Supporting the Education of Our Nation’s At-risk Youth

Amanda Bryans ’87 is working to make sure at-risk preschool children get the foundation they need to become successful in school and life.

Bryans is the director of research analysis and communication in the Office of Early Childhood Development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS oversees the Head Start program, where Bryans has worked for 27 years.

She recently coordinated the development of the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework to help programs across the country support children from infancy to age 5.

“Head Start has unique attributes that make it a strong program,” she says. “We offer a broad range of services, including education, health, oral health, nutrition, mental health, services to children with disabilities, and family services. Head Start provides the best child development services available to some of the most at-risk children.”

Bryans calls her time studying human development a turning point in her life.

“It was at Human Ecology where I first heard of Head Start and where I first explored topics like human behavior, sociology and early childhood education,” she says. “It is where I fell in love with research, education and women’s history and found the connection among them.”

There’s a second aspect of Head Start that Bryans is proud of: encouraging Head Start teachers to pursue higher education.

“A significant part of Head Start’s 51-year history is the professionalization of a mostly female workforce,” she says. “More than 97 percent of Head Start teachers now have at least an associate’s degree, and 74 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree.”