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Kentucky Head Start Earns High Ranking in Quality

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The director of the Kentucky Head Start Association credits focused staff training for the state’s achievement of high marks for quality instruction.

Allyson Shelton says, since 1965, children in low income families have benefitted from Head Start. The National Institute for Early Education Research last week ranked Kentucky second nationally for the quality of its 32 programs. Shelton says Kentucky “took the bull by its horns” with widespread training from 2007 to 2010.

“Training more than, I would say, 4000 staff members on how to have these very high quality interactions with children that fosters thinking and expands learning and all of those things,” Shelton said.

Shelton says more funding is still needed because there continue to be waiting lists for Head Start programs. Some 17,000 children are currently served through Head Start in Kentucky.

Stu Johnson is a reporter/producer at WEKU in Lexington, Kentucky.
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