Monthly Focus – Program Instruction, and Compliance Dates and Timeframes

Ann Linehan: ...to our grantees across the states and our territories. This is a big day for us because it's the first in a series of many that we will have, our Wednesday chats with grantees, which will be the third Wednesday of each month. And hopefully today, we will be able to provide you with some helpful information. And I have some housekeeping duties that Sharon Yandian has asked me to do, and I'll do that at the top. Again, just to reiterate, this will happen the third Wednesday of each month. This session is being recorded and will be posted by –

–: You know, within the next couple weeks.

Ann: Within the next couple weeks. Okay. Many of you have been asking about the Spanish translation of the Head Start Performance Standards. They will be available at the end of the month. And that's September. Correct, Sharon?

Sharon Yandian: We're very excited about that. Ann Linehan: And I think you also know from our earlier presentations, we have already had our federal staff-in. They came in just before the release of the Standards and we did some training at that point. Last week, we had our T/TA folks on the line. So we're doing this Wednesday, by Wednesday, by Wednesday. And, we also have our TA folks are coming in in person in October to get more fully immersed in the Standards. And I have to say, we have been, the Head Start team, under the direction of Dr. Enriquez, have been looking at events that are occurring across the country this year. Training events, conferences, and in conjunction and in partnership with our regional staff to the extent possible, we want to have a presence in the major meetings because we know that the standards will continue to be the main topic of discussion throughout this program year, if not the next three program years. So, I think we have a lot to cover today. I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Enriquez, our director of the Office of Head Start. I think she has been out to every region, and many, many states in her tenure here to discuss the paradigm shift in the Standards.

Dr. Blanca Enriquez: Good afternoon, everyone. And I hope you agree with me that this is one of the most exciting years for Head Start. And as you began, as you have already begun the year, you've got new children, got new and continuing staff. And of course, as Ann just mentioned, we have the brand new Head Start Program Performance Standards. Now, how fortunate can we get? But, I want to say that probably by now, all of you have already planned your strategy for how you're going to study and understand, and align your programs to the new Performance Standards.

You probably by now have provided an overview or a training to your board of directors and your Policy Council. You may have already established groups of staff, or key administrative staff, and assigned them a section of the rule for study. And of course, because most of your staff have been in Head Start for a while, they will be ready to identify what has changed, what has remained the same, what is new. But most important, how your system of services compares to the new regulation.

Then you will engage in looking at your program data section by section, and decide what needs to change. What will still work for you? What is new that you need to add? And you will recreate your system of services that are high-quality, that are outcomes-based. You're going to be very data-driven. And, you're going to be research-based, and everything you do will conform to best practices. I know you will do that, because you are among the best Head Start grantees that ever was. Then of course, let us not forget, you will align all of that work to your policy and procedures. And you will culminate in all of this by engaging your staff, your parents, and your governing bodies in comprehensive training. And as you have read the Performance Standards, you have perused them, and you are going to continue to do that, you will discover if you haven't already discovered, a couple of key underlining principles of these new Standards.

First of all, these regulations are not prescriptive. These regulations allow for flexibility in the implementation, and of course these regulations, once you read them, will tell you what you need to do to provide a system of high-quality services for your children and families. But, these regulations do not outline how to do it. This is where your thinking comes in. This is where the change or the shift in thinking about implementation comes in. And we refer to this as a paradigm shift. I want you to think of a paradigm shift as a change from one way of thinking to another. And most of this just doesn't happen. Changes like this just don't happen. They are driven by agents of change. And in our case, our change agent is the new Head Start Performance Standards.

Now these regulations place every grantee in that enviable leadership position to use the program data, create the system of services that is going to respond to their needs, strength, resources of their specific communities. Grantees are then to define their outcomes, measure their achievements, and make progress changes as they engage in continuous, quality improvement. All as is a principle that are in the new Performance Standards. And guess what? Another interesting bit of information is that this paradigm shift will also be reflected in the new monitoring system that you have already heard we're going to be, we are already working on. Now, isn't this just a fantabulous opportunity to create newer programs for children and families? And guess what ladies and gentlemen? You don't have to do this overnight. Today we will explain the timeframe for implementation. And we'll explain other information beginning with my turning it over to Alana, who's going to talk to you about some new website products to support your work in the Performance Standards. Alana?

Alana Buroff: Thank you, Dr. Enriquez. I'm just going to walk us through some of the new products on the ECLKC that we have related to the Standards. As you can see on the ECLKC these days there's a big banner that says, "Breaking News." If you click on this page, or if you navigate to under "About Head Start," and select "Presenting the Standards," it will take you to a new page that has a lot of the products that we've developed for you around the Standards so far. You'll see the Head Start Program Performance Standards themselves, which will take you to the electronic version of them. You'll see the Head Start Performance Standards "Showcase." The "Preamble - Part I." Part I is just the executive summary and the discussion of comments from the Preamble. And it's the printer-friendly version. You'll also see the "Fact Sheet," the questions and answers document. These are real handy to share with your board, or with somebody who just needs kind of a high-level discussion of what is new in the standards. You'll see the "Program Instructions." We're talking about this somewhat in depth later.

So, if you haven't downloaded it yet, you should have that handy. As well as a table of "Effective Dates," which is really the compliance tables from the Preamble of the Standards. A "Redesignation Table," which is a high-level crosswalk of the numbering system within the new Standards and the previous Standards. And the Introducing the New Head Start Performance Standards Webcast, which Ann, Dr.

Enriquez, and Colleen did earlier this month, when we released the Standards.

Lastly, you will see a document called, "Timeframes Required in New Head Start Performance Standards." Sharon will be talking about this in a second. And it's also one of the tools that we designed for you as you think about implementing these new Standards. So, back at the top of the page, if you click on the new Standards. If you click on this "New Standards" button, it will take you to a digital version of these standards in the ECLKC. At the bottom of that page you'll see the PDF document, which you can also print, to have a print-friendly version of the Standards that you can keep on your desk.

Ann: Alana, in the electronic version, what are some of the features that will be really helpful for people when they're looking for standards, or looking for a topical area?

Alana: I'm so glad you asked, Ann. So, if you click through the Standards, you'll see the regular text. And, here in the light blue, you can see some things underlined and in light blue. And, if you click on, say, the "School Readiness Goals" page, that link, it will pull up the definite – definition. So all of the defined terms are highlighted in a way that you can see, and then it links over to define terms.

Ann: That's fantastic.

Alana: And likewise, soon we will have things that will reference out to the Act or to other regulatory language will also be linked in one of those blue things, and it will pop up for you. We also have the policy search. If you type into the search box at the top of the policy and regulations page, any term, let's say parent committees in the governance, governing body section, it will pull up the results around parent committees. And, the first result is around new regulations. Its 1301.4 Parent committees. And you click into that part. The second part is from the old regulation. You can see that it says (1998) on the side. And then it's pulled other things from the regulations section. And we've committed to having these regulation sections updated by the time these Standards are effective in mid-November. In early November. We also, want to let you know that the mobile Apps have been updated. So, if you've downloaded the Head Start Resources Act, it has the the new Standards in the App. And, you can find those Head Start Resources App if you haven't downloaded it yet by searching the ECLKC for the Head Start mobile App. It will pull you up a page that has the, the Apple download or the Android download. So, that's it for the electronic version.

Ann: I just, I just have one question, because I know people ask, and we might as well get ahead of it. Right? Dr. Enriquez said the magical word. Monitoring. So, there's something on there related to the Standards, and related to – Can you click to it?

Alana: I can't click to it. Ann, I knew you were going to ask me this! After I put together my presentation. But if you go here under "Grants and Oversight," that's where the monitoring section is. In that monitoring section, we have a section on the FY2017 monitoring, and it has the letter that Dr. Enriquez sent out. And we'll be uploading the monitoring protocols for them as soon as we have them ready.

Sharon: We are going to be trying to speak a little louder so folks on the phone can hear us. I also wanted to get ahead of the question. We are really looking into figuring out how we can actually send hard, a hard copy the Standards. Not for every teacher, but, you know, more than one. And we're really in a process of figuring out how we can do that. And that should be coming soon. And the other thing I would say is, as Alana pointed out to you, where you can print the entire version of the Standards. And if you haven’t done that in mass, you may want to wait a little bit because she talks about all the references that are within the Standards, whether it's the Head Start Act, Davis-Bacon, difference things that are referenced within the Act will be put in the appendix to make it a useful resource to not have to go to all these other places. So that is taking a little bit of time, but we think that is also something that's coming in the near future.

Ann: Thanks, Sharon. Anything else, Alana, that you want to share with us?

Alana: Yeah. Just add a, we have released, let me find my spot back. If you select, here I am back, back on the "Presenting the Standards" screen. If you select the "Showcase." The "Showcase" is a new tool that we have just for the grantees, we just released it. And it has a summary – it, it's broken down the Standards into nine large topic areas that people tend to think about in Head Start. And we have taped overview videos of governance, ERSEA, program structure, education, health, family, community engagement, HR and staff development, program development, and admin and fiscal requirements.

Ann: And I would like to say that this. We're not paid actors. These were folks from the Office of Head Start. Some of us who are in front of the camera for the 19th or 200th time, and some for the first and second. But we wanted to be the real deal and have you hear it from folks who are integral to really the drafting of the Standards, and helping us incredible way with the rollout.

Sharon: I think the other thing about the videos is that we're hoping that they're short enough that you may use them with your staff, with governing bodies, to really help in particular areas where you may want them to learn more. They may need to learn more. They really are an overview, but they’re, they're kind of a nice synopsis.

Alana: Right. So it's not a, not a substitute for reading the Act, or the Standards, but it is a good synopsis of what is the same and what's changed, and what things you should be looking out for. And right now we have nine videos up for each of the topic areas, one of them. And we're rolling it out slowly so that you can kind of get a, watch these videos while they are new. But in each of these topic areas, we will be building out the more videos on particular topics, a couple of resources. As questions come in, and they're common questions that we think they need to answers. We'll be answering questions according to these nine topic areas here on the Performance Standards "Showcase." Speaking of which, I will encourage you guys to subscribe to the ECLKC. Because we will be sending out emails as we update the different sections of the "Showcase" letting you know that more videos are out, we've answered some questions, we have some new resources. If you haven't yet subscribed to the ECLKC, we do encourage you to subscribe here on the homepage.

Ann: And you know, it's hard to know, we have about 3000 folks on the line. Many maybe managers and, but we encourage management to make sure that their staff are absolutely subscribed to ECLKC, because they can go and explore for themselves. And it's really such a place of rich resources, particularly as we roll out the standards.

Alana: So, I'm going to go back here to the "Presenting the Standards" page, so that we can click on the "Program Instruction" here.

Ann: Okay.

Alana: And hand it back to you to talk about the PI, Ann.

Ann: Well, I was thinking this morning that this was issued on September 1st. We are so done with it. We're over that. I'm sure the grantees have pored over this, because it was the first thing that they had. But I think it's worth mentioning certainly the major themes, and I know you’ve probably heard Colleen and Dr. Enriquez say this many of times, times, you know. These standards kind of, and I kind of laugh, and have a pain in my side at the same time. These were 10 years in the making. And I mean, that is a long time.

Actually, the one thing that I also want to say, we have gotten a, as you probably know, a lot of press reaction. I think there was a recent story on NPR. The press, I think, overwhelmingly – I think there might have been one article that we saw that had some kind of, you know, some negative event. But, they have been incredibly positive from all sorts of news outlets and educational institutions. So this is really very, very positive.

So, it may have taken us 10 years, but I think that the end product is certainly is going to treat us well over the next, however, 20, 30 years. Clearly they were based on the latest growing body of research. As Dr. Enriquez said, we're talking about flexibility. They certainly reflect best practices, and folks haven't known, we really have reduced the number of requirements by about a third, and that’s pretty significant.

The two things that I think we stressed in the Program Instruction. Program duration was one of the biggest shifts. And we'll talk a little bit more about that when we get to the effective date table. Because we certainly know, looking at the research, that children have a more intentional time during the day and throughout the year matters in terms of outcome. So, we're certainly are striving over time that all our preschools will have the minimum of 1020 annual hours. And our Early Head Start children will achieve 1380 annual hours. And we can talk a little bit about the timeline. I think, and again, this is an area of lots of discussion, lots of interests of grantees. And we will continue to certainly support you in thinking about sort of, the implementation.

The other thing that I want to mention, and again, this was a fairly, an area we got a lot of comment on, in the MPRM, and that was around the role of parents. I think the PI brings us back to saying, "Hey. We want the Head Start community to know that we believe that parents are the first educators, they are the best advocates for their children." And the role of the parent in the Performance Standards, both from a governance and including in their own child development, from Policy Council to parent committee, is burning very strong. The PI then goes into the effective dates that I think were better served by, kind of, flipping into the effective dates table.

And I think we can probably do that next. I will mention – we do talk about, also, in the PI the enormous implementation support that we're going to be giving over the years and, and, and certainly, and, Sharon you may get some questions on that in the Q and A, and we can talk about some of the things we have planned. But I think Alana demonstrated the foundational resources that we have ECLKC. And I don't know the time when we had so many things ready at the time that we issued something. So kudos to all the people that, you know, have supported us in this effort.

So, we assume by now you have read the Standards 10 times over, but people are always nervous. Even when they see something in writing, they still want a little bit of validation as what they're seeing is really what we mean. And I think, I'm – Sharon and I are going to split this up. I'm going to go with the specific dates for enactment. And Sharon, you'll focus more of the ongoing, sort of programmatic dates of when things need to be done, as well as to services. As we said, as I mentioned a minute ago, certainly the Early Head Start center-based duration, bring all programs up to 1380 hours. Our target here is by August 1, 2018.

And again, I think we know, I think in our 22nd or 21st year of Early Head Start, when we first began, we always envisioned it as a continuous program, comprehensive services year-round. And for us to finally have it codified, I think it's really, I don't know, I have a great sigh of relief knowing that it really will achieve what it was originally intended to do. Continuity of care, as we know, is so important for our infants and toddlers. And then, the Head Start set base of duration is we are, achieving again, by August 1, 2019 – and this is really important – that at least 50 percent of our Head Start surveys funded enrollment slots will be at 1020 annual hours. And although it is clear in the regulation, these are not hours that include in-service training, or – These are intentional, planned hours where children are engaged in meaningful educational activities.

Now there is, there is a, I don't want to say, caveat in the body of the regulations. There is a provision for reaching to 50 percent where on or before February 1, 2018, the secretary may lower the percentage based on the availability of funding. And this would be in direct relationship to mitigating any substantial reduction in slots. So again, our goal today, and your goal is in thinking about by August 1 2019, and then we're talking about two. Two years. Two years? Three years. Two years?

–: Yeah. Two and a half. Yeah.

Ann: I can't even count folks. I got to take some mathematics score.

–: A little less –

Ann: A little less than three years that 50 percent of the slots, center-based, pre-school, will be receiving 1020 hours on an annual basis. And then we flip, Alana, and we go to what the target, the effective date would be. And August 1, 2021. Again, by then we are looking for 100 percent of our enrollment slots.

Children in preschool receive 1020 annual hours of planned classroom operations. And again, over the course, and I should have said this, is applicable to the 50 percent, over the course of at least eight months per year for all of the Head Start center-based enrollment. Like the 50 percent target we are to achieve by August 1, 2019, the secretary also on or before February 1, 2020 may lower the percentage depending on the availability of funding in order, again, to, to be sensitive to the potential loss of slots if the funding were not available.

And, a little bit different with Early Head Start home-based. By August 1, 2017, we are talking about children receive a minimum of 46 visits per year, with a minimum of 22 group socializations. Again, this is similar to children in center-based Early Head Start, we want to get them to that continuous care throughout the year, and this is doing the same thing in Early Head Start, bringing the home-based model up to where the children are being provided services to the home-based model throughout the year.

Sharon: Ann, just for a moment. What we have on the screen is the PI, and that is what Ann is referring to. But again, if you would like to read a little more detail around what those effective dates are, the effective dates table in the, where Alana lead you through, you can click on that and just have a little more narrative if you wanted to.

Alana: Right, I didn't take screenshots, but I'll offer it – Sharon: Yep. Nope.

Ann: But what I'm reading is that people can actually download a copy –

Sharon: They can right now if they want a little more detail.

Ann: And where will they find they want? Because people would probably love to do that, ` if they're particularly on their computers.

Alana: It's under the "Presenting the Standards" page where I showed people to begin with. Two-thirds way down the page. [Inaudible]

Ann: So, let's go on to curriculum for center-based and family child care programs. And again, as I was reading through these preparing for today's webinar, you know, some of these things these programs have been doing, are doing. But I think, obviously, this is, again, codifying what we are requiring programs to do. And really, this is simply, and I won't say simply, but implementing a curriculum that are aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework Ages Birth to Five. And, not only implement, but I think we are , not only talking about implementing the curricula, but also ensuring a level of oversight where we are looking at is it fully implemented in the fidelity of the implementation. Again, that due date is by August 1, 2017.

Sharon: And Ann, I would just say I think you're right. Programs are really good, set in this area. And the reason why we do give every year is that, you know, thinking about implementing curriculum. We want people to to take the time and really look at what they are doing, how does it align with the Framework, even though the Framework is not, you know, new. [Inaudible] I mean also, you know, if they are going to think about a different curriculum, thinking about their community, and children, and families, you know, they really need to be thinking about are they implementing the curriculum as the developers intended. So, there's a lot there to unpack, and we really want people to take the time to do that.

Ann: And I think I should mention that the duration is probably, people know exactly where to find that. But I think what we're talking about right now, again, is under 1302.32. And I would bring your attention to little (a)(1) and little (a)(2). I think what little (a)(2) is talking about, ensuring the fidelity of the implementation. But, I think another theme that I think here and pretty consistent throughout is looking at what's the, what's the system of professional support and development that we are, that programs are providing to staff. So again, I think you're right. It's a comprehensive look at implementation and selection of curriculum. And again, we're talking on August 1, 2017. I think, let's go on to assessment, which is under section 1302.33(b)(1) through (3). Again, I think when I think about our old 1307s, where people were required – What number is that now? 1307 is now embedded in –

–: 1304 subpart b.

Ann: 1304 subpart b. We have an expert here to the right. But we – and even before 1307, folks have been talking for years about assessments, and on-going data. Again, I think this is just strengthening it, it's codifying it. And again, we are saying, a program must conduct standardized and structured assessments. Again, there's a, which could be observation-based, or direct for each child, and to use that information. And again, we're talking about aligning the assessments with the Outcomes Framework.

And also, here, we're really making reference to, and again, if the assessments, and the data indicates that the child should be referred, for Part C, clearly, that's, again, programs must have a very intentional approach to assessments, looking at the data, and making decisions about individualization. Again, most programs are already doing this. We know that that they're doing it. But again, I think this is saying you must be able to articulate and demonstrate every aspect of what is in 1302.33, (b) and (c), by August 1, 2017.

Dr. Enriquez: And Ann, these programs look at these regulations, and we'll see that there's really a link between assessments, and curriculum, and professional development. That all of those three need to align and need to also be aligned to the Outcomes Framework.

Sharon: Right. [Inaudible]

Sharon: I think that that's really one of the other areas why it is great to be able to have this year. Again, that signals to the field, that we, we know there's a lift in these areas, but we really want to give folks time, and also, come around with some technical assistance, in some of these areas. And so, the area across the Standards. And again, we have, we're not going to have time to talk about it today, but there will be more in the future around services to children who speak languages other than English. You'll see that appears in different parts, subparts of the Standards. In the case of screening and assessment.

There are some changes from prior around what we require, and it was based on the research, that really supporting the home language really supports English acquisition, and so, this is an area where, you know, many programs serve many children. So the area to really understand where we were coming from here is to read the Preamble, even in the interim, to help get a handle on why we went with some of these particular regulations.

Ann: Thanks, that's really important, Sharon. I think the next thing we want to just mention is that curriculum for home-based programs. Again, that this is about both implementation, monitoring. Again, we have an August 1, 2017 effective date. You know, Just to echo Sharon's comments, this is going to take programs really some years to, sort of, planning, and making decisions, not only about what researched-based curriculum that they're going to be implementing, how they’re going to be supporting staff, how they're going to be ensuring the fidelity of, of the implementation. And again, supporting staff. These are big, big things, I think, with staff support and professional development throughout every one of these that we are mentioning, when it comes to direct services for children and families.

Sharon: And I think, again, really not for today but, I think folks, if they've read the Standards around home-based, they're going to find that they're clear, they're all in one place, and they are very clear requirements, whereas before a lot of programs were doing an excellent job, but it was really based on best practices, what we know, and not requirements. And so, now, this is the opportunity to –

Dr. Enriquez: Another thing that's important, and particularly curriculum requirements, is the fact that parental engagement is weaved in through all of these areas, as well.

Ann: The next area, and I know we've gotten many, many questions already, on the quality rating and improvement systems, as well as data systems. Again, if you look at 1302.53(b)(2), a program with the exception of American Indian/Alaska Native must participate in a state or local QRIS system if, and note the if, and there are three bullets: If it's state or local QRIS accepts Head Start monitoring data to document quality indicators, included in the state's tiered system. If participation would not impact the program’s ability to comply with the Head Start Performance Standards, and if the program has not provided the Office of Head Start with a compelling reason not to comply with this requirement. Clearly, there is variability across states, and some states there are very sophisticated systems, and Head Starts are already participating. Other states are slower, and we recognize that. But to the extent that you are able and must, again, there's another year of, again, we're getting August 1, 2017 effective date. The other issue that is sort of under this area is data systems. Again, this 1302.53(b)(3), again a program with the exception of American Indian/Alaska Native programs, unless they would like to and to the extent that – unless American Indian/Alaska Native programs would like to and to the extent practical, should integrate and share relevant data with state education systems to the extent practical. We have seen some states, already Head Start programs are going great guns, and are figured out ways to do this.

Again, we know that for some this is a lift, and to the extent it is practical, we are saying, we would like this to be demonstrated by August 1, 2017.

Sharon: And I would say, this, this effective date also gives us the opportunity in our office to put all our pieces in place to support regions and to support programs, and really to do an analysis of where states are, and where Head Start programs are operating now. So that's –

Ann: And I think this is where our ideas, our monitoring – Lina, if she's in the room, shared with us the other day that she sat down with the Office of Child Care to learn more about the QRIS. And again, our Child Care colleagues have been living this since the onset, and we are looking to them to help inform us about, sort of, what each state is doing. I think the next area that has already been in our great interest for programs, is the criminal background check procedures. And they are found in 1302.90(b)(2). And this is a change from before. A program has 90 days after an employee is hired to complete the background check proper, and again, by obtaining which ever checklist in 1302.90(b), one would not obtain prior to the data hire. And child abuse and neglect state registries check if available. So, what we're saying is you're still upon hire, upon hire, you got to have either a state or a Tribal criminal check, including fingerprints or an FBI criminal record check. That is before hire. You must have one of those.

Now we're saying, that person can begin working. And again, that person can working, but we do not consider complete, until the other part of that check is done. So they have 90 days in which to do the full completion, but we want to be clear, that doesn't mean that anyone can be with children upon hire without having one of the two. And the other thing that is important is the state registry check. And we know that all states have, that.

But again, we are giving programs until August 1, 2017. But I think this is very important to – and also, what a program must ensure that any newly-hired employer can self-contractor, cannot have supervised, does not have unsupervised access to children until the complete background check has been processed. And again under 1302.90(b)(5), we're now talking about they must have a system in place where they're doing the check once every five years. And again, we can't get into the specifics, but you need to read these, because it's very detailed. This is the one area, Dr. Enriquez, that we are very prescriptive in what a grantee must do.

Sharon: And I would just say that this is another area where we are going to see some technical assistance actually, probably, will show up in the video "Showcase." You know, we have a flowchart, if you will, to understand this in a way that is not just in the narrative. So, again, this is one that has the, a year implementation. I think it's good to talk about it, but the reason we are talking about it is you have time to implement.

Ann: Right. I think the last one we want to mention before we shift into Sharon's, sort of other timeline, are some significant things around staff qualification. The requirement of a child development specialist, for child care, and it's under 1302.91. 1302.91(e)(4)(ii). By August 1, 2018, the child development specialist required for family child care must have at a minimum a bachelorette degree in child development, early childhood education, or related field. The next one is the home visitor qualification. Which again, is under 1302.91(e)(6)(i). A program must ensure home visits providing home-based education services have a minimum of a home-based PDA credential or comparable credential, or equivalent coursework. As part of an associate's or bachelor's. Again, August 1, 2018. And I think, again, as some communities are already there. Other communities it's not going to be as big a lift, like some of our rural communities. But maybe. But, you got a two-year, almost a two-year window. And the last one I want to mention is the coordinated coaching strategy and coaching staff qualification. That again is under 1302.92(c).

Programs must ensure coaches meet staff qualifications consisting with 1302.91(f), and that's a BA in early childhood related field, and must implement a research-based coordinated coaching strategies for educational staff. Again, there's a cross reference there. So, these are the ones without effective dates. And, you know, we kind of read through them several times to see that the decisions that were made give people sufficient time to do thoughtful planning. And, I think, Sharon, people are going to be interested in the other timeline. And again, this, the document that I read from, if you haven't already identified it on ECLKC, you can easily do that and download it as a separate PDF.

Sharon: That's great. Yeah, and I think the PI gives a nice summary of those in which year, so that's also really helpful.

Ann: Yeah, and what I –

Sharon: Did you want me to go now? Ann: Sure.

Sharon: What I wanted to talk about just briefly because, we wanted to make really clear what is the difference between the effective dates, and you'll see it as compliance dates or effective dates, as Ann just described, is extended time, periods of time where programs really need to be planful, and, and study, and look at their community, and figure things out, versus what shows up in the regulations around – [Inaudible] Alana has pulled it up – around timeframes required in the Standards that many of you are very familiar with. As you think about your work with children and families within your community. And so, what this tool is – and that's what it is. It's a tool. It has excerpts from the Performance Standards, everything that we believe is related to specific timelines.

And so, a lot of what you'll see is coming, and it's listed out by parts and subparts. You know, we call the heart and soul of the, all of the parts are important, but program operations is really, I don't know how you describe that, Dr. Enriquez, very eloquently. But, everything you really need to know about running your program in terms of services. And so, what we've done here is that we've just given you the regulation, we've excerpt the language around the timeline the timeframe, and then we just stated the timeframe.

And so, what we're thinking about, and I can talk a little bit about this. As I said, most of this timeframes, even if you have it in front of you, flip through it. It starts with Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment, and Attendance, where it's telling you, in this case in the middle, a program must train management and staff members who make eligibility determinations within 90 days of hiring new staff. So, there you go. There's a timeframe. We've captured that for you and we put that over there on the right-hand side, within 90 days. If you move on, as another example in education and child development program services in subpart (c), you'll see what you are already familiar with in terms of screening, which is within the 45 calendar days of when a child first attends a program. So again, this is really just to make a distinction between what those effective dates are, for your program, and the time you have to really planning for, whether it has to do with the duration issue you described, or thinking about your curriculum. Right? Is it the right one given what we're requiring? These really summarize for you across the different parts, and subparts, the timeframes.

And so, the only thing I would say is you get to the end there, we did not go into the part 1304 for our federal administrative procedures. That would have been a little crazy. So. And, what we hope is that is useful as you think about, you know, while the Standards are shorter, there's still 112 [Inaudible] So, this is really helping you think about, as you think about, you know, your services, you know, you'll able to really focus in on, in this case, on timelines. You know, another – you know, this one was shared with you in preparation for this call. But, Alana tells me that in the future we're going to be putting all these in the video Showcase.

So for example, we're working on another one that will be helpful to you, which is staff qualifications and competencies. So, talking a look at that and summarizing that all in one research in a similar format. And we'll be looking to do that around several things. We'll be doing that around culture and language, and waivers, and lots of these areas so that we can all have this opportunity to think about the specific, in this case, timeframes, or staff qualifications. And so, as always, since we are the government, we do have a footer that says that you really should go back to the complete standard to read it. We think it's accurate. And we also reference here a difference between, again, an effective or compliant table versus the timeframe. So.

Alana: People can find this document under "Presenting the Standards." It's the bottom left box, it's bright purple.

Sharon: That's great. So I think, that was really what I wanted to talk about. And I know what we want to do now is to think about some of the questions that have come in, and we're looking about how we might answer some of those questions, given the timeframe we have. And, we actually had a few questions that came in from the webcast that I think also might be helpful, and maybe they're going to be duplicated. One of the people may ask the same questions. And so, one of the questions that we have been asked, and I'll ask it and, I guess, I'll answer it, is you know, whether there will be a crosswalk of the old and new Performance Standards.

And so, we won't be providing a crosswalk of the old and new Standards. I don't know, Dr. Enriquez, you have some thoughts on this in terms of thinking about our approach to the Standards, from a fresh perspective. And it's helpful to really read them as they are. And then, we also know that, I know you wanted to share that about the reorganization.

Dr. Enriquez: Right. We – As you take a look at the Performance Standards, we have reorganized them. We have renumbered them. And, it is best for most staff members to just focus on the new numbering system, on the new reorganization rather than go back to the old and come back to the new. Then you get confused. The old is no longer relevant, is no longer a regulation. So programs need to focus on the new regulation, and non – those numbers, and learn that organization.

Sharon: Yeah. That's perfect. And, thank you Dr. Enriquez. And I think that, obviously when we're out having those opportunities to interface with groups of grantees who are TAs, you know, we'll be able to articulate, you know, what, what is familiar to them and what is new. So, it's not like we won't talk about them, it's just that we're not doing an official crosswalk reg by reg. So, that's one thing that may be helpful. The other one I reiterated is that at the beginning where people wanted to know whether we'll have it in Spanish. And again, that will be coming by the end of September. So that's another question. And Ann, how are your questions coming over there?

Ann: Well, right. We're just doing well. We're getting a lot of questions. And actually, the questions tell me that people reading the Standards because boy they are in deep. [Laughter]

Ann: And I'm not sure we're getting that deep today. We're sort of put the foot in the water. But some people so immersed, which actually showing wonderful.

–: Great.

Ann: One thing that we didn't say, that I think we should, is a question that was asked. These Standards never trump the Act.

Sharon: Yep. That's a good. That's one of the questions we've had. And the answer is no. They do not supersede the Act. Right? The Act is the law, and the Standards are the implementing regulations, which has now been revised. So –

Ann: So, I'm going to ask some of my colleagues here. I think we had a really interesting one that I think will answer lots of questions about – We speak about full-day full-year, and then we talk about 1020 hours. And one can say, "Well, 1020 hours is really, I don't know, it doesn't necessarily turn out to be a full day for me." But, we got a question in, and basically said, you know, that the requirements operate 1020 hours per year, and more flexibility given to grantees, to provide the services. Our question is if we provide 1100 hours over 11 months, is the program still considered a full-year, full-day program? And, Maggie, can you help us out with that?

Maggie Quinn: Sure. So, a lot of times we, we have talked about full-day, full-year programs. But really, we want to remind folks that were sort of using that as short hand. So, we heard comments about what was confusing to folks, so we want to remind you that the only requirements are really what is written in the Standards. And you'll notice that full-day, full-year is actually not in the service duration section in 1302 subpart b. And the requirement is to provide 1020 annual hours. And that's a minimum. So if you want to provide 1100 hours per year, you're going at least a minimum eight months per year, then you're meeting that requirement. So, we just wanted to remind you that the requirements are the words that are written in the Standards, not, sort of, what people are talking about as full-day, full-year. That's the minimum.

Sharon: It's great. I mean, we have had the opportunity to have questions come in through the "Contact Us" box on the ECLKC. We're getting them also through program specialists, and this is a great opportunity that I think, in its more impromptu fashion, we're able to respond. So, there is a couple, couple answers I'll give. One, this webcast will be made available. And so, as you know, the transcript always has to be made available. But what we – That's a lot of questions that we would actually probably not be able to go through. Not because we don't want to. But what we're trying to do is really call out what are those ones that are frequently asked that we should answer that would really help people put them in a logical bucket, that they'll show up in the video "Showcase." We're also using these types of questions, all of them that we couldn't even keep up reading, to route into the technical assistance. So, we make sure that we are ready to respond if it makes sense, we want to make sure that we – The family-style meal, for example. That one will find its away, along with the coaching, looking at that, and others. So, my answer is, we're not going to be answering every single question. But what we're doing is using all of this data to support our continual looking at the – Even, since we're going to be visiting with you every month, this third Wednesday, from 2:00 - 3:30, we may even use some of this information to help drive what is our next topic, for example. I don't know. I hope this makes people feel – Otherwise, we will just be sitting here and answering questions, and not being able to actually do more of the work.

Ann: Sharon, that makes sense. Dr. Enriquez, we're going to turn it over to you for last comments. And we want thank people for being patient on the line. And we hope that all the voices came through, and what we did answer was clear. And, we hope to see you, same channel, same time, this time, third Wednesday of next month. Dr. Enriquez: Absolutely. Ladies and gentleman, thank you so much. I want you to know that we fully understand and appreciate the tremendous effort that you are engaged in right in both implementing the program, and learning the new Standards. Please keep calm. Keep positive. Look at the effective dates. A lot of the regulations, you are already implementing. Look at the comparison as to how you need to address some of them. Remember we said it doesn't have to be done overnight. And please continue to support your staff in doing this work. Just like the Office of Head Start is supporting you in learning the Performance Standards, and in implementing the Performance Standards. Alana took us through the various tools that are already up on ECLKC, or will be up on ECLKC that you can use to train the staff, to review, to discuss, to share with both your governing board, your policy council, your parents. So that it can be come, again, a family affair. Head Start is about family.

Head Start is about children, and that's what we want you to do as you embrace the new Standards for Head Start. We wish you the best, and as Ann said, we hope to, we look forward to talking to you again next month. Have a good day.

[End video]