Southern Oregon Child and Family Council, Inc. has an Executive Director, a Head Start Director, an Early Head Start Director, an Operations Director, a Human Resources (HR) Director, and a Finance Director. They meet weekly to plan, monitor, and provide oversight of fiscal and program operations of the agency. Head Start The Head Start Director has overall responsibility for ensuring that the Southern Oregon Head Start program meets all the Performance Standards and regulations. The Head Start Director and the Operations Director share the supervision of the program services. The Head Start Management structure includes both area managers and department managers who have major monitoring responsibilities. The area managers provide direct supervision, oversight and monitoring of one to three center sites. The Center Monitoring Plan is a table of the items and schedules that area managers are responsible for monitoring at the centers they supervise. Department managers are content areas experts who are responsible for overseeing services and monitoring of the content areas. The departments include Education, Disabilities and mental Health, Family and Community Partnerships, Health and Nutrition, and Food Services. They provide systems, resources, training, and technical assistance, as well as indirect supervision of center staff. Each of the departments has a Monitoring Plan which is a table of items and schedules that describe monitoring responsibilities. 1
A combination of weekly and quarterly reports is generated for monitoring of services and outcomes. Data is reported by the centers of each area manager. The weekly Monitoring Report includes data on current enrollment, classroom make-up, health, disabilities, screenings, child observations, parent-teacher planning meetings, and family partnership agreements, etc. The Quarterly Monitoring Reports will include child progress (outcomes), parent engagement, family growth and stability, and key items from the Program Information Report. This combination of Weekly and Quarterly Monitoring Reports allows for monitoring of both quantity and quality of services. The data from the reports is analyzed and when necessary follow-up is done by the appropriate manager(s). As soon as a problem is identified, the issue is analyzed, problem solving is done, and there is implementation of a correction plan. When a personnel issue is identified, direction and training are provided, as necessary, and increased monitoring is done. In some cases, personnel action may be taken, e.g., a staff development plan or a work improvement plan. Child and family outcomes reported in the Quarterly Monitoring Reports have a continuous process of analysis and planning for on-going quality and improvement. In addition, both the area managers and department managers submit monthly reports to the Head Start and Operations Director, as well as the entire management team. These reports include information about operations at centers, follow-up on the Weekly or Quarterly Monitoring Reports, trainings planned or provided other information that is helpful to share among the management staff, etc. 2
A variety of meetings assist with the monitoring and on-going improvement process. The Head Start Director and the Operations Director meet weekly to discuss pertinent issues. They meet on a monthly basis with a Management Team consisting of directors, department managers, and area managers. The management team meets to exchange information, conduct planning, monitoring, and training. The Head Start Director and the Operations Director also meet monthly with the area managers as a group, and the department managers as a group, with the purpose of planning, decision-making, coordination, and monitoring. Finally, the Policy Council and Board of Directors receive the Weekly Monitoring Report for the week of their meeting, as well as the Quarterly Monitoring Reports, completing the hierarchy or reporting and monitoring. This process communicates information about the quality and quantity of services of the organization, both Head Start and Early Head Start, to ensure on-going monitoring to ensure the performance standards are met and that high quality is maintained. Early Head Start The Early Head Start program s monitoring system shares some common characteristics to the Head Start program and some distinctions. EHS has levels of oversight at both the agency and program levels. The EHS Director is responsible for overall compliance with the Head Start Program Performance Standards. The EHS Director sits on the Director s Team and interfaces closely with the Head Start, Finance, Human Resources and Operations Directors, and the Executive Director, to ensure coordination across all departments. The EHS Director, 3
Program Manager, Health/Nutrition Manager and Center Supervisors meet twice monthly. Center Supervisors provide direct supervision, oversight and monitoring of their center. The EHS Program Manager reports to the EHS Director, the Disabilities/Mental Health Manager, Food Service Manager and Family and Community Partnerships Manager report to the Head Start Director and indirectly to the EHS Director. The EHS Center Supervisors are responsible for assuring that high-quality EHS services are delivered at the center level including compliance with health and safety policies and procedures. The Center Supervisors and the EHS Education and Family Partnerships Supervisor report to the EHS Program Manager and submit monitoring reports monthly to the EHS Program Manager and Director. As the EHS program is linked to other departments across the agency as part of our 0-5 system, the Head Start Department Manager Monitoring Plan includes EHS program monitoring as well. The EHS Monitoring Plan includes those areas that are 0-3 specific: education, prenatal services, health and nutrition and some aspects of family partnerships. The EHS Monitoring Plan details key monitoring activities and timelines. As with the Head Start program, regular monitoring is conducted to ensure quality and that the performance standards are being met. When a problem is identified, follow-up is done to remedy the situation. If it is a personnel issue, there is a meeting with the employee. Direction and training are provided as necessary and increased monitoring is done. In some cases, personnel action may be taken, e.g., a staff development plan or a work improvement plan. If a system problem is detected, the issue is evaluated, problem solving is done, and there is implementation of a correction plan as needed. 4
Tools Both the EHS & Head Start program utilizes Genesis Earth, a web-based data management system, to track prenatal, child and family data. This system produces an extensive number of reports to monitor compliance across all content areas including health, nutrition, family services, disabilities and mental health. For the education content area, the TS. Gold web-based data management system provides tracking and reporting on child observations, assessment and child goal planning. l:\ehs policies and procedures\monitoring plan hs-ehs 8-12.docx 5