Head Start Substitute Teacher: Requirements and Pay

A Head Start substitute is hired the way any classroom substitute is: you answer a posting or get on the program's substitute list, and the program you'd work for sets its own application steps.

BLS describes the entry-level baseline for childcare workers as a high school diploma or equivalent, and notes that requirements vary — some states require a diploma or equivalent for entry-level positions while others have no education requirement.

The program's posting and onboarding checklist are where your to-do list comes from.

Background checks come from two federal rules.

Head Start's own standard, 45 CFR 1302.90(b), requires the program to interview you, check your references, run a sex offender registry check and obtain either a state/tribal or FBI fingerprint criminal check before hire.

The remaining fingerprint check and the child abuse registry check must be completed within 90 days, you may not have unsupervised access to children until the process is complete, and a full re-check follows every 5 years.

ACF's August 2026 proposed rule would drop these Performance Standards procedures, with statutory requirements and state CCDBG-aligned background checks still applying — so ask the program which process it runs.

Where the program is a licensed, regulated or registered child care provider, the CCDF rules in 45 CFR 98.43 also apply: every child care staff member must have a comprehensive background check.

The rule's definition of child care staff member reaches anyone employed by a provider for compensation, including contract employees and self-employed individuals — which is why staffing-agency temps and contracted substitutes need the same checks.

Checks are requested before you become a staff member and repeated at least once every 5 years.

Under the CCDF rule, you may start work once a qualifying result is in on either the FBI fingerprint check or the in-state fingerprint criminal check — and until every component is complete, you must be supervised at all times by a staff member who received a qualifying result within the past five years.

Under either rule, plan your first assignments around supervision: your earliest days may be spent alongside a fully cleared teacher rather than alone with the room.

The rooms you cover run under the Head Start Program Performance Standards, which set the floors for the teaching staff you fill in beside.

Current 45 CFR 1302.91 requires preschool center-based teachers to hold at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education — or equivalent coursework, or otherwise meet Head Start Act §648A(a)(3)(B).

Assistant teachers need a CDA, a state certificate that meets or exceeds it, enrollment in an associate or bachelor's program, or enrollment in a CDA program to be completed within two years of hire.

Early Head Start teachers of infants and toddlers need at minimum a CDA or comparable credential, plus training or coursework focused on infant and toddler development.

At least 50% of Head Start preschool teachers nationwide must hold a baccalaureate degree — a national target for programs, not a rule each teacher must meet.

Training runs through the same standards: Head Start staff complete at least 15 clock hours of professional development per year, plus annual mandated-reporter training and annual training on positive social-emotional strategies (45 CFR 1302.92).

Which of those a substitute must finish before a first assignment is on the program's onboarding list — ask.

State licensing reaches these classrooms too: BLS notes that childcare staff often must pass a background check, hold a complete record of immunizations and meet a minimum training requirement to qualify for licensure, and that some states require CPR and first aid certification.

Those are the Head Start and federal layers.

The center-by-center version of the path — applications, sub pools, what directors ask for — is covered in our daycare substitute teacher career guide.

One timing note: ACF published a proposal on August 7, 2026 to rescind and replace the Head Start Program Performance Standards.

It is a proposal, not a final rule, as of October 2026 — the sections cited on this page are the current standards.

A substitute's assignment is the classroom's day, not a new one: you follow the regular schedule, the plans left for you and the program's routines while the usual staff member is out.

O*NET's task list for childcare workers (SOC 39-9011) — the federal occupation that counts daycare classroom titles like daycare teacher, infant teacher and toddler teacher among its reported titles — describes the core of that work: keeping records on individual children, including daily observations, activities, meals served and medications given; dressing children and changing diapers; sanitizing toys; and communicating with parents about daily activities and behaviors.

Preschool teacher tasks make up the other half of the vocabulary: teaching basic skills such as colors, shapes, numbers, letters, hygiene and social skills; serving meals and snacks according to nutritional guidelines; meeting with parents about progress; and maintaining student records.

O*NET's essential skills for childcare workers read like a substitute's job description — monitoring, active listening, critical thinking, speaking, active learning and reading comprehension.

The rooms themselves are sized by the current performance standards.

An Early Head Start class of children under 36 months runs with two teachers and no more than eight children, or three teachers and no more than nine, with each teacher primarily responsible for no more than four children.

Preschool classes with a majority of 4- and 5-year-olds are capped at 20 children (17 in double session) with a teacher and teaching assistant or two teachers; classes with a majority of 3-year-olds are capped at 17 (15 in double session).

Ratios may lapse only for brief teacher absences of no more than five minutes, and during nap time one teaching staff member may be replaced by a staff member or trained volunteer who doesn't meet teaching qualifications.

A few program numbers describe the environment you'd be covering.

Head Start reported a staff turnover rate of 15% during the 2023-2024 program year.

Programs must complete or obtain a developmental screening within 45 calendar days of when a child first attends (30 days for programs operating 90 days or less), using research-based standardized tools (current 45 CFR 1302.33), so the daily records you keep feed a program-wide routine, not just the room's.

And about 35% of children enrolled in Head Start were dual language learners in 2023-24, so supporting children whose home language is not English is part of the work you'd be walking into.

Programs post substitute openings the way they post classroom jobs.

Browsing daycare substitute teacher jobs shows how the postings in your area phrase the role — substitute teacher, substitute aide, on-call support — and what each program asks substitutes to bring.

Start with what doesn't exist: BLS has no occupation for substitutes — the same is true of Head Start teachers and floaters as separate titles — so there is no federal wage statistic for Head Start substitute pay.

The nearest published benchmark is the childcare-worker occupation, SOC 39-9011, a cross-industry count: BLS reports a May 2025 median of $34,980 per year, or $16.82 per hour.

In the same release, the occupation's hourly spread runs from less than $11.66 at the 10th percentile to more than $22.12 at the 90th.

That is a benchmark for a broad, cross-industry occupation — not a substitute rate, and not a Head Start figure.

The rate that matters is the one in your hiring program's schedule, so ask for it in writing before your first assignment.

Three questions cover it: the hourly rate, whether a short day is billed hourly or as a fixed half- or full-day amount, and whether required onboarding or training time is paid.

On that last question, the Department of Labor's position under the FLSA is that training, meetings and lectures count as paid work time unless all four of its criteria are met: the time is outside normal hours, attendance is voluntary, it is not job related, and no other work is done during it.

Schedule shape matters as much as the rate.

BLS notes that part-time work and irregular hours are common for childcare workers, and substitute assignments live at the irregular end — your days depend on who is out.

For how the teachers you cover are paid, our Head Start pay scale article covers salaries and the pay-parity rule.

Career information, not licensing, wage-and-hour or legal advice — confirm substitute requirements with the Head Start program you'd work for and your state child care licensing agency, and FLSA pay questions with the Department of Labor.