Head Start Programs Annual Report 2020

The program emphasizes the role of parents as their child’s first and most important teacher and builds relationships with families to support:

• Family well-being and positive parent-child relationships
• Families as learners and life-long educators
• Family connections to peers and community
• Families as advocates and leaders

Together, parents and staff work to provide developmental preschool experiences for children to succeed in school.

Parent Quote: “We are always welcomed with a smile and a good morning.”

Enrollment

Funded Enrollment: 341

Total Served: 403

Total number of children with disabilities: 89

Kindergarten Readiness

Parent Quote: “They (Head Start) really take the time to understand every child’s needs.”

Historically, the program compiles outcome data that tracks progress and growth of children over three assessment periods. In the 2019-2020 school year, the COVID-19 pandemic affected services. Shortly after the spring assessment period began, centers closed in response to the pandemic. As the program adapted to this dynamic situation, collecting accurate and meaningful data on child outcomes was impacted, resulting in insufficient data to determine the rate of growth for the full year.

Data was reviewed and analyzed for growth from the fall assessment to the winter assessment. The chart below reflects Head Start data by Teaching Strategies Gold (TSG) for 2019-2020 highlights the growth from fall to winter for six areas of development and learning. The data shows 25-49% growth in all areas for both 3 year-olds and 4 year-olds, except for Literacy and Mathematics. In the area of literacy, 3 year-olds demonstrated a growth of 25-49% growth while 4 year-olds demonstrated a growth of 50-74%. In the area of mathematics 3 year-olds demonstrated a growth of 50-74% and 4 year-olds demonstrated a growth of 25-49%.

These growth rates are similar to previous years and it could be projected that end of the year growth patterns would reflect similar results.

The program ended the school year operating differently due to the pandemic and uncertain times. Service delivery was flexible. Staff provided services that supported individual family needs. The health and safety of children, families, and staff is very important to our program.

Health Status

The health status of a child is an important factor in school readiness. The chart displays that the majority of children served have ongoing health care. Due to the pandemic, access to medical well exams and dental exams where limited resulting in a lower number of children being up-to-date.

Parent Engagement

Parents are provided opportunities to strengthen leadership skills, support active involvement in their child’s education, and to connect to their communities in meaningful ways. Parents are active members of the Policy Council, center parent committees, and volunteer activities in the centers. Parents also serve on the agency’s Board of Directors, Oregon Head Start Association, participate in job training through the Center Training Assistant employment training program and participate in higher education opportunities. Families participate in monthly family nights with parent guided activities.

During the 2019-20 year, 38 staff members (46%) were current or former Head Start parents. Over 80 volunteers support the program with 821 hours of service. Over 55% of volunteers were parents and/or guardians.

CLASS Scores 2019-2020

Classroom Assessment and Scoring System (CLASS) is a research-driven tool used by the Office of Head Start and the program to assess teacher-child interactions. Information gained from the CLASS tool supports focused professional development. Even small gains in CLASS scores have been proven to have a high impact on student outcomes. The Office of Head Start conducts CLASS reviews in a random selection of Head Start programs across the Nation. This data is provided to programs annually. The chart shows how the program compared to the national average in SY 2019-2020.

Review and Audit

The Office of Head Start (OHS) promotes the school readiness of young children from low-income families through agencies in their local community. Head Start and Early Head Start programs support the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth to age five.
The program was reviewed in March of 2018. The monitoring review found the program did not maintain funded enrollment. The program, during the 2019-2020 school year, maintained full enrollment at current funded level.

Funding

Budgetary Expenditures

2019-2020 budgetary expenditures displayed below.

Fiscal Audit

In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, Kern & Thompson, LLC issued a report on March 27, 2019 on the firm’s consideration of Community Action team, Inc. and subsidiaries’ internal control over financial reporting and on the firm’s tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements and other matters.

Community Assessment

The Community Assessment was completed using data from each of the communities served in addition to data from other sources. Information from the Community Assessment contributed to this report. A few highlights from the Community Assessment are:

• Increase in State funded birth to five programs
• Increase in homelessness
• Lack of mental health supports for early childhood
• Need for quality trauma informed birth to five early care and education programs

The program will continue to work with the community, State and Federal entities to support new programming to reach the prenatal to age five populations with quality services.

Mission, Vision, Values, and Philosophy

VISION

We provide opportunities for children and families to succeed in school and life.

MISSION

Children and families empowered to meet the challenges of a changing world

VALUES

• To celebrate and honor families, staff and community strengths.
• Promote excellence through communication and team work.
• Maintain wellness and commitment to life-long learning.
• Recognize and support holistic wellness in staff, families and children.

PHILOSOPHY

• We believe that the family is the principle influence on the child’s development.
• We believe it is essential to support personal, holistic wellness and positive relationships among staff, in order to provide quality services.
• We believe self-sufficiency, wellness and life-long learning are enhanced by establishing partnerships within our communities.
• We believe the investment of family focused early childhood education through best practices strengthens our children to become leaders of the future.

USDA Statement

In accordance with Federal Civil Rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD- 3027, found online at How to File a Program Discrimination Complaint and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: [email protected].

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.