[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 14, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6503-6506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-02902]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
45 CFR Part 1304
RIN 0970-AC63
Head Start Designation Renewal System Improvements
AGENCY: Office of Head Start (OHS), Administration for Children and
Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Request for comments; re-issue.
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SUMMARY: OHS issues this request for comments to invite public feedback
on information we inadvertently omitted from the ``CLASS Condition of
the Head Start Designation Renewal System,'' request for comments,
published on December 8, 2017. The document withdrawing the ``CLASS
Condition of the Head Start Designation Renewal System'' request for
comments is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
This request for comments is similar to the withdrawn publication in
that it invites the public to comment on specific changes OHS is
considering for the CLASS condition, as well as other Designation
Renewal System (DRS) conditions and processes more broadly.
Additionally, OHS seeks
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comments on ways it can: Incentivize robust competition to include new
applicants, facilitate smooth transitions when there is a new grantee
as a result of competition, and improve the DRS processes. The comment
period is 30 days to allow for the public to address the additional
issues in this reissued request for comments. We will consider comments
submitted under the ``CLASS Condition of the Head Start Designation
Renewal System'' request for comments.
DATES: Submit comments by March 16, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by [docket number and/or
RIN number], by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow instructions for sending comments. We prefer to receive comments
via this method.
Mail: Office of Head Start, Attention: Colleen Rathgeb,
Director, Division of Planning, Oversight and Policy, 330 C Street SW,
Washington, DC 20024.
Instructions: All submissions received must include our agency name
and the docket number or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) for this
notice. All comments will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. We
accept anonymous comments. If you wish to remain anonymous, enter ``N/
A'' in the required fields.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colleen Rathgeb, Director, Division of
Planning, Oversight and Policy, Office of Head Start,
[[email protected]], (202) 358-3263 (not a toll-free call).
Deaf and hearing impaired individuals may call the Federal Dual Party
Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern
Standard Time.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Consistent with the December 8, 2017,
publication (82 FR 57905), OHS invites public comment on several
specific changes being considered for the CLASS condition of the DRS as
outlined in the Head Start Program Performance Standards. We also
invite public comment on other improvements to the DRS based on
feedback from stakeholders, grantees, and the results of the DRS
implementation evaluation. In particular, we are considering changes to
the CLASS condition with a goal of improving implementation and
transparency of the DRS. Changes being considered include removal of
the ``lowest 10 percent'' provision of the CLASS condition, an increase
of the minimum thresholds for the Emotional Support and Classroom
Organization domains to a score of 5, removal of the minimum threshold
for the Instructional Support domain, and establishment of authority
for the Secretary to set an absolute minimum threshold for the
Instructional Support domain prior to the start of each fiscal year to
be applied for DRS CLASS reviews in the same fiscal year. OHS requests
feedback on these possible changes and alternative changes to the CLASS
condition. Particularly in ways the Instructional Support and other
thresholds could be set and/or adjusted that would incentivize
continuous program improvement while acknowledging the current state of
the field. OHS also invites feedback on other conditions of the DRS and
the way it is implemented.
Background Information
The Head Start program provides grants to local public and private
non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive education
and child development services to economically disadvantaged children,
from birth to age five, and families and to help young children develop
the skills they need to be successful in school. Our agencies provide
these families comprehensive services to support children's cognitive,
social, and emotional development. In addition to education services,
agencies provide children and their families with health, nutrition,
social, and other services.
To drive program quality improvement, the Improving Head Start for
School Readiness Act of 2007, Public Law 110-134, (the Act) required
HHS to develop a system to facilitate designation of Head Start
grantees delivering a high-quality and comprehensive program for a
period of 5 years and required grantees not delivering high-quality and
comprehensive services to enter open competition for continued funding.
Prior to the Act, when HHS designated a Head Start agency, it remained
a Head Start grantee indefinitely unless the grantee either
relinquished funding or HHS terminated its grant.
To meet the requirement in the Act, HHS established the DRS, which
is described in 45 CFR 1304.10 through 16. The DRS includes seven
conditions. If an agency meets any of the seven conditions, it must
compete with other providers in the community for renewed grant
funding. The seven conditions are: (1) A deficiency under section
641A(c)(1)(A), (C), or (D) of the Act; (2) failure to establish,
utilize, and analyze children's progress on agency-established School
Readiness goals; (3) scores below minimum thresholds in the Classroom
Assessment Scoring System: Pre-K (CLASS) domains or in the lowest 10
percent in any of the three domains of the agencies monitored in a
given year unless the average score is equal to or above the standard
of excellence; (4) revocation of a license to operate a center or
program; (5) suspension from the program; (6) debarment from receiving
federal or state funds or disqualified from the Child and Adult Care
Food Program; or (7) an audit finding of at risk for failing to
continue as ``a going concern.'' The Act also requires HHS to
periodically evaluate whether or not the DRS criteria are applied in a
manner that is transparent, reliable, and valid.
Section 641(c)(1)(D) of the Act requires the DRS to be based in
part on classroom quality as measured under section 641A(c)(2)(F),
which refers to a valid and reliable research-based observational
instrument, implemented by qualified individuals with demonstrated
reliability that assesses classroom quality. To include assessing
multiple dimensions of teacher-child interactions that is linked to
positive child development and later achievement. The third condition
of the DRS is based on use of the CLASS, which is an observational
measurement tool for assessing the quality of teacher-child
interactions and classroom processes in three broad domains that
support children's learning and development: Emotional Support,
Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support.
Changes to DRS Under Consideration
Since HHS established the DRS, all grantees that had indefinite
project periods have completed the DRS process. Based on CLASS data,
observations collected throughout these cohorts, results of a recent
evaluation, and feedback from the community, we are considering changes
to the DRS in order to better improve implementation of the system,
including changes to the CLASS condition.
The CLASS Condition
There are concerns about some aspects of the CLASS condition of the
DRS that have been raised by Head Start grantees as well as in the
recent evaluation. First, the requirement for grantees with the lowest
10 percent of scores on any of the three CLASS domains to compete may
not be optimally targeting the grantees for competition with the lowest
measures of classroom quality. For example, grantees have been required
to compete due to an Emotional Support score of
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5.69, which is very close to the Standard of Excellence (a 6--which
developers of the CLASS deem the highest quality). In addition,
grantees scoring slightly higher than the minimum threshold in
Instructional Support (e.g., score of 2.3) do not have to compete
unless they fall into the lowest 10 percent of all grantees' scores for
Instructional Support, which has been very close to the minimum
threshold. We are considering an approach to establish higher specific
thresholds that demonstrate an established acceptable level of quality
in Emotional Support and Classroom Organization and an adjustable
threshold for the Instructional Support domain where there is the
greatest potential and need for program improvement.
Second, we understand that the delay between completion of the
CLASS review and grantees knowing their DRS designation status, due to
the need to collect and analyze a full monitoring year's CLASS scores
to determine the lowest 10 percent. This creates uncertainty, stress,
and concern among grantees, grantee staff, and families. Because
classroom quality in Head Start programs is improving as demonstrated
by recent analysis of data from the 2006, 2009, and 2014, cohorts of
the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES),\1\ we are
exploring options for the CLASS condition that would better balance an
ability to drive quality improvement over time with an approach that
would be more transparent, timely, and less burdensome for programs.
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\1\ Aikens, N., Bush, C., Gleason, P., Malone, L., & Tarullo, L.
(2016). Tracking Quality in Head Start Classrooms: FACES 2006 to
FACES 2014. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
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To inform our development of a notice of proposed rulemaking to
change the DRS CLASS condition to meet the objectives described above,
we are requesting public comments on several specific changes being
considered. The changes under consideration are as follows:
1. Remove the ``lowest 10 percent'' provision of the CLASS
condition described in 45 CFR 1304.11(c)(2).
2. Increase the minimum threshold described in 45 CFR
1304.11(c)(1)(i) for the Emotional Support domain from 4 to 5.
3. Increase the minimum threshold described in 45 CFR
1304.11(c)(1)(ii) for Classroom Organization from 3 to 5.
4. Remove the minimum threshold for the Instructional Support
domain described in 45 CFR 1304.11(c)(1)(iii) and instead provide
authority for the Secretary to set an absolute minimum threshold for
the Instructional Support domain, considering the most recent CLASS
data, by August 1 of each year to be used for CLASS Reviews conducted
in the following fiscal year (October 1 through September 30).
Together, these changes would allow grantees to know by August 1,
before CLASS Reviews are conducted for the coming fiscal year, the
exact threshold of classroom quality in each of the three domains that
will be used to determine which grantees will be subject to an open
competition for funding and which grantees will receive renewed funding
non-competitively. Grantees would no longer have to wait until several
months following the conclusion of the CLASS reviews for the fiscal
year (September 30) to learn the lowest 10 percent cutoff in each of
the 3 domains. Setting minimum thresholds of 5 in the Emotional Support
and Classroom Organization domains would set a clear and consistent
expectation of quality for all Head Start programs. Allowing the
Secretary to set the minimum threshold in the Instructional Support
domain prior to the start of each program year and monitoring year
would allow for consideration of the most recent CLASS data for Head
Start grantees while still supporting continuous quality improvement
across the program as a whole.
Other Areas of Improvement
In addition to the CLASS condition, we are interested in receiving
feedback about other conditions and improvements that could be made to
DRS. This includes actions we can take without regulatory changes to
ensure the DRS process is transparent, timely, and results in higher
quality programs.
To inform our development of a notice of proposed rulemaking and
continue improving the DRS, we are specifically requesting comments on:
Changes OHS can make to incentivize robust competition,
including ways OHS can ensure there are new and quality applicants at
the local level;
Changes OHS can make to facilitate an orderly transition
between grantees without disrupting services for children (when
recompetition is required and the incumbent does not regain its grant);
and,
Any other administrative changes OHS can make to the
system that do not require regulatory changes, including changes to
monitoring processes and timing of notifications and awards.
What We Are Looking for in Public Comments
We invite comments about the specific changes being considered for
the DRS CLASS condition as well as alternatives to these changes that
would continue to improve program quality, while balancing the need to
continue to provide transparency to grantees about what they will be
measured on and being mindful of burden on grantees. We also invite
comments about any unintended consequences of removing the lowest 10
percent condition and whether an absolute threshold could influence
scores. We are particularly interested in recommendations related to
how the Secretary would consider establishing the minimum threshold for
Instructional Support, including in what increments to raise the
threshold, what data to base the absolute thresholds on, and how often
to revise the threshold. For example, the regulation could establish an
initial Instructional Support threshold (e.g., 2.3 or 2.5) that could
be raised in increments of 0.1 based on certain criteria related to the
available CLASS data from all prior years of Head Start monitoring, or
the threshold could be set one standard deviation below the mean
Instructional Support score over the 3 or 5 previous fiscal years. We
are interested in other ideas of ways the Instructional Support
threshold could be set and/or adjusted that would incentivize program
improvement while acknowledging the current state of the field. We are
also interested in feedback on another potential change to establish or
maintain a minimum absolute threshold (such as a 2) that would require
competition and a higher threshold (such as 2.5 or 3) and require
grantees to focus on quality improvement before they were reevaluated
to see if their Instructional Support score has improved. Only grantees
without improvement or still below the threshold would then have to
compete. We are also interested in whether we should align the approach
for Instructional Support with the other CLASS domains. We are
interested in feedback on each of these possible approaches as well as
others suggested by the field.
If commenters do not support the changes being considered, comments
offering alternative proposals to the CLASS condition, whether changes
to the absolute thresholds or the relative 10 percent threshold, or to
other conditions of the DRS would be particularly helpful.
We are also particularly interested in soliciting feedback on other
changes to DRS implementation that would spur
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local competition and improve the DRS process for grantees.
Ann Linehan,
Acting Director, Office of Head Start.
[FR Doc. 2018-02902 Filed 2-13-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P