458 parents, educators, and community members attended IU 13’s 2007 Special Education Conference.
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Lebanon County Head Start -
Early Childhood Health and Development
Educational Philosophy
All children are individuals in their own right. They grow and learn at their rate, but learning becomes meaningful only when they feel good about themselves. Head Start strives to help each child develop a positive image of himself or herself. At the same time, the teacher plans the classroom to provide a wide scope of rich experiences. It is set up to invite exploration, manipulation and experimentation by each child. Our goals are to develop the child's creative thinking process, promote good feelings about themselves, and enhance their social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills. Learning to live with others in the "here and now" world and learning to better understand this world will help children succeed in their present environment, prepare them for future environments, and give children that head start as they continue to grow.
Staff
There are two Education Coordinators who supervise the Head Start classes and collaborative partners. The Education/K4 Coordinator works with the Lebanon School District’s kindergarten program for 4 year olds where Head Start children are served. The Education/Child Care Coordinator works with the child-care providers where Head Start children are served. Both oversee the educational programs in each of the classrooms. All classrooms have personnel certified in Early Childhood Education or hold their CDA credential. Presently all of the collaborative partners have teachers with at least a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education. Of the 16 classes with Head Start-employed teachers, seven have their bachelor’s degree, six have their associate's degree, and the remaining three teachers (all employed as teachers as of 1988) are expected to possess their associate's degree within the next year.
All classrooms are staffed by a teacher and teacher assistant. Tuition reimbursement, a benefit of the program, is utilized highly by the education staff for ongoing education.
Curriculum
Lebanon School District K4 classrooms have implemented a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. This curriculum was written by Early Childhood staff, Head Start staff and parents under the specific guidelines of the PA Department of Education. High/Scope was used as a valuable resource. Specific curriculum programs being used are Second Step and the Peabody Language Kit.
Educating Young Children from the High/Scope Education Research Foundation and The Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood are the foundation resources for the Lebanon County Head Start curriculum. These parallel curriculum books expand on ways to implement the curriculum and provide developmentally appropriate practices, as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, in the classroom. The curriculum emphasizes child-directed activities, active learning, a child-friendly learning environment, a consistent daily routine, and positive child-adult interactions. Activities planned for children are age appropriate and individually appropriate. Adaptations are made for children with special needs.
Each teaching team that works with Head Start children develops an approach to the classroom curriculum using concepts in the foundation curriculum books, Head Start's Child Outcomes Framework, children's interests, parent input, selected themes chosen by the interests of children, parents and staff, requirements of daily schedule, results from observations and assessments, and learning styles of children in class. The classroom teaching team adapts activities to provide for the interests and developmental levels of the children, parents and staff in the classroom. Results from screening evaluations enable staff to plan for the needs of the class and individual needs of the children. Education staff members are encouraged to respect and value differences among children, including cultural, ethnic, ability and gender, and provide a way to assess each child's individual strengths, interests and needs.
Lebanon County Head Start continues to assess the progress and accomplishments of children with respect to the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework. Thirteen specific required domain elements or indicators in various language, literacy and numeracy skills are implemented into the curriculum in addition to the eight Domains of learning and development. Information on children's progress is obtained and analyzed from these 13 Domain Elements and other multiple sources, across a developmental continuum, over a period of time.
Home Visits and Conferences
All program options have a minimum of two home visits per year with the family. They also schedule fall and spring parent/teacher conferences at each site.
Disability Services
The Lebanon School District oversees the referral, screening and delivery of services to K4 children. The Education/K-4 Coordinator works closely with the classroom teacher, guidance counselor, Instructional Support Teacher and school psychologist to identify children in need of follow-up or additional services.
The Disabilities Specialist oversees the screening and referral process for special needs of children in the program and day care. She works closely with staff members from the Grantee’s IU 13 Early Intervention Program to meet the needs and implement plans of identified children. IU 13 Early Intervention staff is available on an ongoing basis for consultations and direct services as designated in the IEP. One of the speech therapists is bilingual in English and Spanish. Head Start staff is actively involved throughout the process of transitioning special-needs children to school-age programs.
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