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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, February 12, 2007
Contact: ACF Press Office
(202) 401-9215
Report on Head Start Assessment System Released
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- A diverse panel of experts has delivered a report containing several recommendations for the Head Start National Reporting System (NRS). The NRS assesses the progress of 4- and 5-year-old Head Start children, focusing on key school readiness skills including early literacy and math, as well as social and emotional adjustment.
“We welcome this advice from an independent panel of distinguished professionals,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. “I look forward to considering the recommendations as we continue to improve the utility of the National Reporting System.”
The secretary of HHS established the Advisory Committee on Head Start Accountability and Educational Performance Measures in April 2004 to assess the Head Start program’s progress in developing and implementing the NRS and to make recommendations for integrating the NRS into ongoing efforts to assess Head Start’s effectiveness. The committee made several recommendations in its new report:
- Continue to assess all students and provide results to Head Start classrooms in a timely manner. Integrate the NRS into local assessment approaches, or consider letting the NRS replace local assessments when the information is duplicative.
- Make clear, to Head Start teachers, the link between NRS results and technical assistance goals. Establish a clearinghouse of resources, research and best practices for Head Start instructors.
- Determine appropriate gains and outcome levels so programs meet their intended goals.
- Continue pilot testing the computer-assisted, adaptive approaches to the NRS.
“This report is the result of almost two years of meetings and discussions,” said Dr. Susan Landry, the chair of the committee and the Michael Matthew Knight Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “We concluded that the need for the NRS is clear. Without one universal system, it is impossible to reliably identify those programs that need more technical assistance and to tailor such assistance to each program’s specific needs. Our report makes a number of recommendations to improve the NRS and make it even more useful to HHS’ Office of Head Start and to individual Head Start programs.”
The committee members include:
- Dr. Don Bailey, distinguished fellow, RTI International
- Dr. Thomas D. Cook, professor of sociology, Northwestern University
- Dr. Victoria R. Fu, professor of human development, University of Virginia
- Dr. Vera F. Gutierrez-Clellen, professor, San Diego State University
- Dr. Ron Haskins, senior fellow, The Brookings Institution
- Dr. Susan H. Landry (Chair), Michael Matthew Knight professor and chief, Division of Developmental Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Sciences Center
- Dr. Christopher J. Lonigan, associate director, Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University
- Dr. Donald A. Rock, senior associate, Center for Global Assessment, Educational Testing Services
- Dr. Prentice Starkey, associate professor, University of California, Berkeley
- Dr. Dorothy Strickland, senior research fellow, Rutgers University
Ex officio members include Dr. Horn and Mr. Jerry Regier, principal deputy assistant secretary in the office of the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at HHS.
For the full report, go to: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/budget/AdvCmteSep05/FINAL_SAC_NRS_Report_Jan2007.pdf
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news