Head Start families' access to materials, activities, and services which are 

essential to family literacy development, such as obtaining library cards;

● Supporting parents in the role of being their child's first teacher by providing 

encouragement and direction to Head Start families in providing activities which 

stimulate and sustain their children's interest and potential for future independent success 

in literacy activities; and

● Assisting parents as adult learners to recognize and address their own literacy needs by 

creating environments which are positive, supportive, and offer the promise of 

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HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: Literacy and Head Start Quality 

benefiting both them and their children. 

Head Start Bulletin Issue No. 60 Contents On to "Management Institute in Every Region and Central Office"

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Last Modified: 10/31/01 

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HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: Fall 1996/Issue No. 60 (Contents) 

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Fall 1996 Vol. I, Issue No. 60

Head Start Highlights

Contents

Moving Into the 21st Century: An Update on Implementing Head Start Initiatives

Head Start Program Performance Standards

Head Start Program Performance Measures

Standards, Guidance, Monitoring, and Measures: Their Purpose and Relationship

The Heart of Head Start

Public Comments on the Proposed Head Start Program Performance Standards

Training and Technical Assistance Initiative

Early Head Start: It's a Great Time to be a Baby!

National Fellowship Program Launched

Head Start NPRM on Transportation Safety

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HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: Fall 1996/Issue No. 60 (Contents) 

Creating Quality Head Start Facilities

Monitoring Grantee Performance and Quality

Child Development Associate (CDA) New Renewal Requirements

Head Start's Dynamic Research Agenda

Head Start-State Collaboration

New Chief for the Migrant Programs Branch--Interview and Biographical Sketch

American Indian Programs Branch

Transition Programming, Practices, and Resources

Literacy and Head Start Quality

Management Institute in Every Region and Central Office

The Head Start-Child Care Initiative

Upcoming Calendar of Events

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Donna E. Shalala 

Secretary 

Olivia A. Golden 

Acting Assistant Secretary 

Administration for Children and Families

Michael Kharfen 

Director 

Office of Public Affairs

Olivia A. Golden 

Commissioner 

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Helen H. Taylor 

Associate Commissioner 

Head Start Bureau

Production Staff 

HEAD START BUREAU: 

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HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: Fall 1996/Issue No. 60 (Contents) 

JoAn Knight Herren, 

Chief, T/TA Branch

Jeffrey Fredericks, Editor-in-Chief

Geraldine Farrell, Program Specialist

Arletha Green, Program Specialist

Kathleen Hallissey, Program Specialist

Clayton D. Roth, Program Specialist

ACF: 

Richard E. Swartz, Art Director

Larry McSwain, Production

The Head Start Bulletin is prepared six times a year by the Head Start Bureau, Administration on Children, 

Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services.

Editorial inquiries should be addressed to: Head Start Bulletin, PO Box 1182, Washington, DC 20013.

Purpose: To enhance communication among the Head Start Bureau, Head Start programs, and interested 

national, regional, and State organizations and agencies. 

E. Dollie Wolverton, Chief, Education Services Branch, Head Start Bureau, was the lead on this issue of 

the Head Start Bulletin.

View other Head Start Bulletins "Moving Into the 21st Century: An Update on Implementing Head Start Initiatives"

| Home | Publications | Partnership/Collaboration | Information Center | What's New? |

For information requests contact AskUs 

We welcome your comments and suggestions, contact webmistress@headstartinfo.org 

For website technical assistance contact technical@headstartinfo.org 

To order publications contact puborder@headstartinfo.org Office of Head Start

Copyright © 2000-2006 Trans-Management Systems Corporation. All rights reserved. 

Please Note: Links on this site are verified monthly. 

While links are evaluated before being included on this site, HSIPC is not responsible for the information presented on external sites. 

Last Modified: 10/31/01 

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Fall 1996 Vol. I, Issue No. 60

Management Institute in Every Region and Central Office

By Frankie Hoover Gibson, Parent Involvement Program Specialist, Social Services and 

Parent Involvement Branch, Head Start Bureau

The challenges faced by local Head Start programs have multiplied in size, scope, and 

complexity in recent years. DHHS and local grantees must ensure that the managers of local 

Head Start programs have what they need to lead programs effectively in a changing world, 

such as knowledge, skills, management and leadership, and the support and infrastructure 

they need to manage effectively.

The Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion recommended that all Head 

Start directors and management staff receive training in fiscal management, planning, 

supervision and staff support, parent involvement in all components, and other topics related 

to the overall administration of the program.

In its efforts to enhance training of staff, the Head Start Bureau has initiated three stages of a 

management training initiative.

The first stage, Phase I, was the National Head Start Management Institute in August 1991 in 

Washington, DC, which provided a baseline of skills and competencies required for quality 

management that grantee and delegate directors could examine their skills against.

Phase II offered management team conferences in each of the 12 Regions under the 

leadership and direction of Regional Offices and training and technical assistance contractors.

Over 1,000 Federal staff and local Head Start program management team members 

participated in Phase III Management Institutes from October 1995 through May 1996. A 

pilot, Training-of-Trainer session, and 12 Institutes were held in Chicago, San Francisco, 

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HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin--Head Start Highlights: Management Institute in Every Region and Central Office

Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York City, Kansas City, Denver, Boston, Seattle, and 

Washington, DC.

The training curriculum, "Mastering Change," builds upon the in-depth knowledge of 

management and leadership innovation that began in the prior phases of Head Start's 

management effort, and offers an opportunity for professional skills development by creating 

for teams a "new lens" to see how leadership can be more effective.

A focus of the following four main themes runs throughout the training:

1. Improving communication: strengthening the ability to ensure accurate, sensitive, twoway communication in group meetings, supervision sessions, and written exchanges;

2. Changing mental models: strengthening the ability to understand, articulate, and 

challenge the core beliefs that drive program operations;

3. Using systems thinking: strengthening the ability to recognize that a Head Start program 

is a living, dynamic, interconnected system; and

4. Setting a vision for the future: strengthening the capacity to look beyond today's 

problems, and considering possibilities for the future.

The general consensus from those who participated in the Institutes was that the experience 

was positive, valuable, and fun. One participant said that the curriculum was "engaging, 

rigorous, fast moving, provocative, and insightful."

For more information on the "Mastering Change" curriculum, contact your Regional Office 

Program Specialist or TASC liaison, your Regional TASC, or Frankie Hoover Gibson, Head 

Start Bureau, PO Box 1182, Washington, DC 20013.

Head Start Bulletin Issue No. 60 Contents On to "The Head Start-Child Care Initiative"

View other Head Start Bulletins

| Home | Publications | Partnership/Collaboration | Information Center | What's New? |

For information requests contact AskUs 

We welcome your comments and suggestions, contact webmistress@headstartinfo.org 

For website technical assistance contact technical@headstartinfo.org 

To order publications contact puborder@headstartinfo.org Office of Head Start

Copyright © 2000-2006 Trans-Management Systems Corporation. All rights reserved. 

Please Note: Links on this site are verified monthly. 

While links are evaluated before being included on this site, HSIPC is not responsible for the information presented on external sites. 

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Last Modified: 10/31/01 

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