Lowering the Bar: An Analysis of How Replacing Head Start Standards with State Child Care Licensing Weakens Early Learning Across the United States
This report explores the policy distinctions between state child care center-based licensing standards and the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS). The analysis is grounded in developmental science and education research, and is informed by a review of state licensing policies, the HSPPS, and the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act.
Decades of research have found access to high quality early education is associated with positive outcomes in childhood and long-term outcomes in adulthood across health, education, and earnings. Based on these longitudinal impacts, economists have estimated that early childhood programs more than pay for themselves, with high returns on investment. But there’s a catch: these impressive long term outcomes and strong returns on investments are entirely contingent on the quality of early care and education programs. Unfortunately, across the United States today, the quality of early care and learning programs is too often not aligned with best practices and research.
The most robust set of high-quality standards across the early care and learning ecosystem in the United States today are the HSPPS, which govern the federally funded, locally operated Head Start program in every state in the country. HSPPS serve as a national guidepost for quality, impacting the early care and learning ecosystem beyond the walls of Head Start programs.
Recent policy proposals have suggested the possibility of undoing the HSPPS and instead requiring Head Start programs to adopt state child care licensing standards. It is important to understand the difference between state licensing standards and program performance standards. State licensing answers one question: What is the minimum set of standards required so children are not in danger? These state standards define the quality “floor” or the bare minimum needed to operate a child care program, and do not comprehensively address child development, learning, and school readiness, as that is not their function. By contrast, Head Start asks: What conditions produce lifelong improvements for children’s development, health, learning, and family well-being?
Suggested Citation:
Meek, S., Blevins, D., Alexander, B., Powell, T., Soto-Boykin, X., & Cardona, M. (August, 2026). Lowering the Bar: An Analysis of How Replacing Head Start Standards with State Child Care Licensing Weakens Early Learning Across the United States. The Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. https://cep.asu.edu/resources/An-Analysis-of-How-Replacing-Head-Start-Standards-with-State-Child-Care-Licensing-Weakens-Early-Learning-Across-the-United-States.
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