Operational Monitoring Plan South Plains Community Action Association Head Start & Early Head Start Division
Monitoring Humor A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. “That laundry is not very clean,” she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the women was surprised to see a nice, clean wash on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her.” The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”
How Do We Monitor? Interviews IInterview staff at all levels of the organization DDo the interview responses correspond? Documentation DDoes the documentation support interview responses? DDoes ChildPlus reconcile with the documentation in the folders? Observations AAre the interview responses and documentation put into practice? DDo we practice what we preach?
Levels of Monitoring Federal Review External consultants with expertise in Head Start service areas Triannual Emphasizing compliance with the Performance Standards Evaluating services and systems Local Self – Assessment Groups of people – with and without Head Start experience Annually Emphasizing program improvement per site Evaluating systems – what’s working or not Develop training and technical assistance plans Assess program needs Utilize in strategic planning Relate to community resources
Levels of Monitoring On-going Monitoring Internal personnel with Head Start experience and expertise Completed monthly using cycles TDFPS Human Resources Health Family Services Education, Mental Health, Disability Transportation Emphasizing on quality control by reconciling services and documentation Use ChildPlus reports and detailed monitoring spreadsheet C – complete 1 – needs completion or corrections
Detailed Monitoring Spreadsheet
Questions Monitors Olivia Barbosa Olga Salazar Brent Butler th Lubbock, Texas