[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 13 (Thursday, February 10, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       HEAD START REAUTHORIZATION

                                 ______


                        HON. WILLIAM F. GOODLING

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 1994

  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to cosponsor the Head 
Start Act Amendments to 1994. This bill represents an interbranch, 
bicameral, and bipartisan proposal for the reauthorization of the Head 
Start Program. I think this is a result of the special nature of Head 
Start, but it's also largely due to the willingness of the 
administration and congressional Democrats to hear the message that I 
and my Republican colleagues, including Congresswoman Molinari and 
Senator Kassebaum, have been preaching for many years now. That message 
is that the services provided by Head Start must consistently be of the 
highest quality, and that the level of parent participation in the 
program must be greatly enhanced.
  Congresswoman Molinari and I, along with other colleagues, have 
collaborated within the last year on two pieces of legislation that 
call for bold reforms in Head Start. They are the Head Start Quality 
Improvement Act (H.R. 1528) and the Head Start Enhanced Parental 
Involvement and Family Literacy Act (H.R. 3798).
  The Quality Improvement bill would require the Secretary to establish 
minimum levels of quality to be maintained by all grantees, and to 
enhance monitoring efforts to assure compliance with these standards. 
If a grantee fails to meet the minimum standards, the Secretary would 
provide necessary training and technical assistance to assist in the 
effort to correct the problems. However, if within 1 year the 
deficiencies have not been eliminated the Secretary would be required 
to terminate that grantee. The bill also streamlines the terminations 
appeals process to avoid prolonged court battles and speed the 
transition from terminated poor performers to organizations that can 
operate the program at a sufficiently high level of quality.
  The enhanced parental involvement and family literacy bill would 
require Head Start programs to actively seek the participation of 
parents in activities designed to help them become full partners in the 
education of their children. Head Start programs also would be required 
to provide family literacy services, parenting skills training, and 
other services to assist parents in assuming their role as their 
child's first teacher.
  Virtually all the ideas and concepts contained in these two bills, 
and in fact some large chunks of actual legislative language, are 
incorporated into the legislation we are introducing today. So again, I 
am pleased to cosponsor this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I am particularly pleased that this reauthorization 
proposal includes the provisions from the Enhanced Parental Involvement 
and Family Literacy bill, because those provisions are directed at the 
resource that is limitless with regard to furthering a child's 
education, and which will continue on once the child has left Head 
Start. I am talking about parents.

  I know the parental involvement component of Head Start is one of the 
pillars upon which the program was founded, and that parents that take 
advantage of it are positively affected by it. But we must do more, 
because for every parent that does get involved there is one who 
doesn't. And so, as I said those provisions of the bill will require 
Head Start programs to take measures to increase the level of parental 
involvement so that Head Start will become a truly intergenerational 
program.
  I originally wanted to place the requirement to get involved upon the 
individual parent, instead of on the program. I still feel that this is 
the way to go, because it is time that we make these parents, who 
receive the benefit of enrolling their children in Head Start, step up 
and take responsibility for rearing and educating their children.
  However, requiring programs to seek parental involvement is the 
common ground upon which everyone can agree, and so we have 
incorporated that concept into our bill, with the realized expectation 
that it would be picked up in this bi-partisan reauthorization package. 
I want to make it clear, however, that I, or perhaps one of my 
colleagues, may attempt to amend this reauthorization legislation at a 
later stage to shift the requirement to the parents.
  Beyond enhancing parental involvement, our bill, and the 
reauthorization legislation, also injects the notion of family literacy 
into the Head Start statute for the first time. As the primary 
congressional supporter of Even Start, the Federal family literacy 
program, I am convinced that this type of service would further improve 
the quality of Head Start programs.
  Family literacy is an approach to breaking the pattern of 
undereducation and poverty in the Nation that is passed on within the 
families from one generation to the next. It integrates adult literacy 
instruction and early childhood education to address the needs of the 
entire family, rather than isolated individuals within it. Family 
literacy is based on the premise that parents and children can learn 
together and enhance each other's lives. It restores the family as the 
center for learning.
  When parents and children learn together, an attitude of appreciation 
and respect for education are modeled for the children that paves the 
way for school success. At the same time, parents acquire new skills 
for work and home and a new appreciation of their role as the first 
teacher of their children. The family is strengthened by supporting the 
parents as the first and most important teachers of their children, and 
by developing positive and supportive attitudes about schooling, the 
work and joy of learning, and the connection between education and the 
quality of life.
  One other aspect of this reauthorization bill that was borrowed from 
us is that, in addition to family literacy, Head Start programs would 
be required to provide parenting skills training and other activities 
designed to help parents become full partners in the education of their 
children. Parenting skills training goes hand-in-hand with the concept 
of enhanced parental involvement. All parents must cope with the stress 
of everyday life, and often that stress is greater for low-income 
parents. Parenting skills training would help these parents to look 
past other problems and concentrate on effective techniques for 
interacting with their children.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to express my appreciation to 
Congresswoman Molinari and my other Republican colleagues for working 
closely with me on this important issue, and to the administration and 
my Democrat colleagues for the bipartisan nature with which they have 
approached this reauthorization.

                          ____________________