| Celebrating 7 Years of Opportunity | Achieving Excellence Awards | Vision 2020 | Research Developments | Early Learning Coalition | FAQ's |
Head
Start: Investing in Excellence
7th Annual Wisconsin Head Start Association Training Conference
February 2-4, 2009
Kalahari Waterpark Resort & Convention Center, Wisconsin Dells
WHSA is now accepting training session proposals for its 7th Annual Training Conference, Head Start: Investing in Excellence! Interested individuals should complete a 2009 WHSA Training Session Call for Proposal Form and return it to WHSA by Friday, October 3, 2008 (submission instructions are on the form).
Our Conference attracts 450-500 Head Start and Early Head Start program directors, parents, staff, managers, and community partners. We are seeking training session presenters to inform our diverse audience of innovative practical experiences, programs, and applied research in the following content areas:
-
Community Partnerships
-
Early Childhood Development and Education
-
Early Head Start
-
Health, Wellness, and Safety
-
Leadership, Professional, and Organizational Development
-
Program Design & Management
-
Regional Priorities & ACF Federal Initiatives
-
Supporting Families
-
Tribal & Migrant Program Issues
Please contact the WHSA office at 608-442-6879 with any questions. We look forward to receiving your proposals!
Are you interested in exhibiting or vending at Head Start: Investing in Excellence? If so, please complete a 2009 WHSA Conference Exhibit Contract at return it to the WHSA office.
HELP! How do I apply for my child's enrollment in Head Start or Early Head Start?
To get an application for a child's enrollment in Head Start or Early Head Start, you will need to contact the local program(s) in your county. You can find contact information for your local program(s) using our interactive map on our Head Start Program Info page. Once on the page, click on your county to view program contact information. When calling the program, ask to speak with someone about enrollment.
Celebrating Seven Years of Opportunity
On December 12, 2007 President Bush signed the Head Start Reauthorization bill which assures Head Start's reauthorization for the next five years. The Act posses new challenges for Head Start and Early Head Start programs, but most importantly it's enactment signals a time for celebration in the Head Start community.
At the WHSA Winter Quarterly held in January, Dr. Tim Nolan, Executive Director of the National Centers for Learning Excellence, Inc., delivered "Seven Years of Opportunity to Excel--The Charge to Head Start Leaders and the Charge to WHSA" to the general assembly. Dr. Nolan stressed the importance of embracing the new challenges presented by Reauthorization.
To thrive over the coming years Head Start MUST:
-
Provide leadership to the early childhood quality movement nationally and within each state,
-
Deepen the strengths of each Head Start agency, and
-
Achieve the changes that come from Head Start Reauthorization.
You can view Dr. Nolan's presentation and its accompanying powerpoint using the following link:
Seven Years of Opportunity to Excel
UPDATES: Since the taping of the presentation, the Office of Head Start revealed that Head Start's .15% funding cut (10.6 million) would be absorbed at the Federal level and NOT passed on to local programs. Additionally, OHS has provided guidance regarding the enrollment of children from families at 100-130% of the federal poverty income guideline in Information Memorandum HS-08-03. You can keep abreast of Head Start Reauthorization questions and answers at the ACF Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC).
-
The 22nd Annual Achieving Excellence Awards Luncheon will take place on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at the Heidel House Resort in Green Lake as part of the WHSA Fall Quarterly meeting.
WHSA Parent Affiliate "Positive Opportunities for Parents" (POP) Scholarship Winners
KATRINA MEADE Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Services Head Start Program
TINA PAULEY CESA 2/Jefferson County Head Start Program
FELICIA SATHER CESA 11 Head Start Program
WHSA Staff Affiliate Scholarship Winners
Corrine "Corky" Mikus Memorial Scholarship
ROBIN WAUCHOP Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Services Head Start Program
John Erickson Memorial Scholarship
CHRISTINA JOHNSON ADVOCAP Head Start Program
Joyce E. Wilcox Memorial Scholarship
CLAUDIA ROQUE ADVOCAP Head Start Program
Staff Affiliate Scholarship
DEBRA ROCHE UW-Oshkosh Head Start Program
Community Partners Awards
WHSA is currently accepting nominations for our 2008 Community Partner Achieving Excellence Awards. Wisconsin Head Start and Early Head Start programs are invited to nominate their local/community, legislative (local, state, national) or state/national partners. Please complete a nomination form and a narrative description of the nominee's contributions to your program. Nominations are due at the WHSA office by FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2008.
2007 Achieving Excellence Award Recipients
POP Scholarships
Anne Kolasch
Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services Head Start Program
Linda Fremouw
CESA 11 Head Start Program
Staff Affiliate Scholarships
Debra Christensen, Corrine "Corky" Mikus Memorial
Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services Head Start Program
Sharon Schmidt, John Erickson Memorial
UW-Oshkosh Head Start Program
Susan Larson, Joyce E. Wilcox Memorial
UW-Oshkosh Head Start Program
Sharon Sanderson, Staff Affiliate
Indianhead Community Action Agency Head Start Program
Community Partners
Blair-Taylor Early Learning Center
Nominated by Western Dairyland EOC, Inc. Head Start Program
John Hart, Photographer, Watertown Daily Times
Nominated by Jefferson County/CESA #2 Head Start Program
Carrie Stempski, RDH, BS, CDHC, Brown County Oral Health Partnership
Nominated by the Green Bay Area Public Schools Head Start Program
VISION 2020: Campaign to End Child Poverty
A Perfect Vision for Wisconsin
For many of us, Wisconsin
provides a great environment in which to live and build healthy
families. Unfortunately, not all of our state's families share in
this economic prosperity. Poverty is the leading obstacle to
opportunity and in 2005 over 179,000 Wisconsin children lived below the
poverty line. That's a group of kids larger than the populations
of Green Bay and Appleton combined facing what are often insurmountable
barriers to successful futures. Clearly, we have ample room
to improve our commitments to children living in poverty and to
their unfulfilled futures. The Vision 2020 campaign, a
collaborative effort between the Wisconsin Head Start Association
(WHSA), the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF), and the
Wisconsin
Community Action Program Association (WISCAP), seeks to eliminate child poverty in Wisconsin by the year 2020.
We believe all families deserve living wages, safe and healthy communities in which to live and grow, and access to affordable and quality healthcare and education. It is necessary to meet these needs if we expect to provide healthy futures for Wisconsin kids, families, and communities. With the Vision 2020 campaign we aim to:
-
increase awareness of child poverty and its adverse impacts on our communities;
-
discuss, develop, and implement practical policy solutions that address root causes of child poverty in Wisconsin;
-
encourage individuals, organizations, communities, and policymakers to take action to eliminate child poverty;
-
and convince policymakers to make the eradication of child poverty their top legislative priority.
We hope you share our excitement about this visionary yet practical approach to ending child poverty in Wisconsin and that you will join with us as we embark on this new initiative! To learn more about Vision 2020, read the Vision 2020 Report Card: Moving All Wisconsin Families Forward, or to get involved, please visit our website at www.2020wi.org. We urge you to begin your commitment to end child poverty by filling out the Vision 2020 Pledge Card. We are all part of this campaign. Help us create solutions that will ensure that no one in Wisconsin is denied a healthy economic future.
The Vision 2020 Powerpoint from this year's Women and Poverty Conference is available for your viewing here. It will introduce you to the Campaign, demonstrate the need for a comprehensive Vision, address why YOU should care, and provide policy recommendations to make the elimination of child poverty a reality!
Vision 2020 in the News
"The Rise of Poverty and Opportunity," a July 2007 publication of the Center of Law and Social Policy (CLASP), lists Vision 2020 in its update on developing state and local poverty actions. Please click on the link to read the entire publication, "The Rise of Poverty and Opportunity."
Please see our "Related Links" page for further research links.
In the May 2008 research brief "Child-Care Survey Reveals Cost Constrains Quality," Milwaukee's Public Policy Forum published the results of their child care provider survey in which they queried 414 child care providers in southeastern Wisconsin on child care quality markers like accreditation, charges and subsidies, child care staff instructional philosophies, and professional development. They found that "cost as well as low wages and lack of benefits for workers can constrain providers from pursuing improvements to child-care quality." The brief details key findings and their policy implications, like the "need for policy makers to structure financial support for providers in ways that add organizational capacity and create incentives for providers to pursue quality improvements." The Public Policy Forum will continue to grapple with the questions "how can public policy encourage higher quality care?" and "will the benefits outweigh the costs?" in a future research brief enumerating the costs and benefits of investment in early childhood care.
From June 26-27, 2008 the National Governor's Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child held the "National Symposium on Early Childhood Science and Policy" in Cambridge, MA. The Symposium "was designed to build leadership capacity in the states for developing and implementing science-based policies that enhance children’s learning, behavior, and health" and built on the findings of "A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy." You can view webcast recordings of select presentations using the above link to the Symposium webpage. Available webcasts include:
-
The Science of Child Development and the Future of Early Childhood Policy;
-
Lessons Learned from Public-Private Partnerships;
-
The Impact of Early Adversity on Brain Development;
-
What Research Tells us About Early Childhood Program Effectiveness;
-
Improving Quality in Early Childhood Programs;
-
Delivering High-Value Services to Vulnerable Children;
-
and Learning from State Experience: Executive and Legislative Perspectives.
"The Benefits and Cost of Head Start," a recent article by Jens Ludwig (U. of Chicago) and Deborah Phillips (Georgetown) published in the Society for Research in Child Development's Social Policy Report (2007 v. XXI, no. 3), examines the effectiveness of Head Start programs using benefit-cost analysis. The article aims to answer whether or not Head Start programs produce both short and long-term benefits in excess of their costs, making the paper especially relevant given pending Head Start Reauthorization. Ludwig and Phillips conclude that, yes, "there is an accumulating body of suggestive evidence that Head Start is capable of generating long-term benefits and passes a benefit-cost test" (p.16). According to the authors, the next step is to continue research seeking to determine where further investment in early childhood education and care should be made. The issue is not if investments should be made, but rather "how, how much, and how soon" (17) to invest.
To read the article in PDF, click on the link: "The Benefits and Costs of Head Start."
The Public Policy Forum, a Milwaukee-based organization seeking to "promote sound and innovative policy solutions," has initiated a project that aims "to establish the costs and benefits of high quality early childhood education in southeast Wisconsin." As part of the initiative, the Forum has created a comprehensive matrix of existing research on early childhood education. The matrix allows for easy comparison of findings on individual and societal benefits arising from early education. Generally, the existing research shows a connection between higher quality early childhood programs and long-term benefits including:
-
improved school readiness
-
improved social skills
-
higher IQ scores
-
higher standardized test scores
-
decreased crime and delinquency
-
and greater earning capacity.
To view the matrix of existing research, click on the link: "Research on Early Childhood Education Outcomes."
Wisconsin Early Learning Coalition
Stand Together for Quality Early Care and Education
Disability Rights Wisconsin · Milwaukee Child Care Alliance · Supporting Families Together Association · Wisconsin Alliance for Infant Mental Health · Wisconsin Child Care Administrators Association · Wisconsin Council on Children and Families · Wisconsin Council for Exceptional Children, Division of Early Childhood · Wisconsin Early Childhood Association · Wisconsin Education Association Council · Wisconsin Family Child Care Association · Wisconsin Head Start Association
The members of the Early Learning Coalition (a broad-based and diverse alliance representing child care, Head Start, programs serving children with disabilities and special needs, and public schools) believe that high quality learning experiences are important for Wisconsin kids, parents, communities, and economies.
Our Ready, Set, Grow: Early Learning Matters statewide campaign seeks to promote public policies and public investments that make high quality early care and education a top priority in Wisconsin. Together, we collaborate on a legislative agenda and encourage our constituents to get involved in order to move this agenda through state government to affect positive change for children, families, and our profession. To learn more about the campaign and to get involved, please visit our website at http://www.readysetgrowwi.org/.
Early Learning Coalition 2009-11
Proposed Policy Agenda
1. GREAT START QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Wisconsin would
launch a bold new statewide initiative to ensure that children through age 5
have access to high quality early learning opportunities. The centerpiece of
the initiative would be a Great Start grant program that provides resources
directly to programs and parents to improve nurturing and early learning for
children.
2. WISCONSIN SHARES: GREAT START FOR CHILDREN AT RISK
The Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program would provide fiscal
incentives to improve the quality of child care received by children of
low-income working families. These children from low-income families are
precisely the children that research tells us are most at risk for school
failure.
3. ESTABLISH GREAT START EARLY LEARNING COUNCIL
Wisconsin would establish a state-level Great Start Early Learning Council
to examine ways to improve educational opportunities for children through
age 5. The Council would review data and trends in early care and education,
identify needs, coordinate policies across agencies, examine efficient use
of resources, and plan for a system of high quality services available to
families and their children.
4. TIE CHILD CARE TAX DEDUCTION TO QUALITY
Wisconsin’s child care tax deduction would be doubled when parents use a
high quality child care setting for children through age 5. For those who
have insufficient income to receive the tax deduction, a tax credit would be
available. The concept is to use the tax system to encourage parents to
place their children in higher quality child care settings.
Who should I contact to find out about:
the STATE SUPPLEMENTAL GRANT?
Jill Haglund, Early Childhood Consultant
Department of Public Instruction (DPI)
125 S. Webster St.
P.O. Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
(p) 608-267-9625
(f) 608-267-3746
CHILD CARE LICENSING?
Anne Carmody, Child Care Program Specialist
Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS)
Division of Children & Family Services, Bureau of Regulation & Licensing (BRL)
1 W. Wilson St.
P.O. Box 8916
Madison, WI 53708-8916
(p) 608-266-9314
(f) 608-267-7252
the REGIONAL OFFICE?
William Sullivan, Region V (MN and WI) Team Administrator
(p) 312-886-4917
Where can I find information about Head Start:
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS and other REGULATIONS?
Note: As of March 25, 2008, Policy Clarifications are categorized as either "requirement" or "informal guidance."
"Requirement" is where an individual requests clarification of the meaning of requirements that exist in statute or regulation. Answers to all questions in this category will contain one or more statutory/regulatory citation(s) below the narrative under the statement "Requirement". "Requirements" may or may not allow for some discretion on the part of the grantee, however, compliance with the "requirement" is a condition to receive Head Start grant funds.
"Informal Guidance" is where an individual requests clarification concerning a particular issue not addressed in statute or regulation. Answers to questions in this category provide informal Office of Head Start guidance to the individual making the request. These answers are not binding and do not require any specific course of action be followed. Grantees have full discretion in this category. Answers to questions in this category will not contain statutory/regulatory citation(s) below the narrative.
Contact Us:
Wisconsin Head Start Association
122 E. Olin Avenue, Suite 110 · Madison, WI 53713
Phone: 608-442-6879 · Fax: 608-442-442-7672