[baldfat]

I work full time in a Head Start agency and work with over 250 students every week in a STEM Lab for over 8 years. I am proud of what I do and even more proud of the teachers, students and families.

1) "Teaching to the Test" is to teachers. They are tested on CLASS (Teacher engagement with the students) ECARDS (Classroom environment) NAECY (Classroom and Teacher Lesson Plans). Federal Reviewers check for Food and general Safety.

Children are engage at their point of interest. So if many in the classroom are interested in a subject the teacher will structure the classroom to focus on that subject and make projects etc..

2) Parents are very much apart of Head Start. Every one has a Policy Council that parents actually help run and make classroom policies. We also have Family engagement partners that visit the homes as close to monthly as possible to help the families to create successful students. The teachers are required to visit the homes at least 3 times a year.

3) I think that is the issue. K-3 does not go through NAEYC or CLASS and usually developmentally inappropriate. There is no family engagement in my experience.

CURRENT POLICY of Head Start Agencies - The lowest 10% of CLASS scores are to be de-funded and the contract to be put up for competition. Also any missing children or serious safety violations equals immediate de-funding.

NAEYC - https://www.naeyc.org/accreditation CLASS - http://teachstone.com/classroom-assessment-scoring-system/ EKRDS -