Head Start Performance Standards Related to Culture and Diversity
The Head Start Bureau has been in the forefront of acknowledging the critical role of
culture and the importance of providing services and supports to children and families
that respond to their unique cultural and linguistic preferences and needs. The first
Head Start Program Performance Standards (1972) required that the educational
programs build cultural identity and that staff speak children’s languages. The current
Head Start Program Performance Standards (1996) have expanded to include over 20
Standards that include respecting the home language and cultural backgrounds of
children and families.
The Head Start Program Performance Standards require “that programs support
children in the acquisition of their home language and English as well as provide a full
spectrum of services to families in culturally appropriate and respectful ways” –
including early childhood mental health consultation. Listed below are specific Head
Start Performance Standards sensitive to the child’s cultural and ethnic background.
Although some are not directly linked to mental health, they do promote self-worth,
acceptance, cultural sensitivity when receiving services through Head Start and Early
Head Start contributing to family overall mental wellness and being, increasing family
engagement.
Specific Performance Standards and content area:
Screening for developmental, sensory, and behavioral concerns

45 CFR 1304.20 (b) (1) – In collaboration with each child’s parent, and within 45
calendar days of the child’s entry into the program, grantee and delegate
agencies must perform or obtain linguistically and appropriate screening
procedures to identify concerns regarding a child’s developmental, sensory
(visual and auditory) behavioral, motor, language, social, cognitive, perceptual,
and emotional skills (see 45 CFR 1308.6 (b) (3) for additional information). To the
greatest extent possible, these screenings must be sensitive to the child’s
cultural background.
Child development and education approach for all children


45 CFR 1304.21 (a) (1) – Be developmentally and linguistically appropriate,
recognizing that children have individual rates of development as well as
individual interests, temperaments, languages, cultural backgrounds and
learning styles.
45 CFR 1304.21 (a) (iii) – Provide an environment of acceptance that support
and respects gender, culture, language, ethnicity and family composition.
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
45 CFR 1304.21 (3) (E) – Supporting and respecting the home language,
culture, and family composition of each child in ways that support the child’s
health and well being.
Child development and education approach for infants and toddlers

45 CFR 1304.22 (b) (1) – The development of secure relationships in out-ofhome care settings for infants and toddlers by having a limited number of
consistent teachers over an extended period of time. Teachers must demonstrate
an understanding of the child’s family culture and, whenever possible, speak
the child’s language (see 45 CFR 1304.52 (g) (2).
Identification of nutritional needs


45 CFR 1304.23 (a) (2) – Information about family eating patterns, including
cultural preferences, special dietary requirements for each child with nutritionrelated health problems, and the feeding requirements of infants and toddlers
and each child with disabilities (see 45 CFR 1308.20).
45CFR 1304.23 (b) (1) – Grantee and delegate agencies must design and
implement a nutrition program that meets the nutritional needs and feeding
requirements of each child, including those with special dietary needs and
children with disabilities. Also, the nutrition program must serve a variety of foods
which consider cultural and ethnic preferences and which broaden the child’s
food experience.
Family partnerships

45 CFR 1304.40(a) (5) -- Meetings and interactions with families must be
respectful of each family's diversity and cultural and ethnic background.
Program planning

45 CFR 1304.51 (b) (2) – Communication with parents must be carried out in the
parent’s primary or preferred language or through an interpreter, to the
extent feasible.
Classroom staffing and home visitors


45 CFR 1304.52(b)(4) -- Staff and program consultants must be familiar with
the ethnic background and heritage of families in the program and must be
able to serve and effectively communicate, to the extent feasible, with children
and families with no or limited English proficiency.
45 CFR 1304.52 (g) (2) – When a majority of children speak the same
language, at least one classroom staff member or home visitor interacting
regularly with the children must speak their language.
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Standards of conduct

45 CFR 1304.52 (I) (1) (i) – They will respect and promote the unique identity of
each child and family and refrain from stereotyping on the basis of gender,
race ethnicity, culture, religion, or disability;
Equipment, toys, materials, and furniture

45 CFR 1304.53 (b) (1) (ii) – Supportive of the cultural and ethnic
backgrounds of the children.
Community assessment

45 CFR 1305.3 (c) (1) – The demographic make-up of Head Start eligible
children and families, including their estimated number, geographic location, and
racial and ethnic composition;
Staffing requirements and program options

45 CFR 1306.20 (f) -- Classroom staff and home visitors must be able to
communicate with the families they serve either directly or through a translator.
They should also be familiar with the ethnic background of these families.
Evaluation of children with suspected disabilities

45 CFR 1308.6 (e) (2) (i) – Testing and evaluation procedures must be selected
and administered so as not to be racially or culturally discriminatory,
administered in the child’s native language or mode of communication, unless
it clearly is not feasible to do so.
Disabilities eligibility criteria
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45 CFR 1308.7 (2) (v) - Children must not be classified as having attention deficit
disorder based on: Inattention due to cultural or language differences.
45 CFR 1308.8 (a) – An emotional/behavioral disorder is a condition in which a
child’s behavioral or emotional responses are so different from those of the
generally accepted, age appropriate norms of children with the same ethnic or
cultural background as to result in significant impairments in social
relationships, self care, educational progress or classroom behavior.
45 CFR 1308.9 (b) – A child is classified as having a speech or language
impairment whose speech is unintelligible much of the time, or who has been
professionally diagnosed as having speech impairments which require
intervention or who is professionally diagnosed as having a delay in his or her
primary language which requires intervention.
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
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45 CFR 1308.9 (e) (i) – A child should not be classified as having a speech or
language impairment whose speech or language differences may be attributed
to cultural, ethnic, bilingual or dialectical differences or being non-English
speaking.
45 CFR 1308. 14 (b) (3) – The child shows deficits in such abilities as memory,
perceptual and perceptual-motor skills, thinking, language and non-verbal
activities which are due to visual, motor, hearing or emotional disabilities, mental
retardation, cultural or language factors, or lack of experiences which would
help develop these skills.
45 CFR 1308.21 (j) (3), (4) – Provide interpreters, if needed and offer the
parents a copy of the IEP in the parent’s language of understanding after it
has been signed; Hold the meeting without the parents only if neither parent can
attend, after repeated attempts to establish a date or facilitate their participation,
through records of phone calls, letters in the parents’ native language or visits
to parents; homes or places of work, along with any responses or results; and
arrange an opportunity to meet with the parents to review the results of the
meeting and secure their input and signature. (U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (2009).
References
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2009). Federal Regulations
Governing the Head Start Program, Title 45 Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter XII,
Subchapter B.
Trango,J.C.(2012). Statewide Disabilities and Mental Health Coordinator. Chicanos Por
La Causa Early Childhood Development Programs. Personal communication.
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