Center Sites Mission Page Program Guide Page Teacher’s Handbook
The Anderson County Head Start Program is operated by the Preschool Department, an entity of Anderson County Schools. The program is governed by the Anderson County Board of Education and the Anderson County Head Start Policy Council. The Preschool Department also operates the After School Program and the State of Tennessee Early Childhood Program.
Head Start and Early Head Start are comprehensive child development programs which serve children from birth to age 5, pregnant women, and their families. They are child-focused programs, and have the overall goal of increasing the social competence and school readiness of young children in low-income families. “Social competence” refers to the child’s everyday effectiveness in dealing with both his or her present environment and later responsibilities in school and life. Social competence takes into account the interrelatedness of social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development.
Head Start services are also family-centered, following the tenets that children develop in the context of their family and culture and that parents are respected as the primary educators and nurturers of their children. Head Start offers family members opportunities and support for growth and change, believing that people can identify their own strengths, needs, and interests and are capable of finding solutions.
To support the goal of improving social competence, Head Start embraces a core set of values, including commitments to:
Establish a supportive learning environment for children, parents, and staff, where the processes of enhancing awareness, refining skills, and increasing understanding are valued and promoted;
Recognize that the members of the Head Start community - children, families, and staff – have roots in many cultures. Head Start families and staff, working together as a team, can effectively promote respectful, sensitive, and proactive approaches to diversity issues;
Understand that the empowerment of families occurs when program governance is a responsibility shared by families, governing bodies, and staff, and when the ideas and opinions of families are heard and respected;
Embrace a comprehensive vision of health for children, families, and staff, which assures that basic health needs are met, encourages practices that prevent future illnesses and injuries, and promotes positive, culturally relevant health behaviors that enhance life-long well-being;
Respect the importance of all aspects of an individual’s development, including social, emotional, cognitive, and physical growth;
Build a community in which each child and adult is treated as an individual while, at the same time, a sense of belonging to the group is reinforced;
Foster relations with the larger community, so that families and staff are respected and served by a network of community agencies in partnership with one another;
Develop a continuum of care, education and services that allow stable, uninterrupted support to families and children during and after their Head Start experience.
The Head Start program has a long tradition of delivering comprehensive and high quality services designed to foster healthy development in low-income children. Head Start grantee and delegate agencies provide a range of individualized services in the areas of education and early childhood development, medical, dental, and mental health, nutrition, and parent involvement. In addition, the entire range of Head Start services are responsive and appropriate to each child and family’s developmental, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage and experience.
State of Tennessee Early Childhood Program
The Tennessee Early Childhood Program is a state funded preschool for three and four year olds. The child’s eligibility is based on the family’s income, which must meet the financial qualifications for the free or reduced lunch program. The eligibility requirements for the free or reduced lunch program are issued by USDA on an annual basis. The state funded program enrolls forty children in classrooms across the county.
After School Program
The Preschool Department also operates the After School Program for preschool and school age children. Presently, after school care is available in several Head Start centers and also in the majority of Anderson County Elementary Schools. The After School Program hours extend the day to 6:00 PM.
1999 Head Start Program Performance Standards and Regulations. Head Start Bureau