Introduction
As the nation's premier early childhood education program, Head Start is leading the way in developing and reporting on its accountability for services to approximately 800,000 children and their families each year. From initial planning in 1995 to the publication of this Head Start Performance Measures Second Progress Report, Head Start has made dramatic progress toward the development of an outcome-oriented accountability system. This approach combines the best attributes of scientific research with program-level reporting and monitoring and is based on a consensus-driven set of criteria for program accountability.
The Head Start Program Performance Measures Initiative is a response to a specific legislative mandate, strategic planning for Head Start, and broader public emphasis on accountability and the general movement toward results-oriented evaluation.
Specifically the Program Performance Measures were developed in accordance with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, the mandate of Section 641A (b) of the Head Start Act (42 USC 9831 et seq.) as reauthorized in 1994 and the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)(Public Law 103-62). Signed into law in July 1993, the GPRA requires all federally funded programs to improve their performance and accountability. Other efforts taking place at the Federal level include the Chief Financial Officers Act and the National Performance Review, both of which added impetus to the development of the Head Start Program Performance Measures.