Year: 2025

The Importance of Managing Challenging Behaviors by Becoming Trauma-Informed in Head Start Programs

In early childhood education, Head Start programs play a crucial role in fostering school readiness and overall well-being for children from low-income families. However, educators and staff often encounter challenging behaviors that can disrupt learning and strain relationships. These behaviors—such as aggression, withdrawal, or defiance—are not always rooted in defiance or a lack of discipline, but often stem from underlying trauma.

Understanding the Impact of Trauma

Children in Head Start programs are disproportionately affected by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including poverty, domestic violence, neglect, and community instability. These experiences can significantly impact brain development, emotional regulation, and behavior. When children lack the skills to express their emotions in healthy ways, they may act out—often in ways that seem defiant or uncooperative.

The Trauma-Informed Approach

Becoming trauma-informed means shifting from asking “What’s wrong with this child?” to “What happened to this child?” It emphasizes empathy, understanding, and proactive support rather than punishment. A trauma-informed approach helps educators create safe, predictable, and nurturing environments where children feel secure enough to learn and grow.

Key elements include:

  • Building strong, trusting relationships with each child
  • Creating consistent routines that reduce anxiety
  • Using positive behavior support strategies instead of punitive measures
  • Training staff to recognize trauma symptoms and respond appropriately

 

Benefits for Children and Educators

When Head Start programs adopt trauma-informed practices, the benefits are far-reaching:

  • Children experience improved emotional regulation and social skills
  • Classrooms become more inclusive and manageable
  • Teachers report reduced stress and burnout
  • Families feel more supported and engaged

Managing challenging behaviors through a trauma-informed lens is not just a strategy—it’s a compassionate, evidence-based approach that empowers Head Start programs to meet the needs of the whole child. By understanding the root causes of behavior, staff can respond with empathy and structure, paving the way for healing, learning, and long-term success.

We would love to help your staff become trauma-informed.  Reach out to us at hsessentials.com or call Susan at (704) 277-7473.

Part 2: Invest in Your Staff for a Strong Start

Why Early Planning for Pre-Service Training Sets the Tone for a Successful Head Start Year

Previously we mentioned the importance and the impact of structuring a quality pre-service plan with attention paid to benefits of planning early and the support that quality training can have on the outcomes of a program. Now, let’s take a look at what happens intentional planning is not done and how this affects staff on a day today basis.

Common Pitfalls from Program Records

If your program keeps internal records, you’ve likely noticed a few patterns:

  • New staff are often overwhelmed by the volume of information shared during a single week of pre-service.
  • Returning staff tune out when training is too repetitive or disconnected from their daily work.
  • Managers and specialists report spending the first month re-teaching policies or practices that were unclear during onboarding.
  • Family service staff often receive the least targeted training, though their role is central to Head Start’s two-generational model.

These are not signs of failure—they are signs of opportunity.

When programs step back and treat pre-service as leadership strategy, the ripple effect is powerful. Staff feel seen, supported, and prepared. Managers become more aligned. And children and families benefit from a team that starts the year united and ready.

Make Pre-Service a Strategic Investment. Early planning allows you to:

  • Customize training content by role (classroom, family services, health, admin)
  • Incorporate team-building and culture-setting activities to improve retention
  • Address high-need areas like trauma-informed care, mental health, or inclusive practices
  • Include reflective supervision or coaching-style leadership training for managers
  • Balance federal requirements with your program’s specific goals

 

And perhaps most importantly—it lets you bring in expert support that lightens your leadership load.

Support is Available—And Worth It. Planning pre-service training doesn’t mean doing it all yourself. A skilled training consultant can work with you to:

  • Review past training outcomes and develop a customized pre-service schedule
  • Deliver high-quality sessions on priority topics aligned with HSPPS and CLASS
  • Equip managers with coaching tools to sustain momentum beyond the training week
  • Create a training experience that energizes rather than exhausts your staff

If you’ve ever wished your team could hit the ground running on day one—or that you didn’t have to “re-train the training” by October—now is the time to rethink how you approach pre-service.

Let’s Talk. No matter the need for your program, a half-day session, one day with a specific focus, a week of cohesive events, you will receive professional development that is purposeful and carefully constructed. Pre-service is more than a start-of-year task—it’s an investment in your people, your program quality, and your long-term success. When you connect with Essential Elements to create the plan that is most appropriate for your program, you will find that there is:

  • a strong focus on adult learning principles
  • a brain friendly design of the training sessions
  • a connection between ideas, information and practice
  • a relationship-centered approach to the participants
  • a structured plan with specific outcomes and expectations for results

 

Partner with Essential Elements to create a purposeful, high-quality pre-service plan that sets your staff—and your families—up for a successful year.

Part 1: Invest in Your Staff for a Strong Start

Why Early Planning for Pre-Service Training Sets the Tone for a Successful Head Start Year

As a Head Start director, you know that the start of a new program year is more than a date on the calendar—it’s a strategic opportunity. Among the most critical pieces of that strategy is pre-service training. It’s not just a compliance requirement—it’s the foundation for the culture, quality, and consistency your team will carry forward all year long. And it is a measure of the care and importance that you place on each staff member and the role they play in your program.

Too often pre-service becomes a rushed checklist instead of a meaningful launch. When training is planned late, squeezed in, or treated as a one-size-fits-all event, we see the results in the data: lower staff engagement, inconsistent implementation of Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS), and increased turnover within the first 90 days.

The good news? You can shift that outcome with one key move: plan your pre-service training early—and with purpose.

Why Pre-Service Matters More Than Ever
Head Start and Early Head Start programs are complex systems, offering comprehensive services to children and families with diverse and often high-need backgrounds. Staff members are asked to do deeply meaningful and emotionally intense work—often without formal training in all the areas they’re expected to manage.

Research and program data consistently show that staff who receive clear, intentional, and high-quality pre-service training are:

  • 40% more likely to remain past the first 6 months
  • Significantly more confident in implementing curriculum and child assessment tools
  • Better equipped to support family engagement from the start
  • More compliant with HSPPS and CLASS expectations in the first quarter

But quality pre-service training doesn’t happen overnight. The best programs begin planning months in advance, building a training schedule that reflects the actual needs of their staff—and the strategic goals of the agency.

Let’s Talk. Whether you’re looking for full support or just want help refining your plan, now is the right time to connect. Pre-service is more than a start-of-year task—it’s an investment in your people, your program quality, and your long-term success. Help your staff experience success every day and feel validated and supported in their routine tasks. Make sure that the outcomes you expect are those that you invest in.

Let Essential Elements help you craft a pre-service plan that matches your program’s vision and supports strong outcomes for children and families.

The Art of Intentional Center Time: Balancing Freedom and Focus

Center time in preschool is a crucial part of a child’s development. It is a period where young learners engage in self-directed, hands-on activities designed to promote social, cognitive, and emotional growth. The concept of intentionality in this context refers to the purposeful design and guidance provided by teachers to ensure that activities align with your curriculum and children’s developmental goals, fostering meaningful learning experiences for each child.

Intentionality during center time involves carefully planning the learning environment, selecting appropriate materials, and offering structured yet flexible opportunities for exploration. Teachers are intentional not only in how they set up the space, but also in how they observe, support, and interact with children. This might involve encouraging problem-solving skills, supporting social interactions, or extending learning through thoughtful questions and guidance.

For example, in a dramatic play center, a teacher might intentionally introduce props or scenarios that promote role-playing and social negotiation, while also observing how children interact with each other and step in to guide them toward deeper learning when necessary. In the block center, the teacher may provide diverse materials that encourage spatial reasoning and collaboration, fostering both cognitive and social development.

Ultimately, intentionality in center time ensures that children are not just playing but engaging in purposeful activities that promote their growth across a variety of domains. It allows teachers to meet each child’s individual needs, fostering a rich, dynamic learning environment where exploration and discovery are at the forefront of early childhood education.

For more information on intentional center time, training and coaching for your program please contact Susan at (704)277-7473 (susanwitek@hsessentials.com or Kristine at (704)451-3255 (kristinecortina@hsessentials.com.)

Why Conduct Formal CLASS™ During Winter And Early Spring?

The new year and new school semester is the perfect time to provide your teachers with formal CLASS™ observations and targeted feedback. Teaching staff have been in their classrooms long enough to develop a rhythm with their students and their classroom environment. This is the “sweet spot” for coaching and professional development.

Our formal CLASS™ observations go beyond providing scores. We will provide your program with a targeted written narrative for each classroom that will include strengths and opportunities for growth, a comprehensive report comparing  your program scores to the national Head Start averages, and program wide trends that can identify professional development needs for in-service or pre-service training.

Essential Elements offers mentoring and coaching for education managers, education specialists, center directors and teaching team leaders simultaneously as we conduct formal CLASS observations. Teacher feedback and coaching can be incorporated into this process.

We would love the opportunity to partner with you as you invest in program excellence.

For more information or to schedule CLASS™ observations and coaching for your program please contact Susan at (704)277-7473 (susanwitek@hsessentials.com or Kristine at (704)451-3255 (kristinecortina@hsessentials.com.)