Training and Technical Assistance

The Office of Head Start (OHS) Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) system supports program staff in delivering quality services to children and families. The T/TA system consists of three levels: national, regional, and grantee. While each level has distinct and unique functions, they are designed to complement each other. Structured, intentional, high-quality T/TA supports the school readiness of children and their families.

National T/TA

The Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care collaborate to effectively provide training and technical assistance (T/TA) across early care and education programs. This joint T/TA system supports early care and education (ECE) programs and early educators in delivering quality services to children and their families across the country.

Leading the delivery of T/TA at the national level are eight centers:

1. The National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operations
2. The National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning
3. The National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement
4. The National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness
5. The National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance
6. The National Center on Tribal Child Care Implementation & Innovation
7. The National Center on Child Care Subsidy Innovation & Accountability

8. National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment

The National Centers function as a team that provides Head Start grantees with consistent information from OHS across all service areas. Each Center has an area of focus and is staffed by experts who have extensive experience with Head Start programs and with the development of effective interventions that make a difference in the lives of young children and their families. Tasks that are common to all centers include:

• Communicating “best practices” and providing content-rich, practical resources and information that are effective in a variety of real-world settings to grantees, early education partners, and T/TA specialists
• Providing training at regional and national meetings and institutes
• Supporting the development of the Regional T/TA specialists
• Communicating with local programs through email, toll-free numbers, and other forms of technology

Regional T/TA network

The 12 OHS Regional Offices work with four categories of Regional T/TA specialists: early childhood specialists; grantee specialists; health specialists; and systems specialists. Most T/TA specialists, at the direction of a Regional Office, provide onsite T/TA to individual grantees, to clusters of grantees with similar interests, and at state and regional events.

The work of early childhood (EC) specialists, who include infant/toddler specialists and preschool specialists, falls into four large categories: school readiness; parent and family engagement; professional development for grantee staff; and collaboration at the state level. Every Head Start and Early Head Start grantee has access to an EC specialist.

Grantee specialists (GS) are deployed by Regional Offices to work with specific grantees. The first priority is grantees that have findings identified through federal monitoring reviews. However, they may also be assigned to work with grantees based on Program Information Reports (PIR), audit findings, or other data reviewed by OHS. As determined by the Regional Office, and time and resources permitting, GS may also conduct training sessions or provide technical assistance for individual grantees or groups of grantees that do not have an identified concern but wish to improve the quality of their program's systems.

Each region also has at least one health specialist (HS). The HS serves as a link between the Region and the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness (NCECHW). In that capacity, the health specialist helps in disseminate evidence-based materials and resources to Regional Office staff, T/TA specialists, and local grantees. At the direction of the Regional Office, the HS also provides T/TA to individual grantees or groups of grantees.

The systems specialist works closely with other designated OCC T/TA staff, as well as with others such as the Head Start state collaboration directors. The primary responsibility of this specialist is to participate on a regional team to identify cross-system coordination opportunities between OHS and OCC. As time permits, they may work directly with grantees or with groups of grantees.

Local Grantee T/TA

Local grantees receive at least 50% of all Head Start T/TA dollars. Grantees use these funds in accordance with their training plans to address needs that are specific to their local program. Examples include expanding teachers' qualifications; working with families after a community disaster; improving management systems and learning environments; or helping parents support their child's literacy skills at home.

As grantees plan, they are encouraged to review services that are available at no cost from the National Centers, Regional T/TA specialists, and other experts in their state and local community. That way, a grantee's T/TA dollars go farther to leverage and supplement existing T/TA services.