About Us
The New York State Head Start Association provides services and support to its members and is an organization that represents the interests of the entire New York State Head Start community, including children, families and programs. New York State Head Start Association represents its members at the state, Region II, and national levels and represents over 200 Head Start programs serving 49,500 children and their families.
Our Vision for the Future
New York State Head Start Association will continue to play a key role in the transformation of education in New York State. We will bring our long record of success in working with the most challenging young children and their families to our partnerships with those in education and family services. Together we will deliver on our nation’s promise that all of our young children have the opportunity to succeed.
Nearly half a century ago, Head Start was created by the federal government as our nation’s laboratory to foster best practices for child development and related services for young children and their families.
From the beginning, Head Start has focused on the well being of the whole child through the provision of in-depth nutrition, health, education and family development services for children.
Recognizing that these are clear foundations for learning, New York Head Start Association will continue to reach and serve families with this comprehensive approach. Head Start performance standards define quality consistently across classrooms, programs, and states, and ensure that each child is served within the individualized context of that child’s needs. These standards represent the highest expectations for services to young children in our nation, and we are prepared to continue to meet and exceed them. With federal funding, the New York Head Start Association and local Head Start programs will continue to take a leading role in developing best practice models for early education and family services and achieving measurable outcomes for young children and families in New York.
Within its broad menu of services and supports, local Head Start programs provide quality instruction and education, including early literacy and mathematics, to prepare children for school and assist their successful transition to kindergarten.
In addition, the entire range of Head Start services is responsive and appropriate to each child’s and family’s developmental, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage and experience.
Local Head Start programs are vital because no other provider of early childhood services seeks out the neediest families and children in New York with the depth, breadth, and scope of services and level of passionate commitment equal to Head Start. We are committed to the success of these families.
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Studies have shown that Head Start children experience increased achievement test scores, decreased grade repetition and special education needs, and increased graduation rates(Barnett, 2002; Garces, Thomas and Currie, 2002)