    Head Start: Increased Percentage of Teachers Nationwide Have
    Required Degrees, but Better Information on Classroom Teachers'
    Qualifications Needed (01-OCT-03, GAO-04-5).

    The 1998 Head Start Act mandated that 50 percent of all Head
    Start teachers nationwide have a minimum of an associate degree
    in early childhood education, or, in a related field with
    preschool teaching experience, by September 30, 2003. This law
    also required that each classroom in center-based programs (those
    that primarily provide services in classroom settings) without
    such a degreed teacher have a teacher with a Child Development
    Associate credential or an equivalent state certificate. In
    preparation for the reauthorization of Head Start in fiscal year
    2003, GAO was asked to examine: (1) the extent to which Head
    Start has met legislative mandates concerning teacher
    qualifications; (2) whether Head Start teachers' salaries have
    increased and enabled grantees to attract and retain teachers
    with degrees; and (3) the extent to which degree and other
    programs in early childhood education are available for Head
    Start teachers and if grantees have taken steps to enhance access
    to them.
    -------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
    REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-5
        ACCNO:   A08633
      TITLE:     Head Start: Increased Percentage of Teachers Nationwide
    Have Required Degrees, but Better Information on Classroom
    Teachers' Qualifications Needed
         DATE:   10/01/2003
      SUBJECT:   Aid for education
    	     Higher education
    	     Preschool education
    	     Salary increases
    	     Teacher education
    	     Teacher salaries
    	     Teachers
    	     Personnel qualifications
    	     Head Start Program

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    GAO-04-5

    United States General Accounting Office

    GAO

                           Report to Congressional Requesters

    October 2003

    HEAD START

     Increased Percentage of Teachers Nationwide Have Required Degrees, but Better
                Information on Classroom Teachers' Qualifications Needed

    GAO-04-5

    Highlights of GAO-04-5, a report to congressional requesters

    The 1998 Head Start Act mandated that 50 percent of all Head Start
    teachers nationwide have a minimum of an associate degree in early
    childhood education, or, in a related field with preschool teaching
    experience, by September 30, 2003. This law also required that each
    classroom in center-based programs (those that primarily provide services
    in classroom settings) without such a degreed teacher have a teacher with
    a Child Development Associate credential or an equivalent state
    certificate. In preparation for the reauthorization of Head Start in
    fiscal year 2003, GAO was asked to examine: (1) the extent to which Head
    Start has met legislative mandates concerning teacher qualifications; (2)
    whether Head Start teachers' salaries have increased and enabled grantees
    to attract and retain teachers with degrees; and (3) the extent to which
    degree and other programs in early childhood education are available for
    Head Start teachers and if grantees have taken steps to enhance access to
    them.

    GAO recommends that the Secretary of Health and Human Services require
    that ACF, at least annually, collect data from Head Start grantees and
    report to the Secretary on whether each classroom in Head Start centers
    has at least one teacher with at least the minimum credentials required by
    law.

    www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-5.

    To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
    the link above. For more information, contact Marnie Shaul at (202)
    512-7215 or shaulm@gao.gov.

    October 2003

    HEAD START

    Increased Percentage of Teachers Nationwide Have Required Degrees, but Better
    Information on Classroom Teachers' Qualifications Needed

    Head Start appears to meet the 1998 mandate because about 52 percent of
    Head Start teachers nationwide had, at a minimum, an associate degree in
    early childhood education or in a related field based on Administration
    for Children and Families (ACF) 2002 data. This represented more than a
    14-percentage point increase in teachers with such degrees since 1999.

    Head Start Teachers with Degrees Increased Significantly between 1999 and
    2002

    Percent of teachers with degrees

    60

    51.7a

    50

    40

    30

    20

    10

    0 1999 2002

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data. (These data are self-reported by
    grantees.)

    Note: Head Start data on the percent of teachers with degrees were
    collected somewhat differently in 1998, limiting their comparability with
    data collected in subsequent years.

    aThe percentage of teachers with degrees in 2002 includes 3.8 percent with
    graduate degrees, 24.8 percent with bachelor's degrees, and 23 percent
    with associate degrees. (Does not add to 51.7 percent due to rounding.)

    Although ACF requested grantees to report both the numbers of teachers by
    type of degree or credential, and the numbers of classrooms, it is not
    possible to determine if there was a teacher with the credentials required
    by law in each classroom in Head Start centers since ACF did not ask
    grantees to report this specific information. Furthermore, the ACF
    monitoring instrument used did not have a separate question that asked
    whether each classroom had at least one teacher with at least minimum
    credentials.

    Quality improvement funds, which have declined sharply in recent years,
    enabled Head Start to increase teacher salaries to levels comparable to
    other preschool teachers during the 1999-2001 period, although they
    remained at about half of what kindergarten teachers earned nationally.
    Some Head Start grantees continue to identify difficulties in competing
    for teachers with degrees with existing salaries.

    Early childhood education and similar programs were available in all
    states and in one in five postsecondary institutions. However, as
    expected, the more rural, less populous states had few of these programs.
    Head Start grantees used a number of methods to make early childhood
    education accessible to their teachers, such as offering on-site classes,
    but access to these programs in rural areas sometimes was a problem.

    Contents

    Letter

    1

    Results in Brief 3 Background 5 The Percent of Teachers with Degrees Has
    Risen and Appears to

    Meet Legislated Goals for Progress, but It Is Unknown Whether

    Each Classroom Has a Teacher with at Least Minimum

    Credentials 8 Head Start Teacher Salaries Have Increased to Levels
    Comparable

    to those of Preschool Teachers, but Some Grantees Reported

    Difficulties Competing for Teachers with Degrees 15 Early Childhood
    Education Programs Were Available in All States

    and Grantees Have Worked to Improve Access to Them, but

    Access Is Still a Problem in Some Rural Areas 23 Conclusions 28
    Recommendation 28 Agency Comments 28

    Appendix I Scope and Methodology

    Appendix II 	Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services

    Appendix III GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments 35

    GAO Contacts 35 Staff Acknowledgments 35

    Tables

    Table 1: Findings of Noncompliance Related to Teacher Qualifications Over
    a 3-Year Review Cycle 14 Table 2: Head Start Teachers' Annual Salaries
    Have Increased to the Level of Other Preschool Teachers' Annual Salaries
    16 Table 3: Quality Improvement Funding and Head Start Appropriations,
    Fiscal Years 1999-2003 16 Table 4: Head Start Teacher Salaries Increased
    Significantly in All Regions and Branches, 1998-2001 17

    Table 5: Head Start Teacher Salaries Were Generally Higher at

    Programs Administered by Schools in 2002 18 Table 6: Head Start Teacher
    Degree Levels Were Higher at

    Programs Administered by Schools in 2002 19 Table 7: Number of Individual
    Program Completions, by Level, in

    Early Childhood Education and Eight Similar Fields for the

    1997-98 and 1999-2000 School Years 21 Table 8: Number of Postsecondary
    Institutions with Students

    Completing Programs in Early Childhood Education and

    Eight Similar Fields for the 1997-98 and 1999-2000 School

    Years 24

    Figures

    Figure 1: The Percentage of Teachers with Degrees Has Increased
    Significantly since 1999 9 Figure 2: More Than 50 Percent of Teachers in 7
    of 10 Regions Had Degrees as of 2002 10 Figure 3: All Regions and Branches
    Increased Percent of Teachers with Degrees from 1999 to 2002 12 Figure 4:
    Head Start Teacher Turnover Rate Was Lowest at Programs Administered by
    Schools in 2002 20

    Abbreviations

    ACF Administration for Children and Families
    BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics
    CDA Child Development Associate
    FACES Family and Child Experiences Survey
    HHS Department of Health and Human Service
    IPEDS Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
    PIR Program Information Report
    PRISM Program Review Instrument for Systems Monitoring

    This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
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    separately.

    United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

    October 1, 2003

    The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
    Ranking Minority Member
    Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
    United States Senate

    The Honorable Christopher J. Dodd
    Ranking Minority Member
    Subcommittee on Children and Families
    Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
    United States Senate

    The Honorable George Miller
    Ranking Minority Member
    Committee on Education and the Workforce
    House of Representatives

    The Honorable Dale E. Kildee
    House of Representatives

    In fiscal year 2002, Head Start provided comprehensive child development
    services to over 900,000 preschool children from low-income families, and
    the program was funded by a federal appropriation of about $6.5 billion.
    Over 1,500 grantees, including community action agencies, school systems,
    for-profit and nonprofit organizations, other government agencies and
    tribal consortia, provide Head Start program services either directly or
    through delegate agencies. Classroom instruction provided by over 51,000
    teachers in about 47,000 classrooms is a key element of the Head Start
    program. In 1998, the Congress sought to raise the educational level of
    these teachers by mandating that 50 percent of all Head Start classroom
    teachers in Head Start centers have a minimum of an associate degree in
    early childhood education, or in a related field with preschool teaching
    experience, by September 30, 2003. This amendment also required that
    each classroom without such a degreed teacher have a teacher with a
    Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or a state certificate

    equivalent to a CDA. Some research indicates that preschool teachers with
    higher levels of education are more effective at teaching young children.1

    In light of the reauthorization of Head Start in fiscal year 2003 you
    asked us to examine: (1) the extent to which Head Start has met
    legislative mandates concerning teacher qualifications; (2) whether Head
    Start teacher salaries have increased and enabled grantees to attract and
    retain teachers with degrees; and (3) the extent to which degree and other
    programs in early childhood education are available for Head Start
    teachers and if grantees have taken steps to enhance access to them.

    To respond to these questions we analyzed U.S. Department of Health and
    Human Service's (HHS) data on Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
    Specifically, we analyzed HHS's Administration for Children and Families'
    (ACF) Program Information Report (PIR) data on teacher credentials and
    salaries for 1998-2002. ACF collects these data each year from Head Start
    and Early Head Start grantees. Our analysis revealed some inconsistencies
    in these data similar to those identified by HHS's Office of Inspector
    General in its draft report on teacher qualifications covering program
    year 2000-2001, which was based largely on data from the PIR. We
    calculated the percent of teachers with degrees based on the largest
    number of total teachers reported in the PIR, rather than on the number of
    teachers reported by educational level, which was smaller. In addition, to
    confirm the reasonableness of these data, we also reviewed 1998 and 2000
    data relating to teacher qualifications from another source-ACF's Family
    and Child Experiences Survey (FACES). During our review, we also
    interviewed officials from each of the 10 ACF regional offices and the
    American Indian-Alaska Native and Migrant Branches and obtained
    information from 30 Head Start grantees from all 10 geographic regions to
    learn about efforts to increase the proportion of teachers with degrees.
    We selected grantees in each region to obtain perspective on those that
    had been successful in achieving a high proportion of teachers with
    degrees and those that were having difficulty doing so. We visited 11 of
    these grantees in 2 ACF regions. These grantees were in three
    states-Delaware, Maryland, and Texas-and in the District of Columbia.
    Furthermore, we compared average annual salaries of Head Start teachers
    taken from program data with annual salaries of preschool and kindergarten
    teachers

    1See, for example, National Research Council (2001) Eager to Learn:
    Educating Our Preschoolers. Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy. Barbara
    T. Bowman, M. Suzanne Donavan, and M. Susan Burns, editors. Commission on
    Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Washington, D.C.: National
    Academy Press.

    Results in Brief

    as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). ACF PIR data
    reported by grantees included the average Head Start full-time teacher
    salaries earned annually, regardless of the number of months worked during
    the year. Salaries reported by the BLS for preschool and kindergarten
    teachers were estimated average annual wages, based on employer responses
    to a BLS survey. BLS does not distinguish between full- and part-time
    workers and assumes that all work 2,080 hours annually (which is a 40 hour
    work week for 1 year). Finally, we analyzed the U.S. Department of
    Education data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
    (IPEDS) to determine the number of schools offering programs in early
    childhood education and similar fields for years 1998-2000 and the number
    of programs completed by students in those areas of study for the same
    time period. While we took steps to determine that the PIR data were
    sufficiently reliable for this report, we did not independently verify the
    data provided by the grantees. We conducted our work between February and
    September 2003 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
    standards. Appendix I provides more details on our scope and methodology.

    On the basis of ACF data, Head Start appeared to meet the 1998 mandate
    requiring at least 50 percent of Head Start teachers nationwide to have,
    at a minimum, an associate degree by September 30, 2003, but it is not
    known if all classrooms in Head Start centers had at least one teacher
    with at least the minimum credentials required by statute. About 52
    percent of Head Start teachers nationwide had at least an associate degree
    in early childhood education or a related field at the end of the 2002
    program year, according to grantee-reported data. This was an increase of
    more than 14 percentage points in teachers with degrees since 1999. All
    ACF regions and the American Indian-Alaska Native and Migrant branch
    programs made some progress increasing the percent of teachers with
    degrees over the 1999-2002 period, although there was considerable
    variation among regions and branches in the level of teachers with degrees
    in 2002. We could not determine if each classroom had at least one teacher
    with the credentials required by law because grantee-reported data did not
    explicitly include this type of information. Although ACF requested
    grantees to report both the number of teachers holding either degrees in
    early childhood education or related fields, or CDA or equivalent
    credentials, and the number of classrooms, it is not possible to determine
    from these data if there was at least one teacher with at least minimum
    credentials in each classroom. In addition, ACF did not ask grantees to
    report specifically on this. Furthermore, although ACF monitors about
    one-third of Head Start grantees each year, the monitoring instrument

    used did not have a separate question that asked whether each classroom
    had at least one teacher with at least minimum credentials.

    Head Start teachers' salaries have increased since 1998, but some Head
    Start grantees identified difficulties in competing for teachers with
    degrees. Quality improvement funds enabled Head Start to increase teacher
    salaries to levels comparable to other preschool teachers during the
    1999-2001 period, although they remained at about half of what
    kindergarten teachers earned nationally. However, quality improvement
    funds have declined sharply in recent years, when Head Start's
    appropriation grew more slowly than in the previous years. While all types
    of grantees paid more to staff with higher qualifications, both the
    average qualifications of teachers and the salaries paid them varied
    across types of grantees, with teachers in Head Start programs
    administered by school systems on average earning the highest salaries and
    having the highest levels of education. Turnover was also lower at
    grantees administered by school systems and government agencies than among
    the 78 percent of Head Start teachers who worked at Head Start programs
    administered by other types of agencies. Although nationally students
    completed 34,000 individual programs in early childhood education or
    related fields in the 1999-2000 school year, many grantees reported
    difficulties competing for degreed graduates in these fields with existing
    salaries. Data were not available on the number of students completing
    early childhood education programs that actually worked as preschool
    teachers in Head Start or similar programs.

    Programs in early childhood education and 8 similar fields of study were
    available in all states and in one in five postsecondary institutions
    included in 1999-2000 Department of Education data. However, as expected,
    the more rural, less populous states had few of these programs. Head Start
    grantees used a number of methods to make early childhood education and
    similar courses accessible to their teachers, such as offering on-site
    classes. However, providing opportunities in rural areas sometimes was a
    problem. Despite efforts to use distance education-education characterized
    by the separation, in time or place, between instructor and student-some
    Head Start teachers had to travel considerable distances to attend
    classes.

    Because ACF did not collect the necessary data to determine whether each
    classroom in Head Start centers had at least one teacher with the
    qualifications required by law, we are recommending that the Secretary of
    HHS require that ACF, at least annually, collect data on whether there is
    at

    Background

    least one teacher with at least the minimum required credentials in each
    classroom.

    Head Start began as an 8-week summer project administered by the former
    Office of Economic Opportunity in 1965. Designed to help break the cycle
    of poverty, Head Start provided preschool children of low-income families
    with comprehensive educational, social, health, nutritional, and
    psychological services. Head Start was originally aimed at 3 to 5 year
    olds. A companion program begun in 1994, Early Head Start, made these
    services available to children from birth to 3 years of age as well as to
    pregnant women.

    Head Start and Early Head Start programs are administered by ACF. Through
    its 10 regional offices and 2 branches-the American Indian-Alaska Native
    Branch and the Migrant Branch-ACF directly funds more than 1,500 grantees
    that provide Head Start program services either directly or through
    delegate agencies. Grantees include community action agencies, school
    systems, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, other government
    agencies, and tribal consortia. In fiscal year 2002, these grantees served
    more than 912,000 children, with about 850,000 in Head Start and 62,000 in
    Early Head Start. More than 90 percent of Head Start children are enrolled
    in center-based programs while most of the remaining children attend
    home-based programs.2 Head Start is funded primarily by federal grants,
    but grantees must provide at least 20 percent of the program funding,
    which can include in-kind contributions, such as facilities for holding
    classes. Program costs, which include teacher salaries, vary considerably
    since some grantees may receive donations, such as low-cost space.
    Grantees may also have widely varying costs of personnel and space
    depending on many factors, such as geographic location (urban or rural),
    and type of sponsoring agency (school system or private nonprofit).
    However, salaries generally comprise most of Head Start grantees' budgets,
    and grantees' teacher salary levels differ based on factors such as
    location and staff qualifications.

    Head Start classrooms are required to be staffed by a teacher and an
    assistant teacher or an aide, or by two teachers. In fiscal year 2002,
    Head

    2Center-based programs are those where services are provided to children
    primarily in classroom settings. Throughout this report, we refer to
    classrooms in center-based programs as "classrooms." Head Start also has
    "home-based programs" that provide services in the private residences of
    children being served.

    Start had more than 51,000 teachers and a similar number of assistant
    teachers. At least one teacher in each classroom in Head Start centers
    must have either: (1) an associate, baccalaureate (bachelor's), or
    advanced (graduate) degree in early childhood education; (2) such a degree
    in a related field, with preschool teaching experience; (3) a CDA
    credential appropriate to the age of children served in center-based
    programs; or (4) a state certificate at least equivalent to a CDA. The CDA
    credential requires a high school diploma or equivalent and, within the
    previous 5 years, 480 hours working with preschool children in a group
    setting and 120 hours of child care education. The CDA credential is
    awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition of Washington D.C.
    Teachers with CDA credentials are expected to be able to meet the specific
    needs of children and work with parents and other adults to nurture
    children's physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth in a child
    development framework.

    In addition to the minimum requirements for teacher qualifications, the
    1998 Head Start Act required that 50 percent of Head Start teachers across
    the nation have a minimum of an associate degree in early childhood
    education or in a related field with preschool teaching experience by
    September 30, 2003. Head Start reauthorization proposals have been
    introduced that would require increased levels of teachers with associate
    and bachelor's degrees.

    Some research indicates that preschool teachers with higher levels of
    education are more effective at teaching young children. For example, the
    National Institute for Early Education Research reported in March 2003
    that the education levels of preschool teachers and specialized training
    in early childhood education predict teaching quality and children's
    learning and development progress.3 In addition, the National Research
    Council reported in 2000 that while any teacher education related to early
    childhood development or education is better than none, teachers with
    bachelor's (or higher) degrees in early childhood development appear to be
    most effective.4

    3Barnett, W.S. (2003). Better Teachers, Better Preschools: Student
    Achievement Linked to Teacher Qualifications. Preschool Policy Matter. 2.
    New Brunswick, NJ:NIEER.

    4National Research Council (2001) Eager to Learn: Educating Our
    Preschoolers. Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy. Barbara T. Bowman, M.
    Suzanne Donavan, and M. Susan Burns, editors. Commission on Behavioral and
    Social Sciences and Education, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

    The Head Start appropriation has increased from $4.66 billion in fiscal
    year 1999, the first year of the current authorization, to about $6.67
    billion in fiscal year 2003. The Head Start Act provides that a portion of
    the appropriation be committed to quality improvement if there is a real
    increase (one exceeding the rate of inflation) over the previous year's
    appropriation. Grantees must use at least one-half of their quality
    improvement funding to increase the salaries of classroom teachers and
    other staff. The remaining funds are to be used for such activities as
    training to improve staff qualifications. In the first 2 years of the
    current authorization, fiscal years 1999-2000, ACF allocated part of the
    quality improvement funds to address Congress's emphasis on increasing the
    number of teachers with degrees. Grantees were allocated $1,300 for each
    teacher who did not have either a college degree in early childhood
    education or a degree in a related field with a state certificate, and
    $300 for each teacher with such a degree. According to ACF officials, each
    year's quality improvement funding was added to the next year's base grant
    in order to sustain the efforts supported by these funds, such as teacher
    salary increases. ACF regional offices did not consistently document how
    these funds were used, though they noted that they monitored changes in
    staff qualifications.

    Head Start funding provided grantees with two other sources of support for
    improving teacher qualifications-quality improvement centers and Head
    Start collaboration offices in each state. Quality improvement centers,
    funded at about $41 million in fiscal year 2002, provided technical
    assistance and training in support of various national initiatives,
    including the improvement of teacher qualifications. There were 16 quality
    improvement centers nationally, with at least 1 in each ACF region and 1
    each for the Migrant and American Indian-Alaska Native programs, until
    funding for quality improvement centers was terminated on August 31,
    2003,and these centers ceased to operate. Head Start collaboration offices
    in each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Migrant and
    American Indian-Alaska Native programs, promote coordination of Head Start
    and state and local programs for young children and their families. Some
    state collaboration offices received grants from ACF to develop and
    enhance professional development opportunities. State collaboration
    offices were funded at approximately $8 million in fiscal year 2003.

    ACF monitors and oversees Head Start grantees. ACF collects data on Head
    Start programs through the PIR, an annual survey of grantees. These data
    include information on various aspects of grantees' programs, such as
    numbers of teachers with degrees in early childhood education. In
    addition, to ensure that Head Start grantees comply with Head Start

    The Percent of Teachers with Degrees Has Risen and Appears to Meet
    Legislated Goals for Progress, but It Is Unknown Whether Each Classroom
    Has a Teacher with at Least Minimum Credentials

    program performance standards governing teacher qualifications and other
    matters, ACF's regional offices and branches monitor each grantee at least
    once every 3 years. ACF uses the Program Review Instrument for Systems
    Monitoring (PRISM) to conduct these reviews.

    Head Start appears to have met the 1998 mandate requiring at least 50
    percent of Head Start teachers nationwide in classrooms in Head Start
    centers to have degrees by September 30, 2003, based on grantee-reported
    data, but it is not known if all classrooms in Head Start centers had at
    least one teacher with at least minimum credentials. Fifty-two percent of
    Head Start teachers nationwide had at least an associate degree in early
    childhood education or a related field at the end of the 2002 program
    year. All regions made some progress increasing the percent of teachers
    with degrees over the 1999-2002 period, although there was considerable
    variation among regions in the level of teachers with degrees in 2002.
    Although ACF requested grantees to report both the number of teachers
    holding either degrees in early childhood education or related fields, or
    CDA or equivalent credentials, and the number of classrooms, ACF did not
    ask grantees to report specifically if there was a teacher with minimum
    credentials in each classroom. Furthermore, although ACF monitors about
    one-third of Head Start grantees each year, the monitoring instrument used
    did not have a separate question that asked whether each classroom had at
    least one teacher with at least minimum credentials.

    Over 50 Percent of According to grantee-reported data, almost 52 percent
    of Head Start Teachers Nationwide teachers nationwide had at least an
    associate degree in early childhood Appear to Have at Least an education
    or a related field by the end of program year 2002, thereby

    meeting the requirement of the 1998 Head Start reauthorization.5 This
    wasAssociate Degree an increase of more than 14 percentage points in
    teachers with degrees since 1999 (see fig. 1).

    5Pub.L. No. 105-285, S:115.

    Figure 1: The Percentage of Teachers with Degrees Has Increased
    Significantly since 1999

    Percent of teachers with degrees

    60

    51.7a

    50

    40

    30

    20

    10

    0 1999 2002

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data. (These data are self-reported by
    grantees.)

    Note: Head Start data on the percent of teachers with degrees were
    collected somewhat differently in 1998, limiting their comparability with
    data collected in subsequent years.

    aThe percentage of teachers with degrees in 2002 includes 3.8 percent with
    graduate degrees, 24.8 percent with bachelor's degrees, and 23 percent
    with associate degrees. (Does not add to 51.7 percent due to rounding.)

    In addition to the 52 percent of teachers with a degree in early childhood
    education or a related field in 2002, 34 percent of teachers had a CDA
    credential or its equivalent, and 4 percent more were in training for the
    CDA credential. An ACF official said that the distribution of the
    remaining 10 percent of teachers was not known but included

    o  	recently hired teachers without a degree or CDA credential who had not
    yet begun CDA training and

    o  	teachers with degrees in fields other than early childhood education
    who had not completed sufficient early childhood education courses to
    qualify as having a related degree and who did not have a CDA and were not
    in CDA training.

    Grantee-reported data by region showed the progress toward higher teacher
    degree levels geographically and revealed areas where challenges remain.
    In 7 of 10 geographic regions, between 55 percent and 76 percent

    of teachers had a degree in early childhood education or a related field
    at the end of the 2002 program year, the most recent year for which data
    were available at the time we conducted our study (see fig. 2).

    Figure 2: More Than 50 Percent of Teachers in 7 of 10 Regions Had Degrees
    as of 2002

     Source: GAO analysis of ACF data. (These data are self-reported by grantees.)

    Region II, including New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico,6 had the
    highest level of degree attainment-76 percent. The 3 regions that did not
    reach 50 percent were in the South and Midwest. The attainment levels for
    these regions ranged from 40 percent in Region VI (Arkansas, Louisiana,
    New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas) to about 47 percent in Region VII (Iowa,
    Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska). To some extent, the distribution of teachers
    with degrees among the regions reflected the educational attainment of

    6Region II also includes the Virgin Islands, which we excluded from our
    study.

    the general population in each region. For example, Department of
    Education data in 2001 showed a higher percentage of adults with
    bachelor's degrees in the northeastern states. Furthermore, a National
    Center for Education Statistics study for school year 2000-2001 showed
    that over 92 percent of preschool teachers in public schools in the
    Northeast and Central United States had a minimum of a bachelor's degree,
    compared with their counterparts in the West and the Southeast, with 84
    percent and 79 percent, respectively.7

    The American Indian-Alaska Native and the Migrant branch programs had
    substantially lower levels of teachers with degrees as of program year
    2002-27 percent and 21 percent, respectively. ACF officials attributed the
    low levels of teachers with degrees in the American Indian-Alaska Native
    program to the fact that many of these grantees are in remote locations
    without access to early childhood education degree programs and the lower
    likelihood that persons in these areas had completed college education.
    ACF migrant program officials said that the program's limited increase
    reflected difficulties in hiring bilingual teachers with degrees in rural
    areas because the programs are of limited duration and migrant families
    move frequently; in addition, they cited a need to provide basic English
    courses for many teachers before they can begin a degree program.

    All regions and branches made progress in increasing the numbers of
    teachers with degrees between 1999 and 2002. Regions experienced an
    average improvement of about 14 percentage points (see fig. 3).

    7U.S. Department of Education, National center for Education Statistics.
    Prekindergarten in U.S. Public Schools: 2000-2001, NCES 2003-019, by
    Timothy Smith, Anne Kleiner, Basmat Parsad, and Elizabeth Farris. Project
    Officer; Bernard Greene. Washington, D.C.: 2003

    Figure 3: All Regions and Branches Increased Percent of Teachers with
    Degrees from 1999 to 2002

    Percent of teachers with degrees

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                       Increase in teachers with degrees by 2002

                         Percent of teachers with degrees 1999

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data. (These data are self-reported by
    grantees.)

    The region showing the greatest increase by far was Region II, with an
    increase of 29 percentage points, about twice the average of the other
    regions. Region II officials attributed this increase primarily to a large
    number of teachers in Puerto Rico who already held college degrees and who
    then completed the necessary early childhood education courses when
    funding became available. Four of the 7 regions that had less than 50
    percent degreed teachers in program year 1999 had surpassed 50 percent by
    program year 2002. The remaining 3 regions still had less than 50 percent
    teachers with degrees by program year 2002, but nevertheless made
    significant progress in increasing the number of teachers with degrees
    between program years 1999 and 2002, with increases ranging from 12 to 17
    percentage points. In addition, the American Indian-Alaska Native branch
    program increased by more than 7 percentage points and the Migrant branch
    program by more than 2 percentage points, although the percent of teachers
    with degrees for both branches remains far under 50 percent.

    It is Not Known Whether Each Classroom in Head Start Centers Has a Teacher
    with at Least Minimum Credentials

    Head Start did not collect data from grantees that allowed determination
    of whether each classroom in Head Start centers had a teacher with at
    least minimum credentials. For the PIR, ACF requested grantees to report
    data on teacher qualifications, including each grantee's total number of
    teachers and the numbers of teachers holding degrees in early childhood
    education or a related field, or CDA or equivalent credentials, across all
    sites administered by each grantee. ACF also requested that grantees
    report the number of classrooms included in their programs.8 However,
    ACF's PIR data collection instrument did not ask grantees if there was a
    teacher with at least minimum credentials in each classroom, and it is not
    possible to ascertain this from the collected data. For example, in
    program year 2002 the PIR reported just over 46,000 teachers with degrees,
    CDA or equivalent credentials, or in CDA training, and almost 47,000
    classrooms, but it did not indicate how many classrooms were not staffed
    by a teacher with at least minimum credentials. Some classrooms could have
    been staffed with two teachers meeting statutory requirements, rather than
    a teacher and an assistant teacher. In turn, other classrooms could have
    been staffed by teachers without the required qualifications. As a result,
    the number of classrooms without a teacher with at least minimum
    credentials may be greater than the difference between the number of
    classrooms and the number of teachers with degrees, CDA or equivalent
    credentials, or in CDA training. ACF officials acknowledged that it is
    likely that some classrooms are not staffed by teachers with at least the
    required minimum credentials.

    ACF monitors each Head Start grantee at least once every 3 years through
    PRISM reviews, but the monitoring instrument does not have a separate
    question that asks whether there is a teacher with at least minimum
    credentials in every classroom. These reviews include analysis of grantee
    compliance based on the Head Start program performance standards,
    including the standard for teacher qualifications. However, this
    performance standard is broad in scope and does not specifically address
    whether there is a teacher with at least minimum credentials in each
    classroom. The standard provides that "Head Start programs must comply
    with section 648A of the Head Start Act and any subsequent amendments
    regarding the qualifications of classroom teachers."9 This section of the

    8The PIR defines the term "classroom" as physical space and "class" as a
    group of children under the direction of one or more teachers. However,
    here, and throughout this report, we use the term "classroom" to refer to
    such a group of children.

    9This requirement is set forth in 45 C.F.R. S:1306.21.

    Head Start Act includes the requirements that each classroom in a
    center-based program have a teacher who has demonstrated certain specified
    competencies, such as supporting the social and emotional development of
    children, and that each classroom have a teacher with a minimum of an
    associate degree in early childhood education, or in a related field with
    preschool teaching experience, or a CDA or a comparable state credential.
    As a result, it is not clear whether findings of noncompliance during
    PRISM reviews are related to issues with teacher competencies or teacher
    degree and certification qualifications. Furthermore, according to an ACF
    official, PRISM data are reported at the national level by grantee and are
    not centrally available by classroom. For example, PRISM review data show
    that in 2002 about 4 percent of the 559 grantees reviewed had findings of
    noncompliance regarding teacher qualifications, but the number of
    classrooms without a teacher with minimum credentials was not reported or
    requested. Grantees with findings together had about 507 classrooms. About
    2 to 3 percent of grantees had such findings in each of the previous 2
    years (see table 1).

    Table 1: Findings of Noncompliance Related to Teacher Qualifications Over
    a 3-Year Review Cycle

                               Number of grantees  Number of  Percent of grantees
                               with findings of     grantees     with findings of
               Year of review    noncompliance      reviewed        noncompliance
                         2000                  18        554
                         2001                  10        591
                         2002                  23        559

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data.

    Furthermore, because ACF only evaluates approximately one-third of the
    grantees each year, there is no way of knowing annually how many grantees
    are not meeting the teacher qualifications standard and, therefore, may
    have classrooms without teachers with at least minimum credentials.

    Head Start Teacher Salaries Have Increased to Levels Comparable to those
    of Preschool Teachers, but Some Grantees Reported Difficulties Competing
    for Teachers with Degrees

    Quality improvement funds enabled Head Start to increase teacher salaries
    to levels comparable to other preschool teachers during the 1999-2001
    period. However, some grantees still reported difficulties competing for
    teachers with degrees. Quality improvement funds have declined steeply in
    recent years, when Head Start's appropriation grew more slowly than in
    earlier years. The level of Head Start teacher salaries varied by level of
    credential and type of grantee administering the program. Teachers in Head
    Start programs administered by school systems on average had a higher
    level of education and earned higher salaries than those in programs
    administered by other types of agencies. Average turnover was lower at
    grantees administered by school systems and government agencies, than
    among the 78 percent of Head Start teachers who worked at Head Start
    programs administered by other types of agencies. While nationally
    students completed 34,000 individual programs in early childhood education
    or related fields in the 1999-2000 school year, many grantees reported
    difficulties competing for degreed graduates in these fields with existing
    salaries. Data were not available on the portion of students completing
    early childhood education programs who either work as preschool teachers
    in Head Start or similar programs or were hired by such programs.

    Head Start Programs Have Made Teacher Salaries More Competitive since
    1999, but Salaries Varied by Type of Grantee and Level of Education

    Increasing Head Start teacher salaries and benefits was a key element in
    attracting and retaining teachers with degrees, according to ACF regional
    officials and Head Start grantees. For example:

    o  	The director of a public school grantee in the state of Washington
    said that adequate teacher salary levels were a great factor in attracting
    and retaining qualified, degreed teachers.

    o  	The director of a Head Start program in Maryland said that the primary
    method of effectively reducing turnover has been to raise salaries.

    Quality improvement funds enabled Head Start grantees to increase teacher
    salaries to levels comparable to other preschool teachers during the
    1999-2001 period, although salaries remained at about half of what
    kindergarten teachers earned nationally, as shown in table 2. For example,
    a Head Start program director in Missouri said that the program had used
    quality improvement funds to increase staff salaries above the level of
    childcare workers to a level comparable to the local and national levels
    for preschool staff, although not to the higher level paid by school
    districts.

    Table 2: Head Start Teachers' Annual Salaries Have Increased to the Level
    of Other Preschool Teachers' Annual Salaries

                                   In nominal dollars

                                                                       Percentage
                   Type of teacher a   Salary 1998    Salary 2001          change
                        Kindergarten         $35,450    $41,100              15.9
                           Preschool         $19,530    $20,940               7.2
                          Head Start     $17,956        $20,793              15.8

    Source: BLS estimates and GAO analysis of ACF data self-reported by
    grantees.

    aBLS included preschool teachers who instruct children (normally up to 5
    years of age) in activities designed to promote social, physical, and
    intellectual growth needed for primary school in preschool, day care
    center, or other child development facilities. Child care workers are
    excluded from this category. Special education teachers are excluded from
    both preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers.

    The quality improvement funding peaked at $356 million in fiscal year 2001
    and then dropped sharply in the following 2 years when Head Start's
    appropriations grew more slowly. Quality improvement funding allowed Head
    Start to make real increases (those that exceed cost of living allowance
    increases) in teachers' salaries in fiscal years 1998 to 2001. However,
    the steep decline in quality improvement funding in fiscal years 2002 and
    2003, as shown in table 3, greatly reduced Head Start grantees' ability to
    make further real increases in salaries in those years. As an example, the
    chief executive officer of a community action agency grantee in Dallas
    said that since quality improvement funds have been reduced, the program
    could no longer make progress in closing the salary gap between Head Start
    and school district teachers.

    Table 3: Quality Improvement Funding and Head Start Appropriations, Fiscal
    Years 1999-2003

                                  Dollars in millions

                                     Quality improvement               Head Start
                      Fiscal year                    funding        appropriation
                             1999                       $148               $4,660
                             2000                       $244               $5,267
                             2001                       $356               $6,200
                             2002                        $80               $6,538
                             2003                        $32               $6,668

    Source: Appropriations-P.L. 105-277, P.L. 106-113, P.L. 106-554, P.L.
    107-116, P.L. 108-7. Quality Improvement Funding-annual ACF Program
    Instruction Guidance that covered quality improvement funding.

    The increase in Head Start teacher's salaries in the 1998-2001 period was
    widespread, with salaries rising by at least 11 percent in each of the
    regions and branches and nearly 16 percent nationwide, as shown in table

    4. Consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index-All Urban
    Consumers increased 8.65 percent over this period.

    Table 4: Head Start Teacher Salaries Increased Significantly in All
    Regions and Branches, 1998-2001

                                   In nominal dollars

                                        1998 average     2001 average     Percent
                               Region  teacher salary    teacher salary    change
                                               $17,924     $21,623          20.64
                                               $19,335     $22,658          17.19
                                               $20,798     $24,161          16.17
                                               $15,793     $18,518          17.25
                                               $18,809     $21,984          16.88
                                               $16,702     $18,893          13.12
                                  VII          $15,603     $19,899         27.53a
                                 VIII          $16,791     $19,835          18.13
                                               $21,981     $24,988          13.68
                                               $18,376     $21,704          18.11
               American Indian-Alaska
                        Native branch          $16,104     $18,284          13.54
                       Migrant branch          $14,635     $16,313          11.47
                           Nationwide          $17,956     $20,793          15.80

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data. (These data are self-reported by
    grantees.)

    aAccording to regional officials, the significantly higher increase in
    average teacher salaries in Region VII is attributable to efforts to
    improve professional development, such as emphasizing wage incentive
    programs for teachers to increase their educational levels. These efforts
    included partnership agreements that attracted state funding, thus
    allowing grantees to devote the majority of quality improvement funding to
    teacher salary increases. They also drew upon other sources of funding,
    such as an Early Learning Opportunities Act grant, which were used for
    salary increases.

    On average, the 13 percent of Head Start teachers employed at programs
    administered by school systems earned higher salaries, had a higher level
    of education, and had a lower turnover rate than other Head Start
    teachers. For example, teachers with bachelor's degrees in Head Start
    programs administered by school systems earned, on average, over $31,000
    in 2002 while similarly educated teachers in other Head Start programs
    earned, on average, between about $21,000 and $26,000 as shown in table 5.

    Table 5: Head Start Teacher Salaries Were Generally Higher at Programs
    Administered by Schools in 2002

                                                          Average         Average
                                                          salary
                                                          with CDA or      annual
                                                                           salary
                               Average salary   Average    equivalent of teachers
                               Average salary   salary
                       Percent    with graduate with            state      with a
                            of  with bachelor's associate
        Agency type   teachers    degree degree    degree certificate credentiala
    Public/private       13  $41,459 $31,368   $24,106     $18,964     $28,177
           school
           system
    Public/private       39  $34,023 $25,576   $22,335     $19,526     $22,482
         nonprofit
         Community          36  $27,059 $23,778   $20,918     $18,420     $20,641
    action agency
         Government          9 $25,300 $21,831c   $21,327     $19,081     $20,996
          agencyb
    Public/private        1  $22,180 $22,178   $20,182     $18,461     $20,028
         for-profit
           Tribal            2
    government or            $20,893 $22,807   $20,208     $19,193     $19,766
         consortium
         Nationwide
           total           100  $35,472 $25,547   $21,797     $18,976          NA

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data (These data are self-reported by
    grantees.)

    aCredential includes a graduate, bachelor's, or associate degree or a CDA
    or its equivalent.

    bGovernment agencies are those that are administered by governments, such
    as some cities and municipalities, but are not community action agencies.

    cPuerto Rico accounts for about 58 percent of the government agency Head
    Start teachers with bachelor's degrees. Salaries for such teachers in
    Puerto Rico were about $19,000 per year, causing the overall level of
    salaries of government agency teachers with bachelor's degrees to be the
    lowest of any agency type for similarly credentialed teachers. Region II
    officials noted that the poor job market in Puerto Rico resulted in
    teachers with bachelor's degrees willing to accept lower pay.

    Head Start teachers with a credentials earned just over $28,000 in
    programs administered by school systems compared with less than $23,000 in
    programs administered by other agencies.

    About one-half of all Head Start teachers employed by programs
    administered by public and private school systems had a bachelor's or
    graduate degree in 2002. At Head Start programs administered by most other
    types of agencies, the percentage of the teachers that had a bachelor's or
    graduate degree ranged from about 7 percent for tribal governments or
    consortiums to nearly 39 percent for governmental agencies. One reason
    that school system programs have more teachers with a bachelor's degree or
    higher is that a minimum of a bachelor's degree is often a requirement for
    being hired as a Head Start teacher in these settings. For example:

    o  	The director of a public school Head Start program in Virginia said
    that the program only hired teachers with at least a bachelor's degree and
    a state teaching license.

    o  	The Head Start director of an Education Service Center in Texas said
    that its Head Start grant was received in partnership with 19 school
    districts and it required that all Head Start teachers have at least a
    bachelor's degree and be state-certified.

    o  	A representative of a District of Columbia public school system Head
    Start program said that all of the program teachers had at least a
    bachelor's degree and those whose degrees were not in early childhood
    education were working to be certified in that area.

    The difference by agency type in the portion of teachers with graduate
    degrees was especially pronounced, with more than 13 percent of teachers
    employed by school systems having such degrees compared with about 1 to 3
    percent of teachers at Head Start programs administered by other types of
    agencies (see table 6).

     Table 6: Head Start Teacher Degree Levels Were Higher at Programs Administered
                                   by Schools in 2002

    Percent of teachers at each agency type by level of education

                                                                CDA or
                                                           equivalent   Percent of
                    Percent  Graduate Bachelor's Associate       state    teachers
                       of                                                     with
      Agency type     all     degree      degree    degree certificate           a
                    teachers                                           credentiala
     Public/private
         school
         system           13   13.5         36.4      19.1        23.7
     Public/private       39      3.1       23.0      22.3        34.9
    nonprofit
    Community
         action
         agency           36      1.7       21.4      25.4        38.4
    Government          9      2.8       36.0      22.0        25.8
        agencyb
     Public/private        1      1.9       21.5      29.5        35.1
    for-profit
         Tribal
     government or
    consortium          2      1.1        6.3      19.4        50.6        77.4
    Nationwide
         total           100      3.8       24.8      23.0        34.3        85.9

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data. (These data are self-reported by
    grantees.)

    aCredential includes a graduate, bachelor's, or associate degree, or a CDA
    credential or its equivalent.

    bGovernment agencies are those that are administered by governments, such
    as some cities and municipalities, but are not community action agencies.

    Average turnover was lower at grantees administered by public and private
    school systems and government agencies than among the 78 percent of Head
    Start teachers who worked at Head Start programs administered by other
    types of agencies. The average turnover rate at Head Start programs
    administered by school systems was about 10 percent and that of teachers
    in government agencies was about 11 percent in 2002, somewhat lower than
    the rate in programs administered by other types of agencies, as shown in
    figure 4.

    Figure 4: Head Start Teacher Turnover Rate Was Lowest at Programs
    Administered by Schools in 2002

    Percent

                                          23.4

    Public/privatenonprofitschool systemGovernmentagency action
    agencyPublic/privatefor-profit

                      Tribal government/consortiumNationwidetotal

    Agency type

    Source: GAO analysis of ACF data. (These data are self-reported by
    grantees.)

    Among all Head Start teachers leaving during the 2002 program year, 30
    percent left for higher compensation in the same field, 24 percent left
    for a change in job field, and the remaining 46 percent left for various
    other reasons, based on grantee data provided for the PIR.

    Some Head Start Grantees Reported Difficulties Competing for Graduates
    with Degrees in Early Childhood Education Fields

    Nationally, students completed about 34,700 individual programs of study
    in early childhood education and similar fields of study, but some Head
    Start grantees identified difficulties competing for graduates with
    degrees in these fields. In both the 1997-1998 and the 1999-2000 school
    years, students completed about 34,700 programs of study in early
    childhood education and similar fields of study.10 However, the number of
    programs completed in the 1999-2000 school year at the associate and
    graduate levels increased nearly 7 percent and 2 percent, respectively,
    from 2 years earlier. The completion of programs at the bachelor level
    declined slightly during the same period, as shown in table 7.

    Table 7: Number of Individual Program Completions, by Level, in Early
    Childhood Education and Eight Similar Fields for the 1997-98 and 1999-2000
    School Years

          School year     Associate    Bachelor    Graduate    Othera       Total
           1997-1998            6,865   13,225       3,484     11,135      34,709
           1999-2000            7,332   13,078       3,543     10,755      34,708
        Percent change           6.8%   -1.11%       1.69%     -3.41%

    Source: U.S. Department of Education.

    a"Other" includes programs that are: less than 1 year, at least 1 but less
    than 2 years, or at least 2 but less than 4 years in length.

    The three states with the most individual programs completed in early
    childhood education and similar fields had large populations while the
    reverse was true for the three states with the fewest programs completed.
    The states with the greatest number of programs completed by students
    were: California-5,892, Florida-2,706, and Pennsylvania-2,109.

    The states with the smallest number of programs completed by students
    were: Wyoming-17, Alaska-23, and Hawaii-27. These are among the least
    populous and, in the case of Alaska and Wyoming, among the more rural
    states.

    Data were not available on the number of students completing early
    childhood education programs who either worked as preschool teachers in
    Head Start or similar programs or were hired by such programs. However,
    there is competition for graduates with bachelor's degrees. For

    10The number of programs completed may be greater than the number of
    students completing programs because some students may complete more than
    one program in a given year, according to a Department of Education
    official.

    example, several Head Start grantees administered by nonprofit or
    community action agencies informed us that the salary they paid for
    teachers with a bachelor's degree in early childhood education was too low
    to attract new teachers with early childhood education and related degrees
    and that even teachers who earn a bachelor's degree while working in Head
    Start often accepted much higher paying jobs at a public school district
    upon graduation. The director of a community action agency in Georgia said
    that hiring degreed teachers was a problem because the agency's salaries
    were not competitive with the public schools' pre-kindergarten programs,
    which the director estimated were about 10 percent higher than Head Start
    teacher salaries. Also, the director of a government agency Head Start
    program in Texas said that it was more difficult to hire teachers with
    degrees in rural areas because salaries are lower, and recently graduated
    teachers like the greater availability of social activities in an urban
    area.

    Several grantees we contacted that were not school systems said that a key
    cause of turnover was teachers who had earned a college degree leaving to
    work for a higher salary, and in some cases better benefits, at a school
    system. Even teachers who had earned an associate degree often went to
    work at a school system as assistant teachers for higher salaries or
    better benefits than they would receive as a teacher in a Head Start
    program not affiliated with a school system. For example:

    o  	An officer of a Texas Head Start program said that teachers hired with
    an associate or bachelor's degree often left after a year for a higher
    salary offered by a school district and that this was the main reason for
    turnover. She said that although the program had increased teachers'
    salaries to levels well above those of day care centers and above those of
    most other pre-kindergarten teachers and increased teachers' fringe
    benefits to be competitive with those of school districts, the program's
    teacher salaries were still not competitive with those paid to teachers by
    school districts.

    o  	The director of a Maryland Head Start program said the causes of
    teacher turnover included moving to the public schools after degree
    completion for more attractive salary and benefits (including "signing
    bonuses" offered by the public schools). The director said that the
    program's primary method of reducing turnover was raising teacher
    salaries.

    Several nonschool district Head Start grantees told us that annual
    salaries for teachers with bachelor's degrees at Head Start programs
    administered by school systems were considerably higher than the annual
    salaries they paid. For example:

    o  	An officer of a community action agency grantee in Dallas said that
    starting annual pay for Head Start teachers with a bachelor's degree was
    $26,000, compared with $36,000 paid by the Dallas Independent School
    District. In addition, while the agency's benefit package was competitive
    with the school district's, the public school teachers got the summer and
    Christmas and spring breaks off while the Head Start program operated year
    round.

    o  A manager of a nonprofit grantee in New Jersey said that school
    districts

    Early Childhood Education Programs Were Available in All States and
    Grantees Have Worked to Improve Access to Them, but Access Is Still a
    Problem in Some Rural Areas

    paid new teachers, just out of college, with a bachelor's degree about
    $5,000 a year more, and certified teachers as much as $15,000 a year more,
    than the Head Start program could offer. The manager said that it was
    difficult to retain teachers who acquire a bachelor's degree and
    certification because those are the requirements for teaching in the
    public schools. The manager also said that teachers are getting degrees
    and moving on because Head Start salaries cannot compete with salaries or
    the 10-month work year offered in the public schools.

    Our analysis of completion data for early childhood education and similar
    programs shows that such programs were available in all states and at one
    in five postsecondary institutions included in the 1999-2000 IPEDS
    database. Nevertheless, as expected, the more rural, less populous states
    had few of these programs. Head Start grantees used a number of methods to
    make early childhood education and similar courses accessible to their
    teachers, such as offering on-site classes. However, providing
    opportunities in rural areas sometimes remained a problem. As a result,
    some Head Start teachers had to travel considerable distances to attend
    classes.

    Programs in Early Childhood Education or Similar Fields of Study Exist in
    Every State, but Some Rural States Have Few

    Early childhood education and similar programs were available to Head
    Start teachers in all states. Our analysis of data from the Department of
    Education's IPEDS shows that in the 1999-2000 school year, students
    completed programs in early childhood education and eight similar fields
    of study at 1,352 U.S. postsecondary institutions across all states. These
    programs include graduate, bachelor, and associate degree programs and
    other programs, such as those less than 1-year. This was an 11 percent
    increase from 1,215 postsecondary institutions 2 years earlier, as shown
    in

    table 8. Every state had students complete either bachelor's or associate
    degree programs or both.

    Table 8: Number of Postsecondary Institutions with Students Completing
    Programs in Early Childhood Education and Eight Similar Fields for the
    1997-98 and 1999-2000 School Years

                                    Postsecondary Postsecondary
                                   institutions   institutions
                                   with students  with students
                                       completing completing    Number
                                       program in program in           Percentage
            Program of study       1997-98 school   1999-2000   change     change
                                             year  school year
          Pre-elementary/early                428           506     78
                childhood
          /kindergarten teacher
                education
          Individual and family               102           107      5
               development
            studies, general
        Family life and relations              28            30      2
                 studies
         Child growth, care, and               64            82     18
               development
                 studies
          Individual and family                12            16      4
               development
             studies, other
         Child care and guidance              407           441     34
               workers and
            managers, general
               Child care                     242           275     33
           provider/assistant
    Childcare services manager             121           139     18
         Child care and guidance               24            26      2
               workers and
             managers, other
                 Totala                     1,215         1,352    137

    Source: U.S. Department of Education.

    aTotal figures differ from a total of the figures in each column because a
    single school can be counted 9 times if it has students completing
    programs in all nine of the fields of study.

    The 1,352 postsecondary institutions were spread across all 50 states, the
    District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. California, the most populous
    state, had the largest number of these institutions (128), while there
    were fewer than 5 of these institutions in 4 of the least populous states
    (Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Wyoming), 2 of which (Alaska and
    Wyoming) are among the most rural states.

    Grantees Used a Variety of Grantees used a wide variety of approaches to
    increase access to early Approaches to Increase childhood education
    programs for Head Start teachers seeking to earn Access to Early Childhood
    degrees, and many Head Start staff were enrolled in such programs.

    Although early childhood education and similar programs were
    availableEducation Programs to Head Start teachers in all states, ACF
    regional officials and some Head Start grantees said that providing
    educational opportunities in rural areas

    sometimes remained a problem and that some teachers had to travel
    considerable distances to attend early childhood education courses.

    ACF regional office officials and grantees noted that efforts to work with
    community colleges to provide early childhood education courses during or
    after the school day at Head Start centers or other easily accessible
    locations were effective in making these courses available to Head Start
    teachers. In fact, grantees reported that nearly 45 percent of teachers
    without degrees were enrolled in such training, ranging from 35 percent in
    Region II (New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico),11 to 51 percent in
    Region IX (Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada.)12 Grantees also
    provided funding and time off to facilitate teachers' completion of
    degrees. For example:

    o  	In Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska), the director of
    a Missouri community action agency Head Start program reported that the
    agency developed partnerships with community colleges to provide: (1)
    on-site courses that were held at the agency's central office as well as
    at several Head Start Centers and partner sites and (2) field-based CDA
    courses offering 15 hours of college credit. For college courses, the
    program paid any tuition costs not covered by financial aid and 50 percent
    of book fees.

    o  	In Region VI (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas),
    ACF officials said that policies grantees implemented to encourage staff
    to increase their education level included: (1) paying or reimbursing
    staff for tuition, books, and testing; (2) allowing staff to attend some
    classes during the work day; (3) hiring qualified substitutes to allow
    teachers the time for classes; and (4) assisting staff to apply for Pell
    Grants and other financial aid.

    o  	In Region III (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West
    Virginia, and the District of Columbia), the director of a community
    action agency Head Start program in Delaware said that getting a college
    degree through Head Start had been the opportunity of a lifetime for many
    of the program's teachers. The agency has partnership agreements with
    Delaware State University and Delaware Technical College for college

    11Region II also includes the Virgin Islands, which we excluded from our
    study.

    12Region IX also includes American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern
    Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands,
    and Republic of Palau, which we excluded from our study.

    classes. The agency pays for tuition, books, mileage, and child care and
    provides substitute teachers when release time is needed. For example,
    since most college classes are held at night, teachers are given release
    time to prepare for class and take care of family needs.

    Although programs in early childhood education and similar fields of study
    were available in all states, such courses were often unavailable or
    difficult to access in rural areas, according to some ACF regional
    officials and grantees we contacted. For example, ACF officials said:

    o  	In some rural areas in Region V (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
    Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin), which often included smaller grantees,
    there were few colleges and some lacked early childhood education
    programs. But, ACF officials said the number of schools offering an early
    childhood education degree had increased recently with the help of the
    Head Start quality improvement centers.

    o  	In Region VI (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas),
    more than one-half of Head Start teachers were located in rural areas,
    making improving teacher qualifications particularly difficult. Few Head
    Start programs had partnerships with colleges and, for many Head start
    teachers, classes were difficult to attend due to long distances. For
    example, in New Mexico some teachers had to travel 2.5 hours to attend
    class.

    Grantees have had some success in addressing the difficulty in accessing
    courses in early childhood education in rural areas using distance
    education-education characterized by the separation, in time or place,
    between instructor and student. For example, according to ACF officials:

    o  	In Region II (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin
    Islands), availability of early childhood education programs was no longer
    a problem except in some rural areas in upstate New York where distance
    education had helped to provide courses.

    o  	In Region I (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode
    Island, and Vermont), there were many institutions of higher education,
    and availability was generally not a problem even in rural areas. However,
    officials said that distance learning was used in Maine, the region's most
    rural state, but only as a last resort because many teachers prefer
    interaction with others when learning.

        Officials noted that distance learning has advantages and disadvantages.
    Although some grantees said that teachers like the flexibility offered by

    courses taken over the Internet, some officials noted disadvantages such
    as the lack of opportunity to interact with other teachers and the lack of
    appropriate computer skills. For example:

    o  	In Region VIII (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah,
    and Wyoming), the director of a school system Head Start program in
    Montana said that most of the staff preferred distance learning to courses
    taken at the local college because they could set their own time schedule,
    take up to 6 months to complete each class, set up a time and place to
    take tests, and select a tutor. Staff members took each class with at
    least one other staff person to have someone with whom to discuss ideas.
    The director said the disadvantages of distance learning courses included
    a lack of instructors or classmates with whom to interact, the need for
    students to have up-to-date computers, and a wait for the delivery of
    class materials.

    o  	In Region IX (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa,
    Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of
    Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau), the director
    of a private, nonprofit Head Start grantee in California said that on-line
    courses are convenient and allow for scheduling flexibility. She said that
    a large number of staff reside in other counties and, given work and
    commuting schedules, have no time to attend college, so Internet
    coursework addresses these staff members' needs. The director said the
    agency sponsors and conducts some Internet coursework and gives employees
    access to the agency's training center computers to take courses on the
    Internet. However, while Internet instruction is effective for some
    teachers, the director said that most teachers need and enjoy interaction
    with other people while learning.

    o  	In Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska), the director of a
    community action agency Head Start program in Missouri, which operates in
    a rural area with little access to colleges courses, said that HeadsUP! (a
    course provided via satellite to classrooms) had been successful because
    it had a community college instructor available to facilitate the course.
    The director said that the advantages of distance education were: (1) it
    can be scheduled when convenient for the employee, (2) employees can work
    at their own pace, (3) it provides access to courses not otherwise
    available to staff, and (4) it can be successful if the employee is highly
    motivated and independent. She said the disadvantages of distance learning
    include that: (1) it is easy to fall behind, (2) it is more expensive, and
    (3) most staff need face-to-face interaction with instructors.

    o

    Conclusions

    Recommendation

    Another director of a Head Start Program in Missouri (part of Region VII )
    said that in the 10-county area it served, early childhood education
    programs for teachers seeking degrees were available only in one city,
    consequently, teachers in rural areas did not have easy access to
    programs. The director said that, while one teacher had completed an
    associate degree using distance learning and two other staff were
    presently piloting the use of another distance learning program, there had
    been little overall success with distance learning because: (1) many
    education programs have a component that requires the student to be
    on-campus at scheduled times, (2) courses require a certain level of
    computer skills, and (3) the courses are expensive.

    Head Start appears to have met the requirements of the 1998 mandate for
    teacher qualifications by increasing the number of teachers with at least
    an associate degree in early childhood education or a related field to 52
    percent in 2002. However, the number of classrooms in Head Start centers
    that did not have at least one teacher with at least minimum credentials
    was not known because ACF does not require that grantees specifically
    report such data in their annual PIR.

    Head Start grantees and ACF regional officials we contacted said the
    quality improvement funds used to pay for teacher training and to increase
    the level of teacher salaries were the key to success in increasing the
    numbers of teachers with degrees. In addition, the agreements worked out
    with colleges to provide easily accessible early childhood education
    courses were seen as a factor in increasing the number of teachers with
    degrees.

    Head Start reauthorization proposals have been introduced that would
    require increased levels of teachers with associate and bachelor's
    degrees. Because salaries comprise most of Head Start grantees' budgets,
    and grantees' teacher salary levels differ based on staff qualifications,
    it is likely that proposals to enhance teachers' qualifications will
    require consideration of the implications for the Head Start program.

    We recommend that the Secretary of HHS require that ACF, at least
    annually, collect data from Head Start grantees and report to the
    Secretary on whether each classroom in Head Start centers has at least one
    teacher with at least the minimum credentials required by law.

    Agency Comments 	We provided a draft of this report to the Departments of
    Health and Human Services and Education for their review and comment. In
    its

    written response, included as appendix II of this report, ACF concurred
    with our recommendation. In addition, ACF provide technical comments,
    which we incorporated where appropriate. Education officials reviewed the
    draft and said that they support the recommendation and had no comments.

    We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of HHS; Assistant
    Secretary for Children and Families; Associate Commissioner, Head Start
    Bureau; appropriate congressional committees; and other interested
    parties. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO's
    Web site at http://www.gao.gov. Please call me at (202) 512-7215 if you or
    your staff have any questions about this report. Key contacts and staff
    acknowledgments for this report are listed in appendix II.

    Marnie S. Shaul Director, Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues

                           Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

    This appendix discusses in more detail the scope and methodology for
    assessing the extent to which: (1) Head Start has met legislative mandates
    concerning teacher qualifications; (2) Head Start teacher salaries have
    increased and enabled grantees to attract and retain teachers with
    degrees; and (3) degree and other programs in early childhood education
    are available for Head Start teachers and grantees have taken steps to
    enhance access to them.

    In order to determine the percent of Head Start teachers who have at least
    an associate degree in early childhood education or a related field, we
    analyzed Program Information Report (PIR) data on center-based Head Start
    and Early Head Start programs, including the American Indian-Alaska Native
    and Migrant programs, in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of
    Columbia, for program years 1998-2002. These data sources are an annual
    survey of all grantees regarding various aspects of their programs. We
    reviewed and performed electronic testing of the data for obvious errors
    in completeness and accuracy and found some inconsistencies in the way
    teacher qualifications were reported. We also reviewed a U. S. Department
    of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General draft report on
    the status of efforts to improve the qualifications of Head Start teachers
    as of program year 2001. This report noted similar problems with the data.
    However, we determined the PIR data elements we used were sufficiently
    reliable for this report. Most of our references to portions of Head Start
    teachers with degrees or CDAs and to teacher salary levels are based on
    our analyses of these data. Given the timeframes of our review, we could
    not verify these data with grantees, but have appropriately annotated the
    data used in our findings. We calculated the percent of teachers with
    degrees based on the largest number of total teachers reported in the PIR,
    rather than on the total number of teachers reported by educational level,
    since a non-exhaustive set of reporting categories was used for this
    question. In addition, to confirm the reasonableness of these data, we
    reviewed 1998 and 2000 data relating to teacher qualifications from
    another source-ACF's Family and Child Experiences Survey. We reviewed
    these data in order to estimate the percentage of Head Start children
    instructed by teachers with various levels of education. We also reviewed
    Head Start laws and regulations addressing requirements for teacher
    qualifications.

    In order to address whether there is at least one teacher in each
    classroom in Head Start centers with a degree, a CDA credential, or a
    state certificate at least equivalent to a CDA, we reviewed the PIR survey
    and related data. We further reviewed Head Start Program Performance
    Standards and results of Program Review Instrument for Systems Monitoring
    (PRISM)

    Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

    reviews for fiscal years 2000-2002. We also reviewed Head Start laws and
    regulations addressing requirements for a teacher with minimum credentials
    in each classroom.

    To assess the importance of the competitiveness of teachers' salaries in
    grantees' ability to attract and retain teachers with degrees and the
    extent to which degree programs in early childhood education are available
    for Head Start teachers without degrees, we interviewed officials in 10
    regional offices and the American Indian-Alaska Native and Migrant
    Branches. We also interviewed officials from the Head Start Bureau and
    contacted officials of 30 grantees. We selected grantees in each region to
    obtain perspective on both those that had been successful in achieving a
    high proportion of teachers with degrees and those that were having
    difficulty doing so. We visited 11 of these grantees in three states-
    Delaware, Maryland, and Texas-and in the District of Columbia. These
    grantees were in 2 ACF regions-Region III (Delaware, Maryland,
    Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia) and
    Region VI (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas).

    We also compared salaries of Head Start teachers taken from ACF's PIR data
    with those of preschool and kindergarten teachers reported by the Bureau
    of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 1998 and 2001.1 The results of this
    comparison were consistent with interview responses on the competitiveness
    of Head Start teachers' salaries with other preschool teacher salaries. It
    is important to note that PIR reported by grantees included the average
    Head Start full-time teacher salaries earned annually, regardless of the
    number of months worked during the year. Salaries reported by BLS for
    preschool and kindergarten teachers were estimated average annual wages,
    based on employer responses to a BLS survey. BLS does not distinguish
    between full- and part-time workers and assumes that all work 2,080 hours
    annually (which is a 40 hour work week for 1 year). However, BLS tracks
    salaries of child care workers in a separate category. On the basis of our
    review of the methodology used to develop the BLS information, we
    determined that the data were sufficiently reliable for this report. In
    addition, we reviewed Head Start Bureau program guidance on quality
    improvement funds.

    1BLS included preschool teachers who instruct children (normally up to 5
    years of age) in activities designed to promote socials, physical, and
    intellectual growth needed for primary school in preschool, day care
    center, or other child development facilities. Child care workers are
    excluded from this category. Special education teachers are excluded from
    both preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers.

    Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

    In addressing the extent to which degree programs in early childhood
    education are available for Head Start teachers without degrees, we also
    analyzed Department of Education data from the Integrated Postsecondary
    Education Data System (IPEDS) to determine the number of schools with
    students completing programs in early childhood education and eight
    similar fields for 1997-98 and 1999-2000 school years. We also identified
    the number of schools with completing students in each of four categories
    (graduate, bachelor, associate, and other-such as those less than 1-year)
    in each state for this time period. In addition, we identified numbers of
    completed programs by students in these areas of study for these years.
    ACF defines a degree related to early childhood education as a program of
    study which includes six or more courses in early childhood education
    and/or child development. We identified a list of eight fields of study
    similar to early childhood education that had been used to prepare a 2001
    journal article on early childhood teacher preparation at institutions of
    higher education.2 The eight fields of study include (1) Individual and
    Family Development Studies, General; (2) Family Life and Relations
    Studies; (3) Child Growth, Care and Development Studies; (4) Individual
    and Family Development Studies, Other; (5) Child Care and Guidance Workers
    and Managers, General; (6) Child Care Provider/Assistant; (7) Childcare
    Services Manager; and (8) Child Care and Guidance Workers and Managers,
    Other. Our review of all fields of study confirmed that this list
    represents such programs. This list is similar to lists of degree programs
    related to early childhood education provided by ACF in the past. An
    elementary education degree or a degree in any one of a number of fields
    of study with a certification, specialization, endorsement, or state
    license for pre-school, early childhood, or pre-kindergarten could qualify
    as a degree related to early childhood education if the program of study
    includes six or more courses in early childhood education and/or Child
    Development. However, definitive information on the number of degree
    programs or students meeting this criterion is not available.

    2Diane M. Early, Pamela J. Winton, "Preparing the workforce: early
    childhood teacher preparation at 2- and 4-year institutions of higher
    education," Early Childhood Research Quarterly 16, pp. 285-306, 2001.

    Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services

    Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services

    Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments

    GAO Contacts

    Staff Acknowledgments

    (130231)

    Betty Ward-Zukerman, (202) 512-2732, wardzukermanb@gao.gov Julianne
    Hartman Cutts, (206) 287-4803, cuttsj@gao.gov

    The following people also made key contributions to this report: Chuck
    Novak, Matt Coco, Molly Laster, Grant Mallie, Robert Miller, and Corinna
    Nicolaou.

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