Head Starts—Special Education

The federal Department of Health & Human Services allocates Head Start Arizona Head Start grantees. The grantees may run programs and/or allocate monies to local Head Start program contractors. Exceptional Student Services recognize these programs as similar to other public special education programs operated within the state. Our unit aligns the naming convention and standard to what is recognized by the Office of Head Start and a listing can be found on the HHS website. Exceptional student services will be updating this page with a master list soon. For data reporting purposes, all children receiving services within these programs must be accurately reported at those sites with a public education agency listed as the district of residence.

Each public education agency (PEA) that places a student on an IEP in a Head Start program can submit a unique version of a calendar tailored to how its district/charter operates, and how the Head Start site operates. This will take into consideration unique fall/winter/spring break times scheduled by PEAs that can be recognized regardless of the operational days at the Head Start site.

Example: District A has a winter break between December 24, 2019, to January 2, 2020. In that district’s calendar submission for students attending a given Head Start site, out-of-session days such as this winter break can be specified for those students even if the Head Start site was open during that time. This is in deference to the PEA’s overall function and capacity as the PEA responsible for providing educational services.

Based on this guidance, PEAs should contact each Head Start site where it places students to obtain the standard operating calendar for accurate data submissions.

Additional information can be found on the general Head Start webpage for the department.

From the Exceptional Student Services Blog

DATA MANAGMENT ALERT: New FY23 Integrity Rule -40086 – New SPED14 Exit Code for Preschool Fri, Jul 1 2022 Data Management, Updates

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

New Integrity Rule -40086 – New SPED14 Exit Code for Preschool

A new Special Education integrity rule -40086, will be introduced into the integrity process on FY23 SPED data. This update is a continuation of our effort to ensure clean data for the state. A new one-sheet Integrity Tool is now available on our AzEDS SPED Reporting webpage for troubleshooting tips for Integrity Rule -40086.
DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT RE: SEDD Update: Preschool Transition and Students without Disabilities Data Entry Now Open Thu, Jun 30 2022 Data Management, Updates

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Special Education Data Dashboard Update:

Preschool Transition and Students without Disabilities Data Entry Now Open

Two new data entry components are added to the Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) as of today:

  • Preschool Transition: required for PEAs that provide special education and related services to preschoolers. Data entry involves information on students who transferred from Part C (Arizona Early Intervention Program) to Part B (PEA preschool program).
  • Students without Disabilities: data entry is required for PEAs to identify whether or not educational services were provided to students without disabilities reported as long-term suspended or expelled in AzEDS.

These data collection requirements are due by August 3, 2022, by 5:00 pm. If your PEA does not serve preschoolers and/or does not have any students without disabilities reported as long-term suspended or expelled, these components will not be accessible and are not applicable.