OHS Announces Final Rule and Updated Performance Standards

Last week, the Office of Head Start (OHS) announced the Final Rule on Supporting the Head Start Workforce and Consistent Quality Programming will be published on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 and updated Head Start Program Performance Standards (Performance Standards) will follow. Changes to the Performance Standards are significant and meaningful for staff, children, and families.When the new Performance Standards are made available, we’ll publish blog posts on specific topics to help programs digest the changes and to offer strategies and tips for implementation. What topics are top of mind for your program? Send us a note, and let us know what you’re most interested to learn about!As your program prepares for the updated Performance Standards, we recommend keeping a close eye on communications and opportunities offered by OHS. Make a plan with your team for how communications will be vetted, who will attend events, and how information will be shared internally. As with the 2016 revision to the Performance Standards, there will likely be a flurry of activity upon release. Coinciding with the start of a new program year, it will be helpful to know who is doing what when it comes to understanding the new Performance Standards and impacts on the program.Today (August 19, 1-2pm ET) is the first OHS first webinar on the Supporting the Head Start Workforce and Consistent Quality Programming. While OHS may offer the webinar again, this is currently the only one listed on ECLKC. Then, on August 28, a detailed review of changes to the Performance Standards will be presented in Updates to the Performance Standards: Nurturing the Promise. As much as it’s possible, we recommend having a representative(s) from your program in the webinars to hear information first hand from OHS.In the meantime, you can also familiarize yourself with the materials released by OHS last week. In particular, we want to point you to the tracked changes version of the Performance Standards. As the current (2016) version of the Performance Standards is so readily referenced by many program staff, this tracked changes version makes it easy to see where revisions were made. Some revisions are substantial, while others are smaller wording changes. Either way, you can use the document as a tool to see how the Performance Standards have evolved.Check back soon for more information on the updated Performance Standards. Look for posts on community assessment, wages, and more. And, again, if there are topics you’re interested in hearing about, feel free to let us know!Foundations for Families offers a variety of Consulting Services to meet program’s needs. If your program needs assistance with aspects of the updated Performance Standards, we can help. Our team of consultants will work with your program to determine a process, timeline, and approach that is the best fit for your needs. Please reach out to learn more.Thank you.Thank you for reading our blog. We encourage you to use our blog posts for thought, integration, and sharing. When using or sharing content from blog posts, please attribute the original content to Foundations for Families.