Missouri Head Start Association

Programs: Leadership & training- mhsa designs and/or provides effective leadership & training by- 1. Providing parent and staff leadership training in jefferson city, mo in february, may, september, and december 2014 through the mhsa council meetings. These trainings allow interaction for head start management staff and family leaders elected to the mhsa council to receive training on various topics from regional and federal priorities related to head start families, how to more fully engage families in the school readiness priorities for their children and self- sufficiency of their families, instruction on providing outdoor learning environments and utilizing local resources including museums for young children and the importance of forming early literacy skills. 2. Mhsa also provides continuous family leadership training through regular legislative updates and tools to inform parents on how to effectively speak with locally and state-wide elected officials about the needs of this population. Approximately 125-150 people participated. Teacher assessment and professional growth tool- mhsa coordinates the instruction for providing classroom assessment scoring system training (class) and follow up continuously throughout 2014 in columbia, mo. Mhsa supports programs in their use of this scientifically based and heavily researched instrument to improve the quality of teacher and child interactions in the educational setting. Program education coordinators are instructed on how to use the rating system for teachers as a professional development tool. Mhsa provides the administrative and general support needed to offset the costs of this training to be offered to head start, early head start and child-care partnerships across missouri. Approximately 75-100 people received this instruction in 2014. Providing intensive instruction for head start home visitors and home-based head start- mhsa provided a series of two week instructions focused on advancing the skills of head start home visitors charged with working to engage families in the process of parenting and becoming active participants in their child's early education needs. Workshops were provided in columbia, mo from january 2014 to december 2014 and supported by in-person and webinar follow-up. The group has continued and expanded their use of the community of practice to continue their learning and expanded to include local education agency staff also involved in home visits past the age of 5 to help ease the transition from head start to kindergarten. Many local programs have begun communities of practice to further their learning gained at mhsa with local child-care and school district partners. Approximately 75 individuals have actively participated through 2014 and the community of practice offerings grew to include professionals in fields of early head start (infant/toddler care), disabilities, health and family engagement and head start management and directors. In partnership with other head start serving organizations, mhsa continued a year-long approach to professional development utilizing the expertise of the head start national centers, state child and family serving departments and that of local program staff to provide communities of practice based upon additional trainings of mhsa besides that of the class instrument and home visiting. We have extended our training to offer that for first year home visitors, infant/toddler teachers adn family engagements specialist with the intentional and ongoing work of what is gained at separate trainings to extend the learning through the community of practice approach. This has allowed for expert guidance and resources presented virtually by head start national training center staff and then individual guidance and knowledge sharing through a community of practice model for head start local program staff. These groups meet monthly at the university of missouri-columbia, center for family policy & research and via webinar.

mhsa works to establish collaborative partnerships with other similar organizations and groups by- partnering with mhssco, head start t/ta, mo department of elementary and secondary education and region vii administration for children and families to identify and collaborate towards the success over challenges of head start programs in serving the needs of families experiencing homelessness and their unique challenges towards school readiness of their children. This event, which served as a continuation of the head start-a critical link in the early education system annual training brought together head start programs within local mckinney-vento liasons from partnering school districts was an opportunity to learn directly about resources at the state level through dese for identifying and supporting these families. The community of practice format was used for instruction and a dvd was produced to explain this important work with other not able to participate in person. It was held in february 2014 in jefferson city and had approximately 30 participants. Membership on the region vii head start association board of directors. As one of four states representing region vii, missouri has the largest amounts of children and staff. The needs of the children are greatly diverse depending on the location and resources at hand for each individual program. Mhsa serves as a voice for these programs on the regional board. This collaborative partnership is particularly important as it allows missouri's needs to be heard on a larger platform and to effectively pool resources with other states to better serve children in region vii. Ongoing partnerships with the missouri head start state collaboration office, region vii administration for children and families and region vii training and technical assistance team. Mhsa serves as the convener for most meetings between this group of collaborators to further expand our knowledge base of the scope of work and role of each agency and serving head start children and communities involved.

increasing public awareness by- publishing and distributing regular email alert bulletins to the mhsa network which contains information on upcoming events, pending legislation, program highlights, and statewide initiatives. Provides annual statistical information to mhsa membership and interested parties which are shared at regular council meetings in 2014. Providing a website which also provides information as outlined above. It also provides information regarding national and state statistics related to head start and low-income families in missouri.