Workbook final

In particular, the Head Start Center for Inclusion provides information and develops resources and materials that include

web-based learning opportunities and evidence-based instructional strategies to increase the competence, confidence,

and effectiveness of personnel in Head Start programmes to include children with disabilities.

NNOVATION

Early childhood education is a critical period to bolster children’s skills and influence developmental

trajectories. Head Start has pioneered new solutions to fight the harmful effects of poverty and build ladders of

opportunity into the middle class. Head Start programmes and providers empower children and their families to foster

positive parent-child relationships, to reach for economic and family stability, and to make important connections to

their peers and their communities. Head Start and EHS programs actively recruit children with previously identified

disabilities, in coordination with their special education and early intervention partners. Further, Head Start’s emphasis

on providing developmental and health screenings help to identify disabilities in children who have not yet been

identified. Head Start’s comprehensive child development model often provides the first opportunity to identify a

disability or health condition affecting a young child’s development. Head Start today addresses the critical area of

health and mental health.

ACTS ON

UTPUT

ITH

DDITIONS FROM THE

ERO

ROJECT

EAM

)

Head Start and Early Head Start have prepared 32 million children, birth to age 5, and their families, for school

and life, in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and six territories.

In 2014, Head Start was funded to serve nearly one million children and pregnant women in centers, family

homes, and in family child care homes in urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout the nation. Thirty-

eight percent of participants identified themselves as Hispanic/Latino, and almost 29 percent were Black/African

American. Thirty percent of participants were from families that primarily spoke a language other than English

at home. Head Start served about 989,000 families cumulatively, of which approximately 45,000 families

experienced homelessness (33 percent found housing during the program year); nearly 90,000 families received

housing assistance; approximately 217,000 families, or 22 percent, received services related to job training and

adult education. In total, Head Start employed 239,000 staff. Parents of current or former Head Start children

made up 24 percent of Head Start staff. More than 1.1 million adults volunteered in their local Head Start

Programme, of these, 800,000 were parents of Head Start children.

Since 2007, at least 10 percent of enrollees have to be children with disabilities. In 2013-2014, the Head Start

Programme cumulatively served 1,076,000 children ages birth to 5 and pregnant women. 12.2 percent of Head

Start cumulative enrollment was made up of children with disabilities (108,316), defined as children having

special plans under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In comparison, nationally, about three

percent of infants and toddlers and six percent of preschool-age children have identified disabilities. Head Start

serves a greater percentage of children with disabilities than found in the overall population. According to both

the Family and Child Experiences Study (FACES) and PIR data, about 15 percent of Head Start children have been

identified by a professional as having a developmental problem, delay, or special need. For the majority of those