Welcome
Carol Whitten, Special Assistant to the Associate Commissioner
Office of Head Start

On behalf of all of us at the Office of Head Start it is my pleasure to extend to you a warm welcome and to thank you for traveling to Washington, D.C. to attend this meeting. I would also like to thank you for joining us on this exciting journey, which began with one STEP this summer!

From this point on, you will hear about the future of Project STEP and our exciting plans. But I feel you should also understand some of the history that led us to today. I am talking specifically about the last year:

1. To begin, in January 2001 the "No Child Left Behind Act" was signed. It was the first piece of legislation signed. President Bush has made the education of every child in America one of his top domestic priorities. That Act seeks to ensure that public schools teach children what they need to know-to-be-successful in life and that they also set high standards.
2. As you know, both the President and Mrs. Bush have long been supporters of Head Start. I am sure you were very excited to hear the President, during the last State of the Union address, state that "we need to prepare our children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs." That was our call to action!

3. The State of the Union Speech was reinforced further by First Lady Laura Bush, when she spoke to members of the Senate on January 29, 2002. She said,

   While my focus is on early language and pre-reading development, I do not want to minimize the importance of nutrition and physical development, or the development of feelings, behavior and social skills. To address early cognitive development, (including language and literacy development) outside the context of social and emotional development, would limit the progress that we can make. All these competencies are intertwined and each requires focused attention.

4. In response to these goals, the White House developed an early childhood initiative, which is built on raising the bar by using research as one more tool to create a better learning environment and improve outcomes for children.
5. The Good Start, Grow Smart Early Childhood Initiative was born! It was announced by President Bush, April 2002, and identifies children's early literacy as a key focus for Head Start program improvement. In this initiative, the President presented three areas of focus for Head Start:
   • Strengthening Head Start Programs
   • Partnering with states to improve early childhood education
   • Providing information to teachers, caregivers, and parents.
6. Immediately in response to this mandate from the President and because of our own program findings which have shown that teacher qualifications across Head Start Program are uneven, our Associate Commissioner, Windy Hill, began Project STEP. Project STEP began training Early Literacy Specialist in May and was launched in June 2002.
7. Throughout the summer of 2002, 32 hours of literacy training was provided to over 3,000 Head Start education managers and state child care managers. These participants were trained as Early Literacy Mentor-Coaches and charged with returning to their programs to provide similar training to their classroom colleagues and to mentor-coach them. Fifteen training sessions were held across the United States and Puerto Rico
8. Our data showed that participants at the summer STEP trainings were pleased and,
   • Participants overwhelming stated that they learned more about phonological awareness and how it contributes to a child's language and literary development. They also said that they now have a better understanding of the importance of incorporating literacy into all areas of the classroom, including transition time.
   • The area most highly recommended for follow-up training was mentoring, which was cited at three times the rate of any other topic. Other areas for follow-up included developmentally appropriate practice, parent involvement, and serving children with special needs.

Lastly and in conclusion, as you begin this conference, I wish you well and hope that you go away just a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of work that has been done to ensure that all training is interrelated and beneficial to you and the children you serve.

Thank you.

NRC Home | OHS Home | ACF Home | Site Map | Help | Disclaimer | Email (last modified: March 25, 2003)