A Head Start teacher leads a preschool classroom in Head Start, the federally funded early-education program governed by the Head Start Program Performance Standards (45 CFR 1302), which the Office of Head Start administers.
Every Head Start preschool center-based teacher must hold at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education — or equivalent coursework, or a statutory alternative.
This guide covers the role, the standards, the pay and the career path.
What is a Head Start teacher?
Head Start is a federally funded early-childhood program.
In FY 2024 it was funded to serve 715,873 children and pregnant women, with total federal operations funding of $11,753,187,818.
A Head Start teacher works on the preschool side of that program, with children ages 3 to 5.
Head Start programs run as center-based, home-based, family child care, or an approved locally designed variation.
The classrooms are mostly in centers: about 97% of funded Head Start preschool services were center-based in the 2023-24 program year.
The classroom is the unit you would work in.
Under the current standards, a class with a majority of 4- and 5-year-olds is staffed by a teacher working with a teaching assistant, or by two teachers sharing one class.
A 2026 proposal, not final, would replace the federal ratio and group-size limits with state-established standards.
Early Head Start is the program's infant-and-toddler side — 181,049 funded slots in FY 2024, excluding AIAN and Migrant/Seasonal programs — with a different qualification track: its center-based teachers need at minimum a CDA or comparable credential plus training or coursework focused on infant and toddler development.
This guide is about the preschool teaching role.
Teachers also sit inside a wider program team.
Under the current standards, education managers and coordinators need a baccalaureate or advanced degree in early childhood education — or a degree plus equivalent ECE coursework and teaching experience — and Head Start coaches must hold at least a baccalaureate in ECE or a related field.
Head Start employed and contracted with 251,000 staff in 2023-24.
How is Head Start different from a regular childcare center?
Private childcare centers are licensed and regulated by their state's child care licensing agency.
Head Start classrooms answer to the Office of Head Start under the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS, 45 CFR 1302) — a federal rulebook that sets group sizes, staffing patterns, teacher qualifications, developmental screening and program monitoring.
Group sizes are set federally.
Under the current standards, a class with a majority of 4- and 5-year-olds has no more than 20 children, staffed by a teacher and a teaching assistant or by two teachers — 17 children in a double-session program.
A class with a majority of 3-year-olds is capped at 17, or 15 in double session.
Coverage rules are strict, too.
The standards allow ratios to 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 does not meet teaching qualifications.
Those are Head Start standards, so break coverage at a private center can differ.
Classroom quality is measured.
Head Start monitoring uses the CLASS Pre-K observation, scored across three domains: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization and Instructional Support.
A grantee whose average scores fall below the competitive thresholds — Emotional Support 5, Classroom Organization 5, Instructional Support 2.3 through July 31, 2027, and 2.5 from August 1, 2027 — faces open competition for its funding.
The Office of Head Start's separate quality thresholds sit at 6, 6 and 3.
Every new child is screened.
The program 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.
A rewrite has been proposed — check the current rule
What does a Head Start teacher do?
The core of the job is preschool teaching itself.
O*NET's task profile for preschool teachers includes teaching basic skills — colors, shapes, numbers, letters, hygiene and social skills — serving meals and snacks that meet nutritional guidelines, meeting with parents about children's progress, and maintaining student records.
Head Start layers its own duties on top.
Under the current standards, each new child must have a completed developmental screening within 45 calendar days of first attending, so classroom observations and records matter from day one.
Teaching is also observed and scored: CLASS Pre-K looks at how the room builds Emotional Support, Classroom Organization and Instructional Support.
Language is part of the classroom mix: about 35% of children enrolled in Head Start were dual language learners in 2023-24, and 63% of those were in families that primarily spoke Spanish at home.
You work as part of a staffed team rather than alone.
Under the current standards, a class with a majority of 4- and 5-year-olds pairs a teacher with a teaching assistant or puts two teachers in the room, and education coordinators and coaches support the classroom from outside it.
What qualifications do Head Start teachers need?
The baseline is federal, and it applies to every teacher.
Under 45 CFR 1302.91(e)(2), all Head Start preschool center-based teachers must have at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education, equivalent coursework, or otherwise meet the requirements of section 648A(a)(3)(B) of the Head Start Act.
That rule comes from the statute itself.
A bachelor's degree is not an individual requirement.
The standards direct the Secretary to ensure that at least 50% of Head Start preschool teachers nationwide hold a baccalaureate degree — a national workforce target, not a rule about each teacher.
The workforce data show the same picture: in 2023-24, 94% of Head Start preschool center-based teachers had an associate degree or higher in early childhood education or a related field, and 56% had a bachelor's.
Assistant teachers have their own floor: a CDA or 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 (45 CFR 1302.91(e)(3)).
The CDA is administered by the Council for Professional Recognition, and its center-based Preschool credential covers children ages 3 to 5.
Two notes for career changers.
Early Head Start teachers of infants and toddlers need at minimum a CDA or comparable credential plus infant- and toddler-focused training or coursework — a separate track from the preschool role.
And look out for the pending rule change: the August 2026 proposal would drop every Head Start staff qualification rule that is not in the statute — director, family child care provider, coach and family service staff qualifications would go — while keeping the statutory qualifications for preschool teachers, assistant teachers and Early Head Start center-based teachers.
It would also bar programs from requiring or incentivizing postsecondary credits or credentials unless they can show the education is necessary for the position, pointing instead to alternatives such as assessments, industry credentials or work experience.
None of that is final.
Requirements do not stop at the federal rule.
State child care licensing sets its own expectations for the adults in a licensed classroom, from training hours to background checks.
Confirm both layers — with your state child care licensing agency and with the Head Start grantee you are applying to — before you accept an offer.
- Transcripts or documentation for your associate or bachelor's degree, or your equivalent coursework
- Your CDA credential paperwork, if you are applying on the assistant-teacher track
- References who can speak to your work with young children
- The training and background-check records your state licensing agency or registry requires
How much do Head Start teachers make?
There is no official wage statistic for the title.
BLS has no occupation for Head Start teachers, so no federal wage series is published for Head Start pay, and any BLS figure quoted under the title is really the broader occupation next door.
The nearest occupation is preschool teachers (SOC 25-2011).
BLS reported a May 2025 median annual wage for preschool teachers of $38,140, or $18.34 per hour — across every preschool setting, not Head Start programs specifically.
Two Head Start-specific rules shape the answer, and both are contested.
The current standards require that by August 1, 2031, each Head Start teacher be paid at least comparably to public-school preschool teachers in the local school district, adjusted for qualifications, experience and hours.
They also require that by August 1, 2028, programs give full-time staff — 30 or more hours a week — access to health coverage and other benefits, with an exemption for agencies funded for 200 or fewer slots.
A separate proposal published May 12, 2026 (comments closed June 11, 2026) would remove both the wage and the benefit requirements, so neither should be treated as settled.
For the state-by-state figures behind the nearest occupation, see our Head Start teacher salary page.
What is it like to work at Head Start?
The workforce has a distinctive feature: of the 251,000 staff Head Start employed and contracted with in 2023-24, 24% were parents of current or former Head Start children.
Languages are part of the job.
About 112,000 staff provided child development services in 2023-24 — teachers, assistant teachers, home visitors and family child care providers — and 31% of them were proficient in a language other than English.
Retention is tracked and published: Head Start's own program data show a 15% staff turnover during the 2023-2024 program year.
Behavior guidance runs on a federal floor.
The current standards prohibit expelling or unenrolling a child from Head Start because of behavior, and limit suspension to temporary, last-resort use after consulting a mental health consultant (45 CFR 1302.17).
The August 2026 proposal would remove that section entirely.
Training is an annual rhythm, not a one-time gate.
Under the current standards, 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.
For classroom teachers, the proposal would keep the 15 clock hours, because that requirement also sits in the Head Start Act (section 648A(a)(5)).
The ladder is visible from the classroom.
Assistant teachers come in on their own, lower qualification floor, teachers hold at least an associate-level degree under the federal rule, and the next steps carry degree requirements of their own under the current standards — education managers and coordinators, and curriculum specialists, need a baccalaureate or advanced degree in early childhood education (or a degree plus equivalent ECE coursework and teaching experience), while coaches need at least a baccalaureate in ECE or a related field.
Find Head Start teacher jobs
Hiring is local: Head Start funding goes to grantee agencies that operate programs — the same agencies whose funding ACF's CLASS competition rules attach to — so you apply to the grantee or program you want to work for rather than a national office.
Because the degree rule applies to every preschool center-based teacher, expect applications to ask for transcripts and coursework detail; candidates on the assistant-teacher track show a CDA or degree enrollment instead.
Browse Head Start teacher jobs on ChildcareHires.
Career information, not licensing or legal advice. Head Start classroom standards come from the Office of Head Start (45 CFR 1302); state licensing requirements come from your state child care licensing agency. Confirm current requirements with both before you apply or hire.