(PDF Download )
Head Start is a launchpad for future leaders and strong communities. It empowers children inside and outside the classroom by building essential foundations for early learning. But it does a lot more…
As a national network with local control, every Head Start program tailors its services to meet the unique needs of the children, families, and communities it serves. Services include prenatal care, health & nutrition, and affordable childcare so parents can pursue education, careers, and job training. Head Start programs also strengthen communities by hiring locally, partnering with small businesses, and serving as hubs where people come together — catalyzing growth in rural, urban, and suburban communities throughout the U.S.
The benefits last for generations. Children who attend are more likely to graduate, find stable work, and contribute to the economy. Families experience greater stability and fewer barriers to workforce participation. Research shows that high-quality early childhood programs generate a yearly return on investment of more than 13%.
Today, more than 40 million alumni carry forward its impact. Across the nation, over 250,000 staff serve 800,000 children and families in 48,000 classrooms at 17,000 centers, reaching every corner of the United States.
Strong families and strong communities make a stronger nation—and Head Start delivers both.
Head Start is a federal-to-local program that supports the needs of young children and families through a comprehensive approach, with a proven record of breaking intergenerational poverty.
Early Head Start serves families from pregnancy to age 3 and Head Start Preschool serves children ages 3-5 and their families; both programs are collectively referred to as “Head Start.” Depending on both community and family needs, services may be delivered in a center, at a family child care home, or in a home visiting format.
Regardless of the setting, there are four elements to Head Start’s high quality approach.
Education
Leaning on decades of brain science, Head Start staff work with children to build the brain connections and self-confidence necessary for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Health
Providing dental, health, and mental health services and referrals, as well as healthy eating based on current nutritional best practices, and early identification of health problems, Head Start addresses critical health and nutrition needs so that children are fully ready to learn and grow.
Parent Engagement and Support
Believing that parents are a child’s first and most important teachers, Head Start requires parent involvement in major program decision-making. Further, Head Start works with parents to put them on a path of economic self-reliance through goal setting, parenting training, and genuine engagement, enabling parents to join the workforce and stay working.
Local Design
Acknowledging that each community has different strengths, resources, and challenges, each program is designed to reflect the traditions, priorities, and cultures of the community.
Head Start serves nearly 800,000 children ages zero to five and their families each year in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Families living below the poverty line, experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care are eligible for Head Start.
Federal grants, administered by the Office of Head Start (OHS) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are awarded directly to local government, nonprofit, for-profit, and faith-based organizations. All Head Start Preschool and Early Head Start grants are for five years, with a system for grant redetermination at the end of the five year period. Each grant recipient is allotted the same base grant each year and is required to provide a 20% non-federal financial match.Each fiscal year, Congress enacts an overall appropriation for Head Start. As outlined in the Head Start Act of 2007, funding levels are adjusted proportionately if the yearly federal appropriation is less or more than the previous year.
In 2014, Head Start’s infant-toddler services were expanded through Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, which leverage the strengths of Early Head Start—flexible, high-quality care——to expand and improve quality in child care settings.
Head Start’s founders understood that parents are essential partners in educating young children. They felt parents should help decide how Head Start services can most benefit their family and other families in their communities. Head Start created Policy Councils as a formal leadership and policy-making role for parents.
Today, every Head Start Preschool and Early Head Start program must have a Policy Council as part of its leadership structure. Through the Policy Council, parents have a voice in decisions about how the program spends money, what children do in their classrooms, and how the program works with community partners.
Extensive research proves positive outcomes in the short, intermediate, and long term for Head Start children and families, and long term savings for taxpayers, including:
• Enhanced kindergarten readiness
• Less grade repetition by 8th grade
• Diminished chronic absenteeism in middle school
• Improved high school graduation rates
• Lower foster care placement rate
• Increased higher education enrollment and completion rates
• Heightened parental involvement (including more father engagement)
• Decreased reliance on public assistance
• Lower likelihood of experiencing poverty
Research has also shown Head Start access is linked with the disruption of intergenerational poverty, as evidenced by increased maternal educational attainment, reduced likelihood of teen pregnancy, and less involvement with the criminal justice system. Learn more about the research.
The federal Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) govern everyday program practice. These standards, last updated in 2024, set robust outcomes-based expectations around staff education, professional development, and data-informed continuous improvement of program services, while also including flexibility to encourage innovation at the local level.
While every Head Start program is unique and locally designed, each must meet a certain level of quality education, health, nutritional, social, and other services. OHS regularly monitors all grantees for performance and ability to continuously improve services according to rigorous monitoring protocols.
Prior to the end of each five year grant, OHS is required to determine if a program qualifies for an automatic renewal or would be required to recompete for its funding. Any program that receives two deficiencies during its five year project period is required to compete with other eligible entities for the new five year grant. This process of determining whether a program should receive an automatic renewal or be required to recompete was mandated by Congress to ensure communities receive Head Start services from the most qualified local agency.
Head Start services are delivered by more than 1,600 local grant recipients operating more than 17,000 centers across the country. American Indian and Alaska Native grants are awarded to tribal governments, and Migrant and Seasonal programs serve across state lines and adapt Head Start to the specific needs of the agriculture workforce. Find your local Head Start program.
