The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, urging the agency to withdraw its proposed changes to the Head Start Program Performance Standards. Our comments emphasize the importance of maintaining clear, consistent federal requirements that support high-quality services for children and families, including requirements related to social and emotional development, teacher-child ratios, professional development, measurement of program quality, and family engagement.
Our comments also highlight the strong evidence connecting social and emotional learning in early childhood education to improved long-term outcomes, including research specific to Head Start. We raise concerns that reducing and removing requirements in the Performance Standards could create greater uncertainty for providers and educators, weaken supports for children’s social and emotional development, and undermine the consistent quality of Head Start services.