NonSub Change - Program Information Report 2022-2023

To: Kelsi Feltz

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Jesse Escobar

Office of Head Start

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: June 5, 2023

Subject: NonSubstantive Change Request – Program Information Report (OMB #0970-0427)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, Program Information Report (OMB #0970-0427).

Background

Since the inception of the Program Information Report (PIR) in 1978, the PIR continues to be the principal source of basic information about the operating characteristics of Head Start programs and the services they provide. The PIR is used by various audiences including federal and state officials, researchers, early childhood national and state associations, technical assistance providers, and local early childhood programs.

The Office of Head Start (OHS) periodically makes updates to the PIR, typically, with the following goals:

• Continue to collect key and relevant data about children and their families served, staff employed, and services offered by Head Start programs;

• Align with Head Start policy;

• Promote integrity and quality of program data; and

• Consider and balance the burden and benefits of the data collection.

The current PIR (OMB #0970-0427) is approved by OMB through June 30, 2025.

OHS has identified minor changes to the PIR that are intended to improve the information collection and do not impact the current burden estimates.

Overview of Requested Changes

The following are proposed non-substantive changes to the currently approved version of the PIR:

• Added a question on the completion of a newborn visit for enrolled pregnant women following the birth of the child. Although this is a new question, programs are already documenting this information in their data management information systems as it is currently required per 45 CFR 1302.80(d). This change is to better understand the extent to which programs provide newborn visits to pregnant women.

• We propose modifying an existing reporting category on program options into two items to allow programs to separately report whether they provide full-working-day or full-calendar-year center-based services. This is proposed because programs have indicated that they are only operating full-working-day or only operating full-calendar-year for their center-based program option, but there is no reporting category to report this information in the current format of the PIR.

• Instructions preceding question A.10 in the PIR on reporting a child’s age have been updated for clarity on which point in time programs should use to report a child’s age. There are no intended changes to how the data was previously collected.

• Families that receive public assistance are eligible for the Head Start program. OHS released a policy statement that indicated SNAP was to be considered as “public assistance” moving forward: https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/policy/im/acf-im-hs-22-03. The existing reporting category for eligibility on public assistance has been updated to track application of this change.

• The questions on staff qualifications were streamlined a few years ago, but in doing so, we lost the ability to track the extent that home visitors and family child care providers hold a bachelors or advanced degree. We are adding a reporting category to allow us to capture this information again. Programs already track qualifications held by their staff.

• The CDC BMI-for-age growth charts from 2000 have been updated for 2022 and the PIR Question C.10 has been updated to align with the updates.

• Changes are proposed to the PIR questions on oral health to provide additional clarity and align with updates made to the periodicity schedule set by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). To align with the updated periodicity schedule, we are asking programs to begin reporting C.18 and C.19 for infants and toddlers. We will remove the separate question on infants and toddlers since it is no longer necessary with this change. The definitions were also updated to reflect this change.

Time Sensitivities

These updates are proposed for incorporation prior to the 2023-2024 program year. Timely approval is requested to release the final advanced copy of the PIR before the end of Summer.