1. Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance (ERSEA)
Welcome
Orientation to the Head Start Program Performance Standards
ERSEA
45CFR –
Protections for the Privacy of Child Records
Subpart C of –

2. Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance (ERSEA)
This section codifies in regulation many of the requirements in the Head Start Act regarding all aspects of ERSEA.
Community Needs Assessment
Eligibility
Recruitment
Selection
Enrollment
Attendance
Suspension and Expulsion
Fees
ERSEA is subpart A of 1302 Program Operations. It is the very beginning of where a program and designs its services and structure. Many of these provisions including the focus on the community assessment were required in the Head Start Act as reauthorized in 2007 including specific focus. Like the rest of the standards, many of the new provisions provide grantees with flexibility. In addition, many provisions are based on research on child development and innovative practices in the field.

3. Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance (ERSEA)
Purpose.
Determining community strengths, needs and resources.
Determining, verifying, and documenting eligibility.
Recruitment of children.
Selection process.
Enrollment.
Attendance.
Suspension and expulsion.
Fees.

4. Purpose
This subpart describes requirements for determining community strengths and needs. It contains requirements and procedures for eligibility determination, recruitment, selection, enrollment and attendance of children and the policy regarding fees.
•This subpart describes requirements for determining community strengths and needs. In addition this section contains requirements and procedures for eligibility determination, recruitment, selection, enrollment and attendance of children and the policy regarding fees.
•This section codifies in regulation many of the requirements in the Head Start Act regarding all aspects of ERSEA; therefore changes were not possible in regulation.
• The goal is ensuring children with greatest needs are served first and especially children who are homeless, in foster care or children with disabilities.
•The regulations achieve the goals mentioned above by bolstering the community needs assessment, strengthening the selection process and promoting regular attendance.
•A new section on suspension and expulsion is added to provide programs with procedures for maintaining enrollment of children with challenging behaviors.

5. 1302.11 Determining community strengths, needs and resources
Service Areas
Removes requirement that prohibits overlapping service areas
Regional Office must approve service area and
any change to service area
Community Assessment
Foundation of program
Aligns with 5 year grant period
Focus on special populations
•This section contains requirements about how a program defines its service area in its application.
•Regional offices must approve service areas and any change in service area
•A change in this regulation eliminates the prohibition on overlapping service areas.
•Community wide strategic planning and needs assessment is now required every 5 years to align with the 5-year grant cycle. And mirrors the focus in the Act that this assessment forms the bases of program structure and services.
•Community Assessment must be reviewed annually for major changes in community, including resources. For example – maybe a new employer moved into the community or a group of refugees moved into the community.
•New addition of resources, strengths, homeless and foster children and schedule of parents - so programs can consider needs for full day program.
•Programs must consider serving mixed-income classrooms, but only if this does not reduce the number of Head Start eligible children served. Research shows that settings with diverse economic groups benefit children and families at all income levels.

6. 1302.12 Determining, verifying, and documenting eligibility
Most provisions required by statute
Therefore, not able to change in regulation
Only clarifying changes from 2015 Eligibility Rule
Removed separation between income and categorical
Written statements allowed from self-employed
Reporting on percent eligibility clarified
•most of the eligibility section is required in statute and cannot be changed by regulation such as income and age eligibility and duration of eligibility;
•Only technical changes made in this rule to clear up confusion from the 2015 final eligibility rule
•Removed separation between categorical and income eligibility, all are just ways to be eligible
•Age for transition from EHS to HS is in the transition section
•10 percent of total funded enrollment must be children with disabilities. There has been confusion over whether its 10% of actual enrollment or if it’s 10% of EHS and 10% of HS
•When programs use poverty eligibility category, there is no report to regional office required. However, programs must be able to demonstrate that they took all the steps if asked.
•The alternative eligibility allowance is designed to promote innovation and flexibility for programs
•Added written statements from self-employed individuals to verify eligibility
•If programs utilize percent category, they must be able to report to regional office that they meet criteria.

7. 1302.13 Recruitment of children
Goal: Serve the most vulnerable children first
Focus on special populations
Children who are homeless
Children in foster care
Children with disabilities
Individualized to community needs
Provides grantees flexibility
Grantee must identify efforts to actively locate and recruit most vulnerable populations
•Provides programs flexibility to reach families in best way for their community. Goal remains serving the most vulnerable children first.
•A program must include specific efforts to actively locate and recruit children with disabilities and other vulnerable children, including homeless children and children in foster care.

8. Selection process
Goal: Strengthen requirements for selection process and procedures
Related to individual community needs
Prioritize most vulnerable children
New to programs:
Clarifies 10% of total funded enrollment must be children with disabilities
Must prioritize younger children if high-quality, full day pre-k available for HS eligible 4 year olds
•Requires programs to set criteria to ensure that they are selecting and enrolling most vulnerable children first.
•Programs must prioritize serving younger children if HS eligible 4 year olds could be served by high-quality full day pre-k in the area unless the requirement will disrupt partnerships with local education agencies. The goal is to eliminate competition for 4 year olds and allow additional 3 year olds to be served. MSHS and AIAN must consider whether prioritizing younger children works for their community.
•This section clarifies that each program must have 10% of their total funded enrollment be children with disabilities. Total HS/EHS together not 10% for each

9. 1302.15 Enrollment NEW for Grantees:
New provision allows reserving up to 3 percent of slots for 30 days for homeless and foster children and pregnant women
Must fill vacancies within 30 days – even at the end of the program year – 60 day rule no longer applies
•Focus of this section is supporting continuity of care and ensuring children are served as early and as long as possible.
•Reiterates that programs must maintain funded enrollment and ensure vacant slots are filled within 30 days.
•Removes provision for not filling slots at end of program year is removed because it’s better for children to have some services than nothing. And enrollment within the last 60 days of the program year will facilitate enrollment for the following program year.
•NEW provision for reserving 3 percent of slots for 30 days for highly mobile populations such as children experiencing homelessness and children in foster care. Also can reserve slots for pregnant women. The rule strikes a balance between reserving and filling slots.
•Codifies in regulation that enrollment continues through the following program year. Continues allowance for programs to keep a child for a third year in exceptional circumstances
•Programs are required to focus on maintaining enrollment for homeless and foster children including when they move to a different service area

10. 1302.16 Attendance NEW for Grantees:
Focus on implementing strategies to promote regular attendance
Homeless children can be served without required paperwork for up to 90 days as long as state licensing requirements are met
Must have system for ensuring child is safe if they are absent without explanation
Grantees are still required to analyze and address average attendance that falls below 85 percent
•New focus of this section is to promote regular attendance since research shows it is important for positive child development outcomes.
•Programs must be aware of each child’s attendance and their patterns.
•Emphasis on working with families if a child is absent unexpectedly and if there are ongoing attendance issues.
o Programs must conduct a home visit or other direct contact with parents if children experience multiple unexplained absences, such as two or more consecutive unexplained absences.
•Programs must attempt to contact parents within certain time frame if unexcused absence and parents haven’t contacted the program within an hour
o This provision is to ensure that no child is left on a bus or otherwise unattended
o Safety is the utmost concern and why programs must focus on each child’s attendance
•Programs still required to analyze and address average attendance that falls below 85 percent of funded enrollment.
•Supporting attendance of homeless children and is also emphasized.
•Programs must enroll homeless children for up to 90 days prior to required paperwork as long they meet state licensing (this is cross referenced to immunization in health section)

11. 1302.17 Suspension and expulsion
Goal: Codifies long standing practice to not expel children from Head Start programs
NEW section in HSPPS:
Prohibits expulsion and severely limits suspension
Provides steps for programs related to challenging behaviors
Elaborates on engaging mental health consultants described in mental health and social and emotional well being regulation
•This new regulation codifies long-standing practice to not expel children from Head Start Programs
•Specifically it prohibits expulsion and severely limits suspension and instead focuses on ways to keep children in the program even in the face of challenging behaviors.
•It outlines what a program must do to determine whether a temporary suspension is necessary including engaging a mental health consultant, collaborating with the parents, and utilizing appropriate community resources.
•By engaging mental health consultants early in the process and collaborating with the parents, along with , which is mental health and social and emotional well-being, integrate preventive efforts to address problem behaviors while also supporting families and staff when challenging behaviors arise.
•The new rule also outlines what a program must do to help the child return to full participation in all program activities as quickly as possible if a temporary suspension is indeed deemed necessary, including documenting the action and supports needed, providing home visits, and determining whether it is appropriate to refer the child to a local agency responsible for implementing IDEA.
•This section specifically underscores that if a child qualifies for IDEA services or for services and supports under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (i.e.,does not satisfy the definition of disability under IDEA for the state but does satisfy the definition in the Rehabilitation Act), that the child should not be excluded from the program.
•The rule does allow for flexibility in that if a program has explored all possible steps as outlined and documented all steps taken, and it is determined the program is not the most appropriate placement for the child, the program must work to directly facilitate the transition of the child to a more appropriate placement.

12. Fees
Goal: Serve most vulnerable children at no cost to families
Current requirement maintained: programs cannot charge a fee for Head Start services
Clarifies that fees can be paid for additional services outside of Head Start
Allows grantees to accept fees from non-Head Start enrolled families to support classrooms with diverse economic backgrounds
• Current requirement maintained: programs cannot charge a fee for Head Start Services
• Clarifies that fees can be paid for services outside of Head Start such as wrap around child care.
Also includes allowance that programs can enroll overincome families who pay themselves. These are not considered part of HS enrollment. This supports the effort to promote mixed-income settings which research shows is good for all families. Programs across the country are doing this. It is not required but allowed. Another example of allowing flexibility and encouraging innovation in the standards.

13. Subpart C of 1303 – Protections for the Privacy of Child Records
This subpart generally aligns with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Program Procedures – applicable confidentiality provisions
Exceptions to this subsection:
If a program is subject to FERPA (e.g. school district), then the program does not comply with this subpart
If a child record is subject to IDEA confidentiality requirements, then the program follows those requirements for that child record and not this subpart
The entirety of FERPA is not integrated into this subpart; only the essential requirements of FERPA were integrated, but they were made appropriate for Head Start programs.
An important distinction between these two exceptions is that the first is at the agency-level and the second is at the child-level.
If 10% of the children the program serves have disabilities, or are found eligible for services under IDEA, then those 10% of child records are subject to IDEA confidentiality requirements and are not subject to this subpart.

14. Subpart C of 1303 – Protections for the Privacy of Child Records–
This subpart outlines the following requirements to protect the personally identifiable information (PII) in child records:
Parental consent including eight instances when consent is not required
Written agreements with third parties to protect PII when disclosing data
Describe a few instances when consent is not required:
to address a disaster, health or safety emergency;
to address suspected or known child maltreatment;
to a federal or state official for an audit or evaluation of education programs;
and to another school district during a transition from preschool to kindergarten – but important to note that this one requires a parent notice and opportunity to refuse
Example where we differ from FERPA:
In this section, we explicitly allow programs to share PII without consent to address a serious food allergy which means that the piece of paper covering the picture of the child is unnecessary.  

15. Subpart C of 1303 – Protections for the Privacy of Child Records
Parent rights in respect to their child records
Right to inspect, amend, request a hearing, copy of record,
and (also, right to inspect written agreements)
Maintenance of records
Destroy in reasonable timeframe
Ensure only appropriate parties have access
Data systems are protected to current industry standards
Annual notice to parents
Reasonable timeframe and current industry standards are not explicit to provide flexibility. For example, we do not expect programs to keep child records indefinitely on a computer system anyone can access, nor do we expect programs to keep child records secure in a military base and destroy them the day the child leaves. There is flexibility built into these requirements for a program to determine the best approach to implementing these requirements and it may differ for each child record. For example, a program may want to maintain a subset of child records for many years as part of a longitudinal study they are doing in partnership with a local university.
Annual notice must include parent rights and how PII is shared

16. Personally Identifiable Information
Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
includes things like a child’s name, address, parent’s name, or any other information that is linked or linkable to the child
(f) - Limit on disclosing PII. A program must only disclose the information that is deemed necessary for the purpose of the disclosure.
Provide example of how PII does not need to contain child’s name. For example, a child record that contains a unique medical condition from a program is considered PII if the medical condition makes it possible to trace the record back to the individual child.
Limit of disclosing PII the purpose of this requirement is to ensure programs do not hand over entire sets of child records with PII, instead programs should consider the purpose of the disclosure and share what is necessary.
Highlight that sometimes PII does not need to be shared which would help address privacy concerns.

17. ERSEA
Questions

18. ERSEA