Head Start/Oregon Prenatal-5 is a program with Community Action Team that works with children and families to promote children’s growth in all areas of development. The program involves families in every aspect of their child’s development. Including parent engagement, accessing local resources, and collaborating with community partners. Community Action Team is an anti-poverty agency that provides a holistic approach for families.
Head Start/Oregon Prenatal-5 provides quality services for children and families pre-natal to 5 years of age.
The program began the school year operating according to the program models. The health and safety of children, families, and staff is very important to our program.
Quality in-person Head Start classes remained operational for the school year. Oregon Prenatal to 3 home visiting continued to build a strong team and increased services for children and families throughout the year.
24.5% of children served were under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) during the program year.
- 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.
Enrollment
Funded Enrollment: 341
Total Served: 392
Total number of children with disabilities: 111
Oregon Prenatal to 3 State Funded Enrollment: 60
Total Served: 90
“My son and daughter are so comfortable with (their) teacher and the other staff. They adore them in a way that I’m not sure they’ll ever have that same sense of admiration in any teacher the way they and I feel with (their) teacher.”
Parent Quote
School Readiness
To determine growth percentages, at least 70% of the objectives must be scored with a specific level. Items marked as “Not Observed” are excluded from the calculations. In addition, only children with assessment data in all three assessment periods can be included. There were 19 classes out of 20 with sufficient data included in the growth report for the 2023-2024 school year. It is also important to note that while most classes are at funded enrollment, some classes were below funded enrollment, resulting in a smaller data set.
A growth percentage of 25-49% is expected for the majority of school readiness goals. The areas related to literacy and mathematics, have a goal of growth between 50-74%. The program met school readiness goals in all areas except for literacy and mathematics. Of particular note as a strength is meeting program expectations in the area of social-emotional development despite the challenges of children and families impacted by trauma. A second strength noted is the amount of growth that occurred across the program with high numbers of children with special needs or behavior plans in several classes. The program averaged 30% of children with diagnosed disabilities. In addition, while growth in the areas of literacy and mathematics did not meet program growth expectation, those areas are still within developmental growth expectations with a 25-49% growth rate.
Examining these areas further, 26% of the classes did meet the goal of a growth rate of 50-74% in the area of literacy for 3’s and 26% of the classes for 4’s. In addition, one class also achieved a 75-100% growth in the area of literacy for 3’s. In the area of mathematics, for the 3’s group, 37% of the classes met the goal of 50 – 74%. For the 4’s age group, in the area of mathematics, the majority of classes achieved the 25-49% average growth rate and 11% met the goal of 50-74%. This is also evident in looking at the program data for the average across all domains of children below, meeting, or exceeding the widely held expectation for skills by age. In the fall 33% of the children entered the program below widely held expectations, and 1% were exceeding. At the end of the year, only 11% are demonstrating skills on average below widely held expectations, 69% are meeting (within expectations for age) and 20% are exceeding age expectations.
The program emphasizes the role of parents as their child’s first and most important teacher and builds relationships with families to support:
Family support services and parent education.
- Family parent/child interaction groups
- Family Home visits
- 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
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. Access continued to increase, in 2023-2024 for medical well exams and dental exams still report a significant lower percentage of completion than prior to the pandemic.
“I think our staff is amazing and always welcoming. Consistently asking the kids and myself how things are going and very in tune to anything going on with us. It is a very nice feeling.”
Parent
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. Families are involved with parent/child interactions such as monthly socializations in Oregon Prenatal to 3.
During the 2023-2024 school year, 37 staff members (37%) were current or former Head Start parents. Parents worked with their children supporting school readiness at home using ReadyRosie and MyTS Family.
CLASS Scores 2023-2024
Classroom Assessment and Scoring System (CLASS) is a research-driven tool used by the Office of Head Start, Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC), 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. DELC observes a random selection of classes annually to observe as well. This data is provided to programs annually. The chart shows how the program compared to the expected levels for quality thresholds in the 2023-2024 school year, exceeding thresholds in emotional support and instructional support. Classroom organization was slightly below the high quality threshold .
“Thank you (Head Start) for being there for our children.”
Parent Quote
Review and Audit
Office of Head Start:
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/Oregon Prenatal to 5 programs support the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth to age five.
The program received a Federal review February of 2021.
Fiscal Audit:
In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, Kern & Thompson, LLC issued a report on December 20, 2024 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,.
“Everyone is always very friendly and happy.”
Parent Quote
Funding
| Funding Source | |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | $2,705,742 |
| Oregon Early Learning Division (Prenatal to Kindergarten—OPK/PSP) | $4,316,283 |
| USDA/CACFP | $145,000 |
| Matching In-kind | $155,081 |
| Total | $4,879,061 |
Budgetary Expenditures
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:
Strong local supports for families
- Preschool opportunities
- Lack of:
- Affordable housing
- Services for infant and toddlers
- Mental health supports for early childhood
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.
“They (Head Start/Oregon Prenatal to 5 staff) are a team of rockstars”.
Parent Quote
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.
“My child is always so excited to come to Head Start and talks about it all the time. She loves her class and her teachers, she loves all the staff.”
Parent Quote
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: program.intake@usda.gov.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
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