Anyone Partner with Head Start/Early Head Start?

[spedmommy4]

:dislike::dislike:
This right here is my issue with HS!

Mine too. One-to-one intervention is NOT best practice, even in early intervention settings. Best practice is classroom and parent support. This means specialists come in and coach parents and teachers on strategies to support the child's development. The parents and teachers use the strategies with the child to promote development. There should be minimal direct therapy to ensure minimum time away from family and peers.

And don't even get me started on the constant developmental screenings/assessments.

[daycarediva]

Hello i'm A Family case worker for the Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Program in Buffalo N.Y. and I love the New EHS-CCPP. In our defense i will say that it depends on your passion for the kids. If you truly want to raise your standers then i would suggest partnering with head start. We will pay the difference so you can raise the salary of your teachers, because most family, centers and /or group daycare are only paying their staff minimum wage, this will also allow you to hire better teachers (all headstart teacher must be certified in child care and we will pay for them to get that accreditation if they do not have it). We will rehabilitate your facility so it's safer and more child friendly(building a gate in the back yard, redoing your floor, laying carpet, fixing and supplying appliances, putting soft rubbery material out side where most would have the kids playing on concrete). Our goal is to partner with daycares in poverty stricken area codes. So yes we service families that are in need. As a Family Partner i will do home-visits with the family and walk them though completing there goals such as getting there GED going back to college, starting there own business, or getting a better job. Oh yeah...If the parent loses there subsidy because they received a better job then Headstart will cover the child-care for the rest of the year. Each child in your center will receive constant developmental screenings and if they are not developed at the appropriate level then specialist will come out and work with them one on one. Your curriculum will also have to change. That means no more leaving babies sitting in high chairs and walkers and cribs all day. No more Television either, unless it apart of the curriculum. That means no more sitting in front of the TV watching frozen, Disney cartoons or PBS either. Teacher are going to have to get on the floor with the babies and engage them 100% of the time. The curriculum will allow the kids to receive more physical action and human engagement. Oh yeah did i mention that we supply diapers and wipes (formula, if your center does not participate in the food program). We will supply you with cubbies, toys and puppets and other equipment that goes along with our curriculum. We will even install a second sink seeing as though that many Daycares are washing, hand changing diapers, washing dishes and preparing food out of the same sink. I have visited some daycare where they keep the kids in the basement and the basement actually looks like a basement. While the owners lives upstart in luxury in the rest of the home. Yes there is more paper work, but most of the paperwork is some thing that should have been done before even partnering with headstart. like taking attendance, health records, assessments, inspections, daily progress notes and other things that come with child care.

Are you SERIOUS? This run on paragraph sounds like something a third grader would write. The way you denigrate family child care is laughable. I get kids from head start EVERY SINGLE YEAR after the parents realize that the FREE care is mediocre, at best. You get what you pay for.

:dislike: Way to bash home daycares.

As an EX employee of Head Start, I find VERY little of what you said to be true.

As a matter of fact, my standards in my own independently operated family child care are MUCH higher than the standards followed by Head Start.

Head Start is a multi-billion dollar failure that does nothing more than a good quality in home family child care provider can do. Just ask the Federal government who conducted the study itself.

http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...nally-released

multi-billion dollar failure--- AMEN! It would be BETTER if the government put funding into sliding scale child care subsidies so that parents could chose their own high quality program.

I had a 3.5 year old come to me from head start this spring. She was MILES behind my daycare kids in learning. Couldn't count to 10, didn't know ABC's, spoke in baby talk (her needs to go pee pee). The three's at my place are working on phonics and sight words, while the head start kid couldn't identify more than 6 letters. Head Start CLAIMED that she knew these things, but she did not. Formal early education like Head Start is not developmentally appropriate, in my opinion, and the Head Start kids I have seen are behind academically and socially.

Also, my kids' caregiver can use words like STANDARDS and THEIR and THERE appropriately.

I have had the same experiences. Every child that has come from local UPK or head start is terribly behind.

Right!
I find it amusing that the poster then goes on to mention the *basic* New York licensing standards, nothing really "extra" except taxpayer money to supply things no provider should be allowed to start without anyway (and there are grants either through CCR&R or CSEA) As a licensed in home, I already have to have material under my play set (which I did before it was mandated) I already have to have age appropriate curriculum (which, as a former preschool teacher I had from day 1) TV has never been condoned by licensing and the new regs go further with it (I've been screen free since day 1, so not an issue for me) I don't take infants but I've been pretty vocal about my feelings on "container babies" (and I'm fairly sure walkers aren't permitted by licensing) I already take attendance, do daily health checks, drills, etc etc etc My assistant has a BA and taught Kindegarten ( higher education level than Head Start asst). I pay over minimum wage (and I know our Head Start has assistants making NY min wage because I've read the job advertisments) my neighbor is a lead teacher at Head Start and maybe clear 30,000 a year. I easily double that. Why would I want to go from being a business owner who sets my own policies, hours, days off to become a Head Start employee? What a step backwards.

I see *nothing* that Head Start could offer that I don't already have and provide for my families. But most of my clients are educated professionals who wouldn't want their kids involved with Head Start anyway. As one mom said to me "I wouldn't send my DOG to head start"
They chose an in home provider because they want an in home service. And frankly many of them are becoming more and more disgusted with licensing and choosing to use unlicenesed care or families over licensed as it is.

I couldn't have been licensed without the things she listed.

[auntymimi]

Are you SERIOUS? This run on paragraph sounds like something a third grader would write. The way you denigrate family child care is laughable. I get kids from head start EVERY SINGLE YEAR after the parents realize that the FREE care is mediocre, at best. You get what you pay for.
::I couldn't get past the incorrect use of "there" rather than their.


multi-billion dollar failure--- AMEN! It would be BETTER if the government put funding into sliding scale child care subsidies so that parents could chose their own high quality program.



I have had the same experiences. Every child that has come from local UPK or head start is terribly behind.



I couldn't have been licensed without the things she listed.

Exactly.

[Hunni Bee]

I stopped reading when I realized that I was reading a massive 500 word sentence full of crappy grammar and misspellings, and tons of shade being thrown at FCC providers.

I used to live in an urban area with pretty lousy childcare options...either sketchy church-run centers or home providers who let the kids play in the park and eat McDonald's for lunch all day...so Headstart was the best option many times. But believe me that isn't saying much.

I don't know what this person was trying to achieve with this diatribe. I never know why people come on a daycare forum and bash daycare :confused::confused::confused:

[auntymimi]

Hello i'm A Family case worker for the Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Program in Buffalo N.Y. and I love the New EHS-CCPP. In our defense i will say that it depends on your passion for the kids. If you truly want to raise your standers then i would suggest partnering with head start. We will pay the difference so you can raise the salary of your teachers, because most family, centers and /or group daycare are only paying their staff minimum wage, this will also allow you to hire better teachers (all headstart teacher must be certified in child care and we will pay for them to get that accreditation if they do not have it). We will rehabilitate your facility so it's safer and more child friendly(building a gate in the back yard, redoing your floor, laying carpet, fixing and supplying appliances, putting soft rubbery material out side where most would have the kids playing on concrete). Our goal is to partner with daycares in poverty stricken area codes. So yes we service families that are in need. As a Family Partner i will do home-visits with the family and walk them though completing there goals such as getting there GED going back to college, starting there own business, or getting a better job. Oh yeah...If the parent loses there subsidy because they received a better job then Headstart will cover the child-care for the rest of the year. Each child in your center will receive constant developmental screenings and if they are not developed at the appropriate level then specialist will come out and work with them one on one. Your curriculum will also have to change. That means no more leaving babies sitting in high chairs and walkers and cribs all day. No more Television either, unless it apart of the curriculum. That means no more sitting in front of the TV watching frozen, Disney cartoons or PBS either. Teacher are going to have to get on the floor with the babies and engage them 100% of the time. The curriculum will allow the kids to receive more physical action and human engagement. Oh yeah did i mention that we supply diapers and wipes (formula, if your center does not participate in the food program). We will supply you with cubbies, toys and puppets and other equipment that goes along with our curriculum. We will even install a second sink seeing as though that many Daycares are washing, hand changing diapers, washing dishes and preparing food out of the same sink. I have visited some daycare where they keep the kids in the basement and the basement actually looks like a basement. While the owners lives upstart in luxury in the rest of the home. Yes there is more paper work, but most of the paperwork is some thing that should have been done before even partnering with headstart. like taking attendance, health records, assessments, inspections, daily progress notes and other things that come with child care.

There, their, they're. I wonder if this is a hoax? It's hard to imagine a representative of any early intervention service coming off as so ignorant. Then again, I haven't had much experience with the public education system lately so who knows?

[Avalon_Mist]

New FCC in CA: interested in Head Start

For those currently in a Early Head Start partnership, are you allowed to implement your own curriculum? I'd like to use Waldorf ECE in my daycare program.

Also, with the menu options provided, is it possible to request only plant based food items?

[spedmommy4]

For those currently in a Early Head Start partnership, are you allowed to implement your own curriculum? I'd like to use Waldorf ECE in my daycare program.

Also, with the menu options provided, is it possible to request only plant based food items?

The HS representative in your area can give you the best answers; however, it's unlikely they would allow you to deviate from their curriculum or the USDA food program guidelines. I considered partnering with them in California and they would have required me to use Frog Street Press for my curriculum. They also require portfolios, assessments, and strict adherence to health/safety guidelines. (Including following USDA meal guidelines).

I was in central California, so your area may be somewhat different. I wouldn't expect it to vary much though. Head Start tends to have pretty uniform standards.

[CityGarden]

*sigh*

will there ever be a federally funded program that promotes and supports us?

....seems everything they push/advertise goes against supporting the small business owner/"family" care provider. :confused:

One of the main reasons I want to go into a home based program vs staying teaching in a school setting is the freedom. Generally federally funded programs come with red tape - No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Common Core - which is what I most look forward to leaving behind. Out of sincere inquiry why is it you would want a federally funded program to support home daycare, what am I missing?

Your curriculum will also have to change. That means no more leaving babies sitting in high chairs and walkers and cribs all day. No more Television either, unless it apart of the curriculum. That means no more sitting in front of the TV watching frozen, Disney cartoons or PBS either. Teacher are going to have to get on the floor with the babies and engage them 100% of the time. The curriculum will allow the kids to receive more physical action and human engagement.

This is offensive to the AMAZING programs offered in-home.

[Blackcat31]

One of the main reasons I want to go into a home based program vs staying teaching in a school setting is the freedom. Generally federally funded programs come with red tape - No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Common Core - which is what I most look forward to leaving behind. Out of sincere inquiry why is it you would want a federally funded program to support home daycare, what am I missing?

It's not that I want a federally funded program; its more about the fact that early childhood is a HUGE business and one of THE biggest participants-influences are childcare providers and/or family daycares yet the Department of Families & Children does nothing to support these contributors/providers/businesses and instead enacts programs that force the caregivers out of business and these families into options that mimic "school" for even our youngest children straight into the Department of Education.

Which even they acknowledge is not DAP or beneficial; just expensive.

Money children :dislike:

Its one hand slapping the other..

Ive got tons more to say about the discrepancies and inconsistencies of this topic but I'm on vacation and want to stay in relaxation mode so... that's the Cliff Note version...

[CityGarden]

It's not that I want a federally funded program; its more about the fact that early childhood is a HUGE business and one of THE biggest participants-influences are childcare providers and/or family daycares yet the Department of Families & Children does nothing to support these contributors/providers/businesses and instead enacts programs that force the caregivers out of business and these families into options that mimic "school" for even our youngest children straight into the Department of Education.

Which even they acknowledge is not DAP or beneficial; just expensive.

Money children :dislike:

Its one hand slapping the other..

Ive got tons more to say about the discrepancies and inconsistencies of this topic but I'm on vacation and want to stay in relaxation mode so... that's the Cliff Note version...

That I understand! Thanks for taking the time to explain - I felt like I must be missing something but that is something I too struggled with too the current school standards have shifted and what children are expected to do in younger grades is not age appropriate and I can go on and on in that area so I can only imagine...

I too am on vacation in NYC, but when I saw this thread it was hard not to post and I had to ask you

[Avalon_Mist]

The HS representative in your area can give you the best answers; however, it's unlikely they would allow you to deviate from their curriculum or the USDA food program guidelines. I considered partnering with them in California and they would have required me to use Frog Street Press for my curriculum. They also require portfolios, assessments, and strict adherence to health/safety guidelines. (Including following USDA meal guidelines).

I was in central California, so your area may be somewhat different. I wouldn't expect it to vary much though. Head Start tends to have pretty uniform standards.

Thanks!

[Renae82]

:dislike: Way to bash home daycares.

As an EX employee of Head Start, I find VERY little of what you said to be true.

As a matter of fact, my standards in my own independently operated family child care are MUCH higher than the standards followed by Head Start.

Head Start is a multi-billion dollar failure that does nothing more than a good quality in home family child care provider can do. Just ask the Federal government who conducted the study itself.

http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...nally-released

No kidding!! A lot of generalizing and assumptions! I run a very high quality program.
I stopped doing my observations at our local headstart after a lead teacher called a 1-year-old a bully, and another teacher put a 3mo to bed on his tummy wrapped in a huge blanket. I wasn't going to learn anything there.