United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2003-09-12 monographic deposited born digital 36 p. GA 1.13:GAO-03-1049 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049 P0b002ee1803817ef f:d031049 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049 GAO-03-1049 Aid for education Disadvantaged persons Education program evaluation Educational standards Preschool education Children Performance measures Head Start Program HHS Family and Child Experiences Survey Other Written Product A08419 To enhance Head Start's contribution to the school readiness of children from low-income families, the 1998 amendments to the Head Start Act provided for updating the Head Start performance standards to ensure that when children leave the program, they have the basic skills needed to start school. Head Start's performance standards for education and early childhood development require that the programs' curricula support each child's cognitive and language development, including emergent literacy skills. In preschool children, cognitive and language development refers to the fundamental abilities needed to reason and to speak a language. Skills in emergent literacy are the precursors to reading, such as learning the letters of the alphabet. The curriculum Head Start programs use must meet the definition for a written curriculum in Head Start's performance standards. Programs have the option of developing their own curriculum, using a curriculum developed locally or by the state education agency, and adopting or adapting a model developed by an educational publisher. Programs also may use teacher mentoring and individual child assessment to help implement the curriculum. As reauthorization of Head Start approached, Congress asked us to answer questions about Head Start programs' efforts to prepare children for school: (1) to what extent have Head Start programs made progress in meeting performance standards for cognitive and language development since they took effect in January 1998? (2) to what extent has local Head Start programs' use of curricula changed since the performance standards for children's cognitive and language development were issued? (3) to what extent have local Head Start programs used teacher mentoring and individual child assessments to support curriculum planning? https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049.pdf GAO-03-1049 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-1049 Other Written Product GAO-03-1049; Head Start: Curriculum Use and Individual Child Assessment in Cognitive and Language Development; Aid for education Disadvantaged persons Education program evaluation Educational standards Preschool education Children Performance measures Head Start Program HHS Family and Child Experiences Survey Public Law 105-285 Title 45 Part 1304 45 CFR Part 1304 Title 45 Part 1304.3 45 CFR Part 1304.3