Answers to Four Questions About Early Head Start

by Helen Shum | Feb 27, 2019 | Parents and Families, Oregon Policy, Program Evaluation

What is Early Head Start (EHS) and how is it different from Head Start?

Early Head Start serves expectant mothers and children from birth to age 2 in a variety of settings. It began as a federal program in 1994, almost thirty years after Head Start was launched to improve educational and life outcomes for low-income children ages 3–5.

The intentional two-generation approach of EHS focuses on supporting healthy parent/child relationships, child growth and development, and self-sufficiency. Eligibility for the program is mostly income-based, though children in foster care or the child welfare system may be enrolled regardless of family income.

What does Early Head Start look like in Oregon?

According to the Oregon Early Learning Division (ELD) there are 93 EHS sites across the state. These community-led programs include center-based services, home-based services and family child care services. Parents can choose one or a combination of options. For working families, EHS may serve as a child care option. Home visiting services, parent playgroups, and other meetings that encourage socialization are often a part of EHS.

The federal government funds about 2,000 EHS slots in Oregon and the state funds another 64 slots at a cost of $1.6 million annually.

However, the ELD estimates that the number of income-eligible children for this program is closer to 25,000, meaning that only 1 in 10 eligible children currently receive Early Head Start services.

What are the benefits to families and communities?

Large scale studies of EHS have shown a wide range of social-emotional and cognitive impacts for children who participate in Early Head Start, as well as improvements in parenting skills and home environments. The greatest benefits are attributed to children and families who receive higher levels of service.

In a recent study co-authored by Portland State University researcher, Beth Green, Early Head Start was linked to lower incidences of child abuse and supportive of other positive long-term stability outcomes.

How can we expand access to Early Head Start to more families?

Children’s Institute and other child and family advocates know that supporting families and children in their primary years make sense as a proactive strategy to support healthy development, and as a cost-effective measure that can save on later social service and educational expenditures down the road.

Notably, the Joint Committee on Student Success, a bi-partisan group of state lawmakers tasked to help improve Oregon’s public education system, has called for increased access to Early Head Start and other early childhood services in its policy recommendations to Governor Kate Brown. The committee estimates that adding an additional 1,000 slots to Early Head Start will cost an additional $25 million.

If you or someone you know has benefited from Early Head Start programming and would be open to sharing your story, we’d love to hear from you!

Share your story

Additional Resources

Early Head Start May Prevent Child Abuse

Joint Committee for Student Success Recommendations

Children’s Institute Legislative Recommendations

Home Visiting: 2019 Policy Brief

by Rafael Otto | Dec 21, 2018 | CI Publications

Our policy brief on home visiting focuses on promoting loving, nurturing relationships between parents and children and the role of home visiting programs across Oregon.

Today, fewer than 20 percent of families eligible for home visiting services have access to these crucial programs.

Our 2019 policy recommendations for the state include offering universal home visits for all families and further investing in programs that strengthen parent-child bonds.

Read and download the policy brief

Read our complete 2019 policy agenda

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The Time Is Now for Oregon to Invest in Early Childhood

by Melissa Duclos | Dec 18, 2018 | Benefits of Preschool, Child Care, School Readiness

The Early Years Are Critical

Children experience their most profound cognitive, social, and emotional growth in the first eight years of life. Babies are born learners and their brains produce a million neural connections each second. By the time children reach their third birthday, their brains are 80 percent developed. The quality of children’s early experiences during this crucial period of growth sets the foundation for all future learning.

Despite what we understand about the importance of these early years for lifelong healthy development, there is no comprehensive early childhood system in Oregon to ensure all children get what they need to have the best start in life. Many children who experience institutional barriers to opportunity—children from low-income families, children of color, children with disabilities, dual language learners, and children who live in rural areas—lack access to essential high-quality early care and education opportunities.

The Early Years in Oregon

Forty-seven percent of children ages 0–5 in Oregon live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s 129,000 kids. Oregon can improve its support of these children and their families by first addressing our state’s child care crisis. According to a study by the Center for American Progress, Oregon is a child care desert, with 6.8 infants and toddlers for every licensed, available child care slot.

Even if families can find reliable child care in their area, they may not be able to afford it. According to the Economic Policy Institute, one year of infant and toddler child care in Oregon is more expensive than public college tuition; infant care for one child in Oregon accounts for 20 percent of a typical family’s income.

Our state must also invest more in proven programs like Early Head Start and Home Visiting that serve vulnerable families with young children. These evidence-based programs have been shown to increase optimal child development and school readiness, improve mental health for mothers and positive parenting, and decrease child abuse, neglect, and emergency room visits. Currently critical home visiting services reach less than 20 percent of eligible families. Early Head Start serves only 10 percent of eligible children, with more than 23,000 children under 3 left unserved.

Preschool-age children are similarly underserved. Only 8 percent of 3-year-olds and 12 percent of 4-year-olds participate in publicly-funded preschool, putting Oregon 31st out of 43 states reporting on public preschool access. Our public preschool programs need to reach an additional 30,000 eligible children if we want to ensure that all our kids have access to high-quality early childhood education.

The Early Years in Oregon

At a Glance

129,000 kids ages 0–5 live at or below 200% of the federal poverty threshold.
Oregon is a child care desert.
Oregon is the third most expensive state for child care.
Home visiting services reach less than 20% of eligible families.
Early Head Start serves 10% of eligible children.
Only 8% of 3-year-olds and 12% of 4-year-olds attend publicly funded preschool.
30,000 eligible children lack access to publicly funded preschool.
Only 29% of children in need of early intervention receive the recommended levels of service.
8,360 children who need EI/ECSE services do not receive the recommended levels of service.

Finally, while Oregon has prioritized developmental screenings for young children, the state does not invest enough in the Early Intervention (EI) and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) children need once they are diagnosed with disabilities and delays. As a result, more than 8,300 children who need EI/ECSE do not receive the recommended levels of service.

What Does This Mean for Children in Oregon?

We know that babies are born learners, and that future success in school and life depends on stable, healthy families and high-quality early care and education.

Gaps in language proficiency between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers are apparent as early as nine months. On the first day of kindergarten, children from lower-income families—the same children who are less likely to have access to high-quality early education—score lower in reading, math, and general knowledge than children from higher-income families.

This “school readiness” gap persists over time. Results from the 2017–2018 Oregon Assessments show a correlation between kindergarten and third grade achievement: children who are less prepared at the start of kindergarten are less likely to be reading at grade level by third grade. Those who aren’t proficient in reading by third grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school.

Here in Oregon, our failure as a state to invest in these early years has clear consequences: in 2016–2017, 67 percent of economically disadvantaged students, 81 percent of students with disabilities, and 85 percent of dual language learners were not reading proficiently by third grade. In 2016, Oregon’s high school graduation rate was 74.8 percent—the third worst in the nation.

We Know What Works

We know what children need from birth to age 5 in order to be prepared for and successful in school. And the good news is, we already have proven programs in Oregon that work well for kids and families. Now is the time for Oregon to invest more in these proven programs so that they serve all eligible children across the state. Learn more about the programs that help ensure every child in Oregon has the best start in life.

Early Head Start

Home Visiting

Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education

High-Quality Preschool

An Interview with Ron Herndon

by Rafael Otto | Jan 9, 2018 | Podcast, Community Engagement, Featured Programs, Oregon Policy, School Readiness, Equity

We invite you to spend an hour listening to our interview with Ron Herndon, a long-time community leader and activist in Portland and nationally. He has been the director of the Portland-based Albina Head Start since 1975, and his background includes more than four decades of advocacy efforts on behalf of low-income families and young children, and Portland’s black community.

Having served as chairman of the board for the National Head Start Association for 20 years, from 1993 to 2013, Herndon offers a unique historical perspective on early childhood in Portland and nationally. Today, his Head Start and Early Head Start programs serve more than 1,000 children in 33 classrooms at 25 locations in North, Northeast, and Southeast Portland. And he has recently pioneered a Mandarin language program, the first of its kind for a Head Start program in the US.

In this interview, we discuss the history of Albina Head Start, racial discrimination and segregation in Portland, and the history of state and federal policy that systematically isolated and suppressed Portland’s African-American community — actions that still have lasting impact today. Herndon also provides his commentary on the history of education in the country, what is lacking for low-income children, the importance of teacher training and family empowerment, and ideas for changing the lives of children with a commitment to their well-being and success.

Please tune in, share, and enjoy.

Interview Highlights

[1:05] The origins of Albina Head Start and Ron’s recruitment by Head Start parents.

[3:03] History of the Albina neighborhood in Portland.

[5:37] Disruption of the black community in Portland and the origins of redlining and housing discrimination.

[9:30] Gentrification versus discriminatory policies such as redlining.

[12:09] Displacement of black people from the Albina neighborhood alongside displacement of black children from black schools.

[18:45] Herndon’s role in the Black United Front to end school bussing policies in the 70s and 80s.

[24:22] Comparing school bussing policies from the 70s to voucher policies in effect today.

[31:14] The reading instruction controversy in Head Start.

[36:29] On the lack of diversity in early learning leadership.

[39:41] The innovation of the Center Training Assistant (CTA) program.

[44:44] Comments on what it takes to run a “high-quality” program and the importance of parent involvment.

[47:36] The future of Head Start and Early Head Start.

[58:04] “Children can learn what we are prepared to teach them. If we set goals and have high aspirations for children the majority of the time they will reach them.”

[1:01:44] Advice on engaging in activism today and pushing for institutional change.