Preparing for a Focus Area 2 Federal Review can feel overwhelming, but with the right plan, you’ll set your program up for success. This review is your opportunity to demonstrate how you meet the Head Start Performance Standards, achieve program goals, and create positive outcomes for children and their families.
Focus Area 2 reviews are on-site assessments that include document reviews, classroom observations, interviews, and file audits. These evaluations cover six core areas critical to Head Start programs:
- Program Management
- Education and Child Development Services
- Health Services
- Family and Community Engagement
- Fiscal Infrastructure
- Enrollment (ERSEA) Processes
Below you’ll find tips and strategies designed to help you feel confident and prepared for your FA2 evaluation. Let’s get started!
Start with the Basics
Begin your preparation by reviewing the official FA2 monitoring protocol and watching the OHS-provided guidance video with your team. These resources outline what federal reviewers will be looking for and establish a clear understanding of expectations.
To prepare thoroughly, consider creating scripts for interviews. These scripts can include specific details about your processes and results to help your team confidently answer questions.
Tell Your Story with Data
“Data tours” are an essential part of the FA2 review, showcasing your program’s progress using visuals like pie charts, bar graphs, and infographics. These visualizations highlight your strengths and paint a clear picture of the impact you’ve had on children, families, and your community.
Data tours are a critical part of the Head Start Focus Area 2 Reviews, as they provide an in-depth look at the performance and impact of program components through the lens of various data types. Each service area must present specialized data to demonstrate both compliance with Head Start Performance Standards and evidence of continuous improvement. Compliance data focuses on whether key benchmarks, such as full enrollment, the 85% daily average attendance rate, and 100% fulfillment of health requirements, are met.
Equally vital is the analysis of data used for program improvement, which examines how children’s cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development is progressing. This data should be disaggregated by subgroups (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, language status) and analyzed at multiple levels, including classroom, teacher, and center, to identify patterns and inform targeted strategies.
Additionally, return-on-investment data is becoming increasingly important, as it evaluates the resources and time allocated to activities alongside their overall impact. To ensure clarity and engagement, all three types of data—compliance, improvement, and ROI—should be presented visually and accessibly, allowing stakeholders to identify trends and support decision-making effectively.
Focus Area Breakdown & Tips
1. Leadership, Governance, and Program Management
Kick off your review with confidence. The process starts with your leadership team introducing themselves. Ensure each individual delivers a polished 60-second introduction that highlights their role, experience, and leadership strengths.
Use clear visuals to demonstrate program achievements, such as progress toward your five-year program goals. Include charts that showcase outcomes in child development, family services, and staff recruitment. Empower your Board of Directors and governing body with program data and success stories so they feel confident during their interviews.
2. Education and Child Development Services
Federal reviewers will evaluate how you deliver high-quality early childhood education. Focus on the following key areas:
- School readiness goals and progress towards these goals
- Classroom interactions and teachers’ improvements in CLASS scores
- Curriculum implementation and improvement in fidelity measures
- Teacher professional development
Analyze child outcomes data by classroom and subgroups, such as age, language status, gender, or presence of a disability. Identify patterns of success and areas for improvement.
Support your insights with visuals like bar graphs and videos of classroom practices. An important part of the FA2 review is to highlight your improvements; strategies that you have implemented after examining classroom data.
3. Health & Safety Services
Showcase how your program supports the health, mental health, oral health, and nutrition needs of children. Prepare visual summaries of key metrics, including:
- Outcomes for chronic conditions (e.g., asthma or anemia)
- Preventative care percentages (e.g., immunizations, check-ups)
- Classroom safety practices and monitoring
Demonstrate your commitment to the mental health and well-being of the children, families, and staff and describe how your strategies to promote mental well-being are grounded in a research-based social and emotional framework that seamlessly supplements our curriculum.
During this session, explain how you prioritize preventing, mitigating, and responding to trauma-related behaviors by providing in-depth staff training designed to promote children’s mental well-being and equip your team with tools to handle daily challenges.
For families, describe how you offer a robust parenting curriculum as well as scheduled consultation hours with your dedicated mental health professionals. Equally, elaborate on how you recognize the importance of supporting staff’s mental health. Describe your emphasis on managerial training in effective recognition strategies, employee engagement, and critical conversations. Explain how you create a nurturing work environment by offering on-site exercise classes, healthy snacks in break rooms, and other wellness-focused initiatives, ensuring your staff feels valued and supported in their essential roles.
Use data visualizations to demonstrate compliance with health and safety standards across centers and classrooms. Leverage resources from OHS to ensure you meet requirements and highlight your program’s impact.
4. Family Engagement
Family support systems and engagement strategies are essential to success. Provide data on family outcomes using bar graphs and pie charts. Consider including photographs and quotes to bring your data to life.
An effective family services program should prioritize understanding and addressing the unique needs of each family through a thorough family needs assessment survey, which gathers relevant data to create tailored support plans. The program should help families set achievable goals—one or two each year—paired with measurable objectives and milestones tracked every three weeks.
By carefully calibrating an outcomes measurement system, the program can capture incremental progress throughout the year, celebrating every small victory with families to foster motivation and a sense of achievement. Additionally, family engagement readiness can be measured using a research-based checklist, along with a simple, one-question post-interaction survey completed on cell phones, ensuring families feel welcomed and valued. Success is measured through enhanced family involvement in areas such as well-being, positive relationships with their children, lifelong learning, community engagement, leadership and advocacy. This holistic approach will demonstrate a commitment to meaningful growth and empowerment for every family involved.
Sharing your results from family satisfaction surveys and highlight the services you provide creates a clear link between your efforts and positive outcomes for families.
5. Fiscal Management
Your fiscal infrastructure is the backbone of your program’s success. During the review, connect your budget decisions to program goals. Use pie charts and bar graphs to illustrate:
- Staff wages compared to community averages
- Return on investment in children and families
- Allocation of funds toward program accomplishments
By linking your financial planning directly to your achievements, you’ll provide compelling proof that your program meets fiscal regulations and exceeds expectations.
ERSEA Compliance
Enrollment, Recruitment, Selection, Eligibility, and Attendance (ERSEA) compliance is a critical component of the FA2 review. Showcase your data and internal monitoring processes by:
- Presenting metrics on full enrollment and attendance trends
- Highlighting transportation challenges and solutions
- Sharing recruitment outcomes and compliance success
Data tours help illustrate your program’s efforts to meet ERSEA standards. For example, bar graphs comparing attendance rates across classrooms can demonstrate how nurturing environments contribute to success.
Preparation Is Everything
A successful FA2 review starts with a confident, prepared team. Ensure your leadership, education, health, family engagement, fiscal, and management staffs are ready to articulate their achievements and showcase their strengths with visual data.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to start, Sunshine Nonprofit Solutions is here to help! Our team has years of experience supporting Head Start programs through the FA2 review process and beyond. From training workshops to tailored strategies, we’re here to simplify the process and set your program on the path to success.
Subscribe now for more actionable insights on acing Head Start reviews, or call us today for a free consultation and personalized support. Together, we’ll set your program up for success!
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Dr. Cathleen Armstead brings over 25 years of experience in nonprofit organizations and Head Start programs, with a strong academic foundation in family services and early childhood development. A passionate advocate for social and economic justice, she has excelled in leadership roles, including serving as a director for various Head Start organizations. With an impressive 88% success rate in grant writing and a 100% success rate with DRS grant proposals, Dr. Armstead has earned recognition as a skilled strategist and grant writer. She founded Sunshine Nonprofit Solutions to provide nonprofits with tailored support, encompassing grant funding, strategic planning, leadership development, and board training.
A seasoned speaker and trainer, she presents regularly at Region IV conferences and has contributed to academia as a grant evaluator at the University of Miami’s School of Education. Currently, she is working on a nonprofit leadership guide, continuing her mission to empower organizations and foster positive change.