What We Do
The Olathe Head Start program is a federally funded center-based program that provides services to children and families 3-5 years of age who are from low-income families. The Olathe School District is the grantee for Olathe Head Start and serves Olathe, Blue Valley, Spring Hill, De Soto, and Gardner/Edgerton School Districts.
Our objective is to:
· Provide children and their families with comprehensive services that will allow them to succeed in school and in life;
· Work with 3-5 year old children in an effort to equip them with school readiness skills; and
· Assist all families by helping them to set achievable goals in areas of most concern to them.
Funding
The primary source of funding is a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services and The Office of Head Start. An additional resource is the Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP); a reimbursement program that pays for portions of the nutrition program provided by Olathe Head Start. Non-Federal match is required for grant funds and are the local share of the Head Start funding.
Department of Health & Human Services Grant
Budget/Project Period: 8-1-2016 through 7-31-2017
Federal Budget $1,140,160 (80%)
Non-Federal Share $285,040 (20%)
Total Budget $1,425,200
Proposed Budget
Salaries $680,643
Cost of Living Adjustment $17,781
Fringe Benefits $236,076
Supplies $42,035
Duration Project $41,994
Duration Start-up $74,555
Other $36,031
Travel $11,045
Non-Federal Match $285,040
Total $1,425,200
The Annual Audit can be found at http://departments.olatheschools.com/business-finance/reports/
High Quality Classrooms & Early Learning Framework
The program utilizes the Creative Curriculum, a play based curriculum which is aligned with the Kansas Early Learning Standards and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework.
The philosophy behind the Creative Curriculum is that young children learn best by doing. Learning isn't just repeating what someone else says; it requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work and to learn firsthand about the world we live in. In their early years, children explore the world around them by using all their senses (touching, tasting, listening, smelling, and looking).
Play provides the foundation for academic or "school" learning.
· Play enables us to achieve the key goals of our early childhood curriculum. Play is the work of young children.
· The most important goal of our early childhood curriculum is to help children become enthusiastic learners. This means encouraging children to be active and creative explorers who are not afraid to try out their ideas and to think their own thoughts.
· Our goal is to help children become independent, self-confident, inquisitive learners.
· Our curriculum identifies goals in all areas of development:
o Social: To help children feel comfortable in school, trust their new environment, make friends, and feel they are a part of the group.
o Emotional: To help children experience pride and self- confidence, develop independence and self-control, and have a positive attitude toward life.
o Cognitive: To help children become confident learners by letting them try out their own ideas and experience success, and by helping them acquire learning skills such as the ability to solve problems, ask questions, and use words to describe their ideas, observations, and feelings.
o Physical: To help children increase their large and small muscle skills and feel confident about what their bodies can do.
Ready for Kindergarten
The red bar represents all three year olds at the end of period one. The blue bar represents all three year olds that ended period three as Proficient in each domain. The green bar represents growth from period one through period three for all three year olds which includes students who are developing at the levels of Not Yet, In Process, and Proficient.
Olathe Head Start enrolled and retained nearly 65 three-year olds during the 2016-2017 school year. Staff authentically and intentionally assessed these first time preschoolers in their natural environment learning and playing with their peers. The education staff was able to build relationships with students and gain knowledge about students’ developmental level. Teachers discovered that the majority of three-year old students did not have any proficiency in the seven domains. The largest group of students (which was minimal) with knowledge, was in Language and many of those students were dual language learners. Teachers began assessing students in September (Period One) again in January (Period Two) and did a final capture of students near the end of the year (Period Three).
The growth and final proficiency of three-year old students was outstanding. Many students had mastered tasks as expected and as deemed developmentally appropriate. Olathe Head Start students have mastered managing their own emotions and how to handle classroom environments socially. The largest area of growth was in Language. Nearly 70% of three-year olds grew from (not yet) to (proficient) in Language; this is Head Start working at its finest.
The program has been satisfied with the new Work Sampling Online assessment tool. It truly allowed teachers to recognize where students were and how to expand their growth and experiences.
The red bar represents all four year olds at the end of period one. The blue bar represents all four year olds that ended period three as Proficient in each domain. The green bar represents growth from period one through period three for all four year olds which includes students who are developing at the levels of Not Yet, In Process, and Proficient.
Olathe Head Start had a large group of four-year students this year that truly grew and mastered many different domains and successfully became proficient and Kindergarten ready. Head Start teachers were able to work with second year students and continue to build on the foundation that Head Start built for them last year and offer new four-year old students exposure to rich early childhood classroom experiences. Students began the school year with little exposure to Math and Scientific Reasoning. However, they gained these skills through hands on experiences within the environment and developmentally appropriate teacher directed lessons. Nearly 65% of students mastered Math and nearly 70% of students mastered Scientific Reasoning. Olathe Head Start 4 year-old students started the school year at under 3% proficiency in the Science and Math domains. Teachers provided individual instruction to assist students in gaining a deeper understanding of these two important domains.
Nearly 70% of all four-year olds were proficient in the major seven domains by the end of the 2016-2017 school year. For the small percentage of students that were not in the proficient category, they still made gains in each domain. All Head Start 4 year-old students have been exposed to school readiness skills and will be ready to enter Kindergarten.
Policy Council
Policy Council meetings are scheduled on a monthly basis, to empower parents to make decisions about program policies that may enhance services to children and families. In order to assist parents in participating in the Policy Council, Olathe Head Start provides childcare and dinner. Olathe School District Board representatives are actively involved with the Policy Council, to assure that the program staff, parents and governing body fulfill their responsibilities.
Governing Body
The Olathe Public Schools Head Start Program has established and maintains a formal structure of shared governance through which parents can participate in policy making or in other decisions about the program.
This structure consists of the following groups, as required:
· Governing Body- The Olathe School Board
· Policy Council- made up of parents and community representatives
· Parent Committee- Established at each school where Head Start services are offered
Since its inception in 1965, Head Start has recognized the value of including parents as FULL PARTNERS in making decisions that concern them, their children, and the program. Shared governance of the program may, in fact, be one of Head Start’s most unique contributions. The practice of shared decision-making in Olathe School District’s Head Start program promotes shared responsibilities. It gives a voice to all concerned with the health, education and well-being of the children served. Shared decision making allows everyone opinions to be heard and considered.
Head Start’s parent and family engagement builds relationships that support family well-being, support bonds between parents and their children, and promote learning for parents, children and families. Olathe Head Start engages parents with a rich variety of educational opportunities and cultural/social activities. One of Olathe Head Start’s goals is to help parents positively impact their child’s school readiness. The program collaborates with multiple community partners to provide education that fosters stronger families and a healthy community. Programs include parenting, child development, nutrition, health, mental health, budgeting, community advocacy, meeting the needs of children with developmental disabilities and literacy.
Ø Emergency assistance via referrals to local resources
Ø Special education services for children with disabilities
Ø Well-supervised staff with degrees or CDA credentials
Ø Free breakfast and lunch that meets Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) requirements
Ø Mental Health services with on-site observations
Ø Hearing, vision, speech, developmental growth assessments, and health history screenings
Ø Transition services into and out of Head Start
Ø Parent involvement services including parenting skills, health & development, how to further their education, mental health, etc.
Ø 150 of the most vulnerable children in our area.
Ø The best preschool academic program available.
Ø Family goal planning and other family services
Ø Emergency assistance via referrals to local resources
Ø Special education services for children with disabilities
Ø Well-supervised staff with degrees or CDA credentials
Ø Free breakfast and lunch that meets Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) speech, developmental growth assessments, and health history screenings
Ø Transition services into and out of services including mental health, etc.
Head Start staff connects parents with social service assistance, job training and employment assistance, medical and dental services, vision and hearing screening, nutrition assistance and counseling, and supports children with special needs.
Ø Family goal planning and other family services
Ø Emergency assistance via referrals to local resources
Ø staff with degrees or CDA credentials
Ø Free breakfast and lunch that meets Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) requirements
Mental Health services with on-site observations
Ø Hearing, vision, speech, developmental growth assessments, and health history screenings
Ø Transition services into and out of Head Start
Ø Parent involvement services including parenting skills, health & development, how to further their education, mental health, etc.
Community Partnerships:
• Olathe District Schools Special Education Services
• Johnson County Community College
• Johnson County Mental Health
• Life Church
• Farmers Insurance
• Brown Mackie Nursing School
• Students from local High Schools (Olathe, Blue Valley, Gardner)
• Mid America Nazarene Interns
• Head Start Parents/Grandparents
• Community Residents
• Bank of Blue Valley
• Panera
• WIC
• Watch DOG Dads
• Olathe Police Dept.
• Olathe Lion’s Club
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