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TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 105 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 9836a
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§ 9836a. Quality standards; monitoring of Head Start agencies and programs

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(a) Quality standards
(1) Establishment of standards
The Secretary shall establish by regulation standards, including minimum levels of overall accomplishment, applicable to Head Start agencies, programs, and projects under this subchapter, including—
(A) performance standards with respect to services required to be provided, including health, parental involvement, nutritional, social, transition activities described in section 9837 (d) of this title, and other services;
(B)
(i) education performance standards to ensure the school readiness of children participating in a Head Start program, on completion of the Head Start program and prior to entering school; and
(ii) additional education performance standards to ensure that the children participating in the program, at a minimum—
(I) develop phonemic, print, and numeracy awareness;
(II) understand and use language to communicate for various purposes;
(III) understand and use increasingly complex and varied vocabulary;
(IV) develop and demonstrate an appreciation of books; and
(V) in the case of non-English background children, progress toward acquisition of the English language.[1]
(C) administrative and financial management standards;
(D) standards relating to the condition and location of facilities for such agencies, programs, and projects; and
(E) such other standards as the Secretary finds to be appropriate.
(2) Considerations in developing standards
In developing the regulations required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall—
(A) consult with experts in the fields of child development, early childhood education, child health care, family services (including linguistically and culturally appropriate services to non-English language background children and their families), administration, and financial management, and with persons with experience in the operation of Head Start programs;
(B) take into consideration—
(i) past experience with use of the standards in effect under this subchapter on May 18, 1994;
(ii) changes over the period since August 31, 1981, in the circumstances and problems typically facing children and families served by Head Start agencies;
(iii) developments concerning best practices with respect to early childhood education and development, children with disabilities, family services, program administration, and financial management;
(iv) projected needs of an expanding Head Start program;
(v) guidelines and standards currently in effect or under consideration that promote child health services, and projected needs of expanding Head Start programs;
(vi) changes in the population of children who are eligible to participate in Head Start programs, including the language background and family structure of such children; and
(vii) the need for, and state-of-the-art developments relating to, local policies and activities designed to ensure that children participating in Head Start programs make a successful transition to public schools; and
(C)
(i) review and revise as necessary the performance standards in effect under this subsection; and
(ii) ensure that any such revisions in the performance standards will not result in the elimination of or any reduction in the scope or types of health, education, parental involvement, nutritional, social, or other services required to be provided under such standards as in effect on October 27, 1998.
(3) Standards relating to obligations to delegate agencies
In developing standards under this subsection, the Secretary shall describe the obligations of a Head Start agency to a delegate agency to which the Head Start agency has delegated responsibility for providing services under this subchapter and determine whether the Head Start agency complies with the standards. The Secretary shall consider such compliance during the review described in subsection (c)(1)(A) of this section and in determining whether to renew financial assistance to the Head Start agency under this subchapter.
(b) Results-based performance measures
(1) In general
The Secretary, in consultation with representatives of Head Start agencies and with experts in the fields of early childhood education and development, family services, and program management, shall develop methods and procedures for measuring, annually and over longer periods, the quality and effectiveness of programs operated by Head Start agencies, and the impact of the services provided through the programs to children and their families (referred to in this subchapter as “results-based performance measures”).
(2) Characteristics of measures
The performance measures developed under this subsection shall—
(A) be used to assess the impact of the various services provided by Head Start programs and, to the extent the Secretary finds appropriate, administrative and financial management practices of such programs;
(B) be adaptable for use in self-assessment, peer review, and program evaluation of individual Head Start agencies and programs, not later than July 1, 1999; and
(C) be developed for other program purposes as determined by the Secretary.
The performance measures shall include the performance standards described in subsection (a)(1)(B)(ii) of this section.
(3) Use of measures
The Secretary shall use the performance measures developed pursuant to this subsection—
(A) to identify strengths and weaknesses in the operation of Head Start programs nationally, regionally, and locally; and
(B) to identify problem areas that may require additional training and technical assistance resources.
(4) Educational performance measures
Such results-based performance measures shall include educational performance measures that ensure that children participating in Head Start programs—
(A) know that letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named;
(B) recognize a word as a unit of print;
(C) identify at least 10 letters of the alphabet; and
(D) associate sounds with written words.
(5) Additional local results-based performance measures
In addition to other applicable results-based performance measures, Head Start agencies may establish local results-based educational performance measures.
(c) Monitoring of local agencies and programs
(1) In general
In order to determine whether Head Start agencies meet standards established under this subchapter and results-based performance measures developed by the Secretary under subsection (b) of this section with respect to program, administrative, financial management, and other requirements, the Secretary shall conduct the following reviews of designated Head Start agencies, and of the Head Start programs operated by such agencies:
(A) A full review of each such agency at least once during each 3-year period.
(B) A review of each newly designated agency immediately after the completion of the first year such agency carries out a Head Start program.
(C) Followup reviews including prompt return visits to agencies and programs that fail to meet the standards.
(D) Other reviews as appropriate.
(2) Conduct of reviews
The Secretary shall ensure that reviews described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (1)—
(A) are performed, to the maximum extent practicable, by employees of the Department of Health and Human Services who are knowledgeable about Head Start programs;
(B) are supervised by such an employee at the site of such Head Start agency;
(C) are conducted by review teams that shall include individuals who are knowledgeable about Head Start programs and, to the maximum extent practicable, the diverse (including linguistic and cultural) needs of eligible children (including children with disabilities) and their families;
(D) include as part of the reviews of the programs, a review and assessment of program effectiveness, as measured in accordance with the results-based performance measures developed by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (b) of this section and with the performance standards established pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(1) of this section; and
(E) seek information from the communities and the States involved about the performance of the programs and the efforts of the Head Start agencies to collaborate with other entities carrying out early childhood education and child care programs in the community.
(d) Corrective action; termination
(1) Determination
If the Secretary determines, on the basis of a review pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, that a Head Start agency designated pursuant to section 9836 of this title fails to meet the standards described in subsection (a) of this section or results-based performance measures developed by the Secretary under subsection (b) of this section, the Secretary shall—
(A) inform the agency of the deficiencies that shall be corrected;
(B) with respect to each identified deficiency, require the agency—
(i) to correct the deficiency immediately, if the Secretary finds that the deficiency threatens the health or safety of staff or program participants or poses a threat to the integrity of Federal funds;
(ii) to correct the deficiency not later than 90 days after the identification of the deficiency if the Secretary finds, in the discretion of the Secretary, that such a 90-day period is reasonable, in light of the nature and magnitude of the deficiency; or
(iii) in the discretion of the Secretary (taking into consideration the seriousness of the deficiency and the time reasonably required to correct the deficiency), to comply with the requirements of paragraph (2) concerning a quality improvement plan; and
(C) initiate proceedings to terminate the designation of the agency unless the agency corrects the deficiency.
(2) Quality improvement plan
(A) Agency responsibilities
In order to retain a designation as a Head Start agency under this subchapter, a Head Start agency that is the subject of a determination described in paragraph (1) (other than an agency required to correct a deficiency immediately or during a 90-day period under clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (1)(B)) shall—
(i) develop in a timely manner, obtain the approval of the Secretary regarding, and implement a quality improvement plan that specifies—
(I) the deficiencies to be corrected;
(II) the actions to be taken to correct such deficiencies; and
(III) the timetable for accomplishment of the corrective actions specified; and
(ii) eliminate each deficiency identified, not later than the date for elimination of such deficiency specified in such plan (which shall not be later than 1 year after the date the agency received notice of the determination and of the specific deficiency to be corrected).
(B) Secretarial responsibility
Not later than 30 days after receiving from a Head Start agency a proposed quality improvement plan pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall either approve such proposed plan or specify the reasons why the proposed plan cannot be approved.
(3) Training and technical assistance
The Secretary shall provide training and technical assistance to Head Start agencies with respect to the development or implementation of such quality improvement plans to the extent the Secretary finds such provision to be feasible and appropriate given available funding and other statutory responsibilities.
(e) Summaries of monitoring outcomes
Not later than 120 days after the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall publish a summary report on the findings of reviews conducted under subsection (c) of this section and on the outcomes of quality improvement plans implemented under subsection (d) of this section, during such fiscal year. Such report shall be widely disseminated and available for public review in both written and electronic formats.

[1] So in original. The period should probably be a semicolon.
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