CCS Early Learning

Head Start and Early Head Start

Head Start and Early Head Start are free programs available to children of eligible families. For more information about eligibility visit our enrollment page.

Preschool

In addition to regular Head Start and Early Head Start services, CCS Early Learning is offering high quality Preschool at both our Palmer and Chugiak Centers for children ages 3 through 5 Tuesday through Friday.

Palmer Center: 2238 S. Springer Loop, 2nd floor
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Palmer
$363 per month
746-4483

Chugiak Center: 18530 Old Glenn Hwy
8:30 - 12:30 p.m. in Chugiak
$390 per month
688-2660

WHAT IS HEAD START

A national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.

Provides comprehensive child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families, with a special focus on helping preschoolers develop the early reading and math skills they need to be successful in school.

Includes Early Head Start to serve children from birth to three years of age in recognition of the fact that the earliest years matter a great deal to children's growth and development.

Promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.

Engages parents in their children's learning and help them in making progress toward their goals. Significant emphasis is placed on the involvement of parents in the administration of local Head Start programs.

Develops trusting, collaborative relationships between parents and staff to support parents as they identify and meet their own goals, nurture the development of their children in the context of their family and culture.

Early Head Start includes a set of principles to nurture healthy attachments between parent and child (and child and caregiver), emphasize a strengths-based, relationship-centered approach to services, and encompass the full range of a family’s needs from pregnancy through a child’s third birthday. They include:

- Positive Relationships and Continuity which honor the critical importance of early attachments on healthy development . Parents are a child’s first, and most important, relationship.

- Parent Involvement activities that offer parents a meaningful and strategic role in our program.

- Prevention and Promotion Activities that both promote healthy development and recognize and address atypical development at the earliest stage possible. Inclusion strategies that respect the unique developmental trajectories of young children in the context of a typical setting, including children with disabilities.

- Cultural competence which acknowledges the profound role that culture plays in early development. We also recognize the influence of cultural values and beliefs on both staff and families’ approaches to child development.

- Comprehensiveness, Flexibility and Responsiveness of services which allow children and families to move across various program options over time, as their life situation demands.

- Collaboration is central to our ability to meet the comprehensive needs of families. Strong partnerships allow us to expand services to families with infants and toddlers beyond our program and into the larger community.