Head Start quality suffered under Obama rules, HHS report finds

A report from the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at HHS obtained by the Washington Examiner found that a 2016 rule standardizing performance quality did not improve outcomes for Head Start early childhood education programs, rapidly decreased enrollment, and increased costs per child by 50%.The federally funded Head Start program, administered by HHS’s Administration for Children and Families, provides educational opportunities, nutrition assistance, and health resources for roughly 700,000 children under age 5 and their families living at or below the federal poverty level. The new Regulatory Impact Analysis comes as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed a rule in August that would roll back the 2016 Obama regulations and give local jurisdictions and parents more control over how their Head Start programs are administered.The 2016 rule created federal standards that tightened requirements for staff-to-child ratios and group sizes, with the goal of increasing teacher engagement with enrollees. But the new analysis from the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation found that, after 10 years of implementation, costs for the program ballooned, with no benefit to education quality.The Obama administration estimated that costs per child would remain relatively static, at $10,575 per child annually in 2024 dollars. In reality, costs went up to nearly $16,000 per Head Start slot for fiscal 2024.At the same time, the number of slots fell by nearly 280,000 over the past decade, more than double the loss expected by the Obama administration as a result of increased regulation.Although the quality of early childhood education programs is difficult to measure precisely, the ACF used the Classroom Assessment Scoring System as an observational baseline in yearly evaluations for the categories “Emotional Support,” “Classroom Organization,” and “Instructional Support.”While the 2016 rule was expected to improve all three areas of education quality, the CLASS metrics flatlined since the adoption of the measures, despite the increased spending per child.“The fact that costs increased more than the original 2016 [Regulatory Impact Analysis] projected, alongside evidence of slot reductions and lack of quality improvements, is a reason to modify, streamline, or repeal the 2016 requirements that still stand,” the report reads.Kennedy said in August, when the reforms were announced, that he has a personal connection to Head Start and aims to secure the fiscal integrity of the program for future generations.RFK JR. OVERHAULING CLINICAL TRIALS TO PREVENT US FROM ‘LOSING THE RACE’ TO CHINAStudies have found that Head Start alumni are more likely to graduate from high school, have greater emotional regulation and self-esteem, and are less likely to be incarcerated in adolescence or adulthood.“It’s a program that works for the most vulnerable, the poorest kids in our society, and it’s really important we protect it,” Kennedy said during a press conference in August.