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News Release
HHS Issues Head Start Management InitiativeHHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today released a new report outlining an initiative to promote effective management practices in Head Start programs. The "Head Start Management Initiative," is focused on administrative practices and builds on earlier efforts to ensure that Head Start children enter school ready to learn. "With more than 900,000 children currently in the care of the Head Start and Early Head Start programs, we need to address every aspect of the program to ensure that we're doing our best," Secretary Thompson said. "Good education results require good administrative practices, and effective administration of the nation's 1,670 Head Start grantees plays an important part in achieving our goals for Head Start families." The management initiative has two major goals:
Efforts to improve Head Start focused initially on the educational elements of Head Start as part of President Bush's Early Childhood Literacy Initiative. This included developing and implementing a new reporting system to assess Head Start children's educational progress, strengthening early literacy and language development instruction and improving Head Start training programs. While continuing these efforts to improve early literacy and language development, HHS is also focusing on increasing accountability for resource use as well. This initiative helps ensure that resources entrusted to Head Start programs are well managed and used wisely. Key elements of the initiative include:
"The Head Start Management Initiative addresses the challenges of the new century and the needs of children and families who rely on Head Start for quality early childhood education and services. By strengthening and improving the program, President Bush and Secretary Thompson are working to make Head Start more efficient and accountable so children have better outcomes as they prepare for school," said Wade Horn, Ph.D., assistant secretary for children and families. HHS' Administration for Children and Families oversees the Head Start program. Head Start's 1,670 grantees oversee about 47,000 classrooms, with a total of about 54,000 teachers and 51,000 assistant teachers serving more than 900,000 children. Head Start's total budget this year is $6.8 billion this year, or about $7,000 per enrolled child. More information about the Head Start Bureau is available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb. ### Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. Last Revised: May 13, 2004 |