Philosophy  Sure Start is committed to providing the highest quality preschool education for eligible children of families living at military installations overseas. Like the Head Start model on which it is based, Sure Start is dedicated to providing comprehensive services in the areas of education, health, social services, and family involvement. Close collaboration between families, schools, and the community is seen as essential.  Sure Start is founded on the principles of developmentally appropriate practice, as supported by research. Accordingly, the program is philosophically committed to the tenets of child growth and development that stem from the works of Piaget, Erikson, Vygotsky, and Gardner, among othersJuly 9, 2007 the whole needs of children and families, Sure Start is wedded to the belief that "risk is not destiny." With a Sure Start education, children can develop the social competence and disposition needed for productive, lifelong learning.

Enrollment Eligibility

Sure Start is a program for command sponsored dependents. It is primarily a program for qualified four year olds. (The child must turn four years old by October 31 of the current school year.) Children qualify for Sure Start based on family dynamics which may put the child "at risk": 
based on rank of sponsor (E-1-E-4 first priority)   
single parent household 
parent(s) not a high school graduate 
parent a teenager when first child was born 
one or both parents speak a language other than English as their primary language; 
low birth weight; 
parent is on remote assignment (TDY) three months or more; 
four or more children close in age, living in the home; 
child has older sibling with a severe disability. 

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The Head Start Model

Features Unique to Sure Start

Sure Start strives to incorporate the many features of Head Start that are correlated with high quality:  full day program four-pronged delivery system - education, health, social services, and family involvement medical, dental and developmental screenings and follow-up assessment nutritious lunches and snacks active involvement by family developmentally appropriate practice at the core of all programming.           back to top

To make Sure Start fit into DoDEA culture and regulations, Sure Start has evolved into a program with a distinct personality. Specifically, Sure Start differs from Head Start in the following ways:  oversight of the program is by DoDEA, rather than the program itself; while Head Start uses income as the defining criterion for eligibility, Sure Start regards family income as the most important- but not the sole- factor in enrollment eligibility; whereas Head Start mandates that a minimum of 10% of classroom slots be reserved for children with disabilities, Sure Start does not use disability status as an enrollment criterion; parent involvement in Sure Start is a mandatory part of the program; Sure Start uses DoDEA PreK Foundational Standards to base its curriculum. Teachers and program assistants receive training in its implementation to ensure consistency; Sure Start specifies a ratio of 2 adults to 18-20 students.                     back to top