Administrative Requirements
Attendance Accounting Requirements
LEA Attendance Requirements
Districts and charter schools implementing prekindergarten partnership programs are required to abide by all sections of the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook (SAAH).
Section 7 of the SAAH details prekindergarten eligibility, documentation required for each category of eligibility, enrollment procedures, and more. For every eligible student in prekindergarten partnership programs, the LEA must verify a student’s eligibility and have the verification document on file.
LEA personnel must also record the total number of eligible half-days present for each 6-week reporting period in the Student Detail Report. At the end of each 6-week reporting period, LEA personnel must also generate a Campus Summary Report, which must provide a summary of the total eligible days present and ineligible days present for the prekindergarten partnership instructional track.
Although those taking attendance at prekindergarten partnership sites must be LEA-trained and abide by all sections of the SAAH, sections 3.6.2 Time of Day for Attendance Taking and 3.6.3 Requirements for a Student to be Considered Present For Foundation School Program Funding are highlighted because they may present challenges when implemented in a prekindergarten partnership classroom. Please ensure that these and other procedures in the SAAH are communicated to the teachers, administrators, data specialists, and all other relevant stakeholders involved in the operation of the prekindergarten partnership.
All LEAs are required to report all students enrolled in partnership classrooms into the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS).
Child Care and/or Head Start Program Attendance Requirements
Child care and Head Start programs often have their own unique attendance reporting requirements depending on their source(s) of funding. Partnership program staff should work together to ensure that requirements of all entities are met.
Data Reporting Requirements
Data Reporting Requirements for LEAs
All LEAs are required to report all students enrolled in partnership classrooms into the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS).
Technical questions can be directed to the data champions at the regional Education Service Center (ESC). Each ESC has one or more PEIMS Champion(s):
Each district or charter school must ensure that these steps are taken before partnership classroom data can be submitted:
- The district or charter school obtains a Texas Unique Student IDs and Staff Unique IDs for the students and teachers at the prekindergarten partnership site.
- A Unique ID is required for all students and staff members to load information into the Early Childhood Data System (ECDS).
- There are two options a district or charter school can use to determine what campus number to assign to students and staff at the prekindergarten partnership site:
- In option one, prekindergarten partnership students and staff are assigned an existing campus number from one of the existing campuses of the district. The district or charter school should notify the principal of any campus whose number is used for prekindergarten partnership reporting, as well as make clear who holds the reporting responsibilities for the partnership classroom. There are no limitations for how close the existing campus must be from the partnership site.
- In option two, prekindergarten partnership students and staff are assigned a new campus number. The district may request a new campus number through the District TED Administrator or Superintendent. This number will be linked with other departments related to the operation of the partnership classroom, for instance the Human Resources or Budget Department.
- The district or charter school will need to have a policy for calendar inconsistencies between the partnering provider and the district or charter school calendar. For instance, if a school district is on holiday for December 20th, but the partnering provider is still open for business on that date, the policy must set the expectations and reporting of student attendance for that date. If the district or charter school reports student attendance only on days of district or charter school operation, then the expectation for the source of payment for those days (e.g., from parents, subsidy assistance, etc.) must be made clear to all parties.
- The district or charter school will need to develop a method to track students enrolled in the partnership program. This can be done using a data element that is typically not used for prekindergarten students. For instance, a specific Homeroom Indicator or Course Sequence Code could signify participation in partnership program.
- The district or charter school will need to report data regarding prekindergarten partnerships in the Early Childhood Data System. Indicate that prekindergarten partnerships are used on the campus by selecting the appropriate PK School Type code of Public Pre-K Licensed Child Care code 08, Public Pre-K Head Start code 07 or In-District Charter Partnership code 11. Definitions for School Type codes are available on the Texas Web-enabled Data Standards website.
- The district or charter school will need to request the operation number from the partnering early learning program or look it up online on the Search Texas Child Care website.
- All other reporting procedures should be followed as outlined in the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook. For LEAs implementing a model in which the partnership classroom teacher is employed by the provider, the partnership classroom can be coded under the “non-campus-based instruction” with the subtype “other” (99) so that the classroom teacher’s educational data can be entered into the system.
Early Learning Center and/or Head Start Data Reporting Requirements
Early learning centers and Head Start programs often have their own unique data reporting requirements depending on the source(s) of funding received. Partnership program staff should work together to ensure that requirements of all entities are met.