HHS Issues Final Head Start Program Performance Standards

On September 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the much-anticipated final Head Start Program Performance Standards (the final Performance Standards, or the final rule). The final Performance Standards, which were initially proposed on June 19, 2015 in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), marks the first comprehensive revision and reorganization of the Performance Standards since they were published in 1975. The final Performance Standards update the federal regulations governing the practices and policies of Head Start and Early Head Start programs to align with the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 (the Head Start Act) and to revise and raise educational standards, as required by the Head Start Act.

Summary of the Final Performance Standards

HHS has issued a Fact Sheet summarizing the major provisions of the final Performance Standards. The final rule reorganizes the Performance Standards, which are currently contained in eleven different sections, into five new parts: 

• Part 1301 – Program Governance
• Part 1302 – Program Operations 
• Part 1303 – Financial and Administrative Requirements
• Part 1304 – Federal Administrative Procedures; and 
• Part 1305 – Definitions 

One of the most significant changes proposed in the NPRM was for Head Start and Early Head Start grantees to increase the duration of their center-based programs to provide full-day, full-year classes. The NPRM proposed requiring all Head Start center-based programs to operate for at least 6 hours per day and 180 days per year (an increase from the current requirement of at least 3.5 hours per day and 128 days per year). The final Performance Standards, however, require programs to offer a minimum of 1,020 annual hours of planned class operations. This is equivalent to planned class operations of 6 hours per day and 170 days per year, though programs have the freedom to design their class schedules in any way that meets the 1,020 annual hours’ requirement. Further, the effective date of this requirement will be phased in over five years (rather than the proposed two years in the NPRM), with center-based Head Start programs required to provide full-day, full-year services for 50 percent of their slots by August 1, 2019, and for all of their slots by August 1, 2021. Until then, programs must provide, at a minimum, planned class operations for at least 160 days per year (if it operates for 5 days per week) or at least 128 days per year (if it operates for 4 days per week).

For Early Head Start, the NPRM proposed requiring all Early Head Start center-based programs to operate for at least 6 hours per day and 230 days per year (which would codify, but not alter, the current HHS interpretation of the Head Start Act). The final Performance Standards require programs to offer 1,380 annual hours of planned operations, which is equivalent to 6 hours per day and 230 days per year. Center-based Early Head Start programs will have two years (instead of the proposed 12 months in the NPRM) to implement this increase in service duration, which will be effective on August 1, 2018. 

The final rule retains the proposal in the NPRM to allow Head Start and Early Head Start programs to request and obtain a waiver to operate a locally-designed program option variation. Further, in response to comments HHS received expressing concerns about cuts to Head Start program slots if adequate funds are not available to support full-day, full-year programs, the final Performance Standards give the HHS Secretary the flexibility to reduce the required percentage of funded enrollment slots for which grantees must offer 1,020 annual hours of planned class operations to the percentage the HHS Secretary estimates available appropriations can support. HHS estimates that the cost of the Head Start center-based duration requirement, if fully implemented, will be $1.13 billion. Congress has appropriated $294 million in FY2016 to increase the duration of Head Start and Early Head Start services, and President Obama’s FY2017 budget requests additional funding to further expand full-day, full-year programs. Collectively, these funds would enable Head Start and Early Head Start center-based programs to meet their targets for 2019 in the final rule. Congress would need to appropriate additional funds to support the full implementation (i.e., the targets for 2021) of the Head Start center-based service duration requirement.

Effective Date of the Final Performance Standards

The final Performance Standards are effective as of November 7, 2016, which is 60 days after their publication in the Federal Register. However, certain key provisions will be phased in over a five-year period after the final rule becomes effective in order to allow Head Start programs additional time to implement the new requirements.

The following provisions are effective as of August 1, 2017:

• §1302.22(c)(1) – Early Head Start home-based service duration
• §1302.32(a)(1)(ii) and (iii); §1302.32(a)(2); and §1302.32(b) – Curricula for center-based and family child care programs
• §1302.33(b)(1), (2), and (3); §1302.33(c)(2) and (3) – Assessment
• §1302.35(d)(1) through (3) – Curriculum for home-based programs
• §1302.53(b)(2) – Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)
• §1302.53(b)(3) – Data systems
• §1302.90(b)(2), (4) and (5) – Complete background check procedures
•  §1302.92(c) – Coordinated coaching strategy and coaching staff qualifications
• §1302.101(b)(4) – Management of program data

The following provisions are effective as of August 1, 2018:

• §1302.21(c)(1) – Early Head Start center-based service duration (a program must provide 1,380 annual hours of planned class operations for all children)
• §1302.91(e)(4)(ii) – Child Development Specialist staff qualifications
• §1302.91(e)(6)(i) – Home visitor staff qualifications

The following provisions are effective as of August 1, 2019:

• §1302.21(c)(2)(iii) – Head Start center-based service duration (unless granted a waiver under § 1302.24, a program must provide 1,020 annual hours of planned class operations, which is the equivalent of a 6-hour day for 170 days, for at least 50 percent of its Head Start center-based funded enrollment)

The following provisions are effective as of August 1, 2021:

• §1302.21(c)(2)(iv) – Head Start center-based service duration (unless granted a waiver under § 1302.24, a program must provide 1,020 annual hours of planned class operations, which is the equivalent of a 6-hour day for 170 days, for 100 percent of its Head Start center-based funded enrollment)

CAPLAW is continuing to review and analyze the final Performance Standards and accompanying guidance from the Office of Head Start (OHS). Stay tuned to our website for additional information in the coming weeks. If your CAA has any questions about the impact of the new Performance Standards, please contact CAPLAW to discuss them with one of our attorneys.

Additional Resources

For additional information on the final Performance Standards, please see the following:

• Final Performance Standards in the Federal Register (including the preamble to the final rule, which summarizes the comments HHS received on the NPRM and discusses HHS’s response and rationale for the final rule)
• Text of the final Performance Standards on ECLKC
• Head Start Program Instruction ACF-PI-HS-16-04 announcing final Performance Standards
• OHS’s Resource Page on the final Performance Standards
• OHS’s General Fact Sheet on the final Performance Standards
• OHS’s Questions & Answers about the release of the final Performance Standards
• OHS's On-Demand Webinar introducing the final Performance Standards. OHS also indicated that it will be conducting a monthly webinar series on the final Performance Standards, which will be held on the third Wednesday of each month, from 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to the ECLKC website for more details in the coming weeks.
• CAPLAW’s August 2015 e-Bulletin Article summarizing the proposed Performance Standards published in the NPRM on June 19, 2015

This News Flash is part of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Legal Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Center. It was created by Community Action Program Legal Services, Inc. (CAPLAW) in the performance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services Cooperative Agreement – Grant Award Number 90ET0441-02. Any opinion, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.