ECEAP Performance Standards

Enrollment & Eligibility

100

Begin all ECEAP preschool classes no later than September 30 of each fiscal year.  Fill 100% of funded ECEAP slots at each site within 30 calendar days, counting the first day of class as Day 1. A child must attend preschool to count as part of 100% enrollment.  Fill vacant slots at each site within 30 calendar days from the exiting child’s last day in class. It is optional to fill vacancies in the last 60 calendar days of the school year.  Fill vacant slots within 30 calendar days of the first day of class for children who were expected but never attended.

What is B-109 Maintaining Enrollment?

200

Contractors must focus their efforts to locate age-eligible children:  Who are homeless.  In the foster care system.  In families receiving Child Protective Services under RCW 26.44.020(3) or Family Assessment Response services under RCW 26.44.260.  With disabilities.

What is B-100 Child Recruitment?

300

 Four years old by August 31 of the school year.  From families at the lowest federal poverty levels, as published annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services  Homeless, as defined by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.  Receiving Child Protective Services under RCW 26.44.020(3) or Family Assessment Response Services under RCW 26.44.260.  From families with multiple needs.

What is B-108 Prioritization?

400

Contractors must maintain records of children’s attendance in ECEAP classes. If a contractor’s average daily attendance falls below 85% for any month, contractors must analyze the causes and patterns of absenteeism and develop a plan to improve attendance. Contractors must retain attendance records at least three years after their completion. If any child has three or more consecutive absences and staff are not aware of the reasons, staff must contact the family to offer support and help address obstacles to attendance. If these absences continue after intensified family support, the slot must be considered vacant and offered to a family on the waiting list.

What is B-112 Attendance?

500

Children are at least three years old, but not yet five years old, by August 31 of the school year, and meet one of the following criteria:  Returning to the same ECEAP Contractor from the previous school year.  Qualified by their school district for special education services under RCW 28A.155.020. All children with a school district Individualized Education Program (IEP) meet this requirement.  Receiving Child Protective Services under RCW 26.44.020(3) or Family Assessment Response Services under RCW 26.44.260  From a family with income at or below 110% of the federal poverty guidelines established by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty).  From a family with income that exceeds 110% of the federal poverty guideline and is impacted by specific developmental or environmental risk factors that are linked by research to school performance.

What is B-101 Eligibility for ECEAP Services? Children who are eligible for ECEAP are not automatically enrolled in ECEAP. They must still be prioritized. See B-108

Health, Safety & Nutrition

100

kits must include:  A current first aid manual.  Sterile gauze pads.  Small scissors.  Band-aids of various sizes.  Roller bandages.  A large triangular bandage (sling).  Non-sterile protective gloves  Adhesive tape.  Tweezers.  A one-way CPR barrier or mask.

What is D-12 First Aid Kit?

200

Contractors must provide a variety of nutrient-dense foods which are rich in whole-grains, fruits, and vegetables and low in salt, fat, and sugars. Contractors must limit the amount of highly processed foods served to children. Contractors offering sessions lasting less than three hours must provide a breakfast or lunch. An additional snack or meal must be offered when round-trip transportation extends the time children are away from home by an hour or more.

What is D-15 Meals and Snacks?

300

Establish prevention policies and procedures in accordance with local health department guidelines or OSPI “Infectious Disease Control Guide for School Staff (D-3).”  Follow universal precautions for prevention of transmission of blood borne pathogens.  Ensure that staff, volunteers, and children wash their hands with soap and warm water upon arrival at the classroom, after returning from outdoor play, before eating, after using the toilet, after touching body fluids, and after touching animals.  Have sufficient, clean, child-accessible toilets and hand-washing facilities.  Report communicable diseases according to local requirements.

What is D-13 Infectious Disease Prevention?

400

Contractors must have written policies and procedures on:  Child abuse and neglect prevention, detection, and reporting.  Child allergies.  Disaster plan for emergencies such as fire, earthquake, flood, tsunami, volcanic eruption, or lock- down, as applicable based on location, including practice drills.  Exclusion of sick children.  Handling medical, dental, and poisoning emergencies (D-18).  Infectious disease prevention (C-21, D-13, D-14, D-18).  Medication management (D-11).  Monitoring of health and safety practices.  Pesticide/herbicide management in accordance with RCW 17.21, preventing children’s exposure, and using the least hazardous means to control pests and unwanted vegetation (D-6).  Transportation, if applicable (D-

What is D-3 Health and Safety Policies and Procedures?

500

Contractors must develop a plan, in partnership with their Health Advisory Committee (A-5), to implement and monitor health services including:  All requirements in Section D: Health, Safety, and Nutrition.  Confidentiality protocols (A-13).  Classroom health curriculum (E-4, E-5).  Parent education (F-6).

What is D-1 Health and Safety Planning?

Early Childhood Education

100

 Actively seeking and incorporating child-generated ideas.  Using a variety of teaching strategies to address children’s learning styles, abilities, developmental levels, and temperament.  Helping children enter into and sustain play.  Providing materials to enrich children’s explorations.  Coaching children to express their ideas.  Engaging in extended conversations with children to build on their ideas.  Using varied vocabulary.  Leading discussions and activities during daily routines, such as meals, toothbrushing, and transitions.  Noticing and responding to teachable moments.  Posing problems and open-ended questions to stimulate higher-order thinking.  Describing and discussing children’s learning processes, rather than focusing on products.

What is E-7 Adult-ChildInteractions?

200

 Perform ongoing observations of individual children’s activities, interactions, behavior, language, learning, and development across the developmental domains.  Maintain objective observation notes in Teaching Strategies GOLD® Online .  Use Teaching Strategies GOLD® Online for their child assessment tool. Staff must enter and maintain accurate information in GOLD®.

What is E-11 Observation, Assessment, and Individualization?

300

If restraint is used, contractors must meet all of the following criteria:  Staff have received training in limited restraint procedures.  Staff restrain a child only as a last resort to prevent serious injury to persons, serious property damage, or to obtain possession of a dangerous object.  Staff do not restrain a child longer than it takes to achieve the safety goal.  Staff do not use restraint as punishment or to force a child to comply.  Staff document all instances of restraint.  Staff notify the parent of the restrained child following the intervention.

What is E-8 ChildGuidance?

400

These written plans must address the following areas of development and learning from the Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines: social-emotional development, physical development, language development, cognitive development including literacy and mathematics. Each component of the daily routine.  Children’s developmental and learning goals including Individualized Education Program (IEP).  Information gained from child observation and assessment (E-11).  Parent ideas for curriculum.

What is E-5 CurriculumPlanning?

500

 Active, play-based, multi-sensory learning experiences.  First-hand exploration and investigation of real-life materials, people, and events.  Choice, decision-making, and problem-solving.  Topics and materials related to children’s emergent interests.  Opportunities for children to direct their own learning, minimizing teacher-directed activities.

What is E-4 Curriculum – Developmentally Appropriate and Culturally Relevant?

Family Partnerships

100

Contractors must inform parents about community resources and provide assistance in accessing resources, such as housing, energy assistance, legal services, health or dental care, mental health, chemical dependency, domestic violence services, childcare, food, clothing, parenting, adult education, adult literacy, or job skills. Staff must document referrals and follow-up.

What is F-4 Resources and Referrals?

200

Each staff person providing family support services may serve no more than 40 families concurrently. Fewer families per staff may be necessary to fully implement ECEAP Performance Standards.

What is F-1 Family Support Services?

300

Contractors must allow parents free access to all areas of their child’s classroom during normal hours of operation, except as excluded by court order.

What is F-5 Parent Involvement?

400

Contractors must provide a meeting space for family support services where conversation between parents and staff cannot be overheard. All family records must be kept confidential (A-13).

What is F-3 Confidentiality?

500

 Classroom volunteering.  Site or classroom committees.  Parent Policy Council (A-6).  Self-assessment of ECEAP Compliance (A-8).  Program review (A-9).  Family events. Contractors must ensure that parents have opportunities for input into planning:  Curriculum (E-5).  Menus (D-15)  Parent or family events.

What is F-5 Parent Involvement?

Administration

100

Contractors must not deny service to any person who meets the eligibility criteria for ECEAP on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, age, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, physical or mental disability, family configuration, sexual orientation, culture, or public assistance recipient status.

What is A-12 Non-Discrimination?

200

Contractors must include ECEAP staff and parents in an annual assessment of compliance with ECEAP Performance Standards, using the ECEAP Self-Assessment form. Contractors must submit this self- assessment to the State ECEAP Office by June 30 of each year.

What is A-8 Self-Assessment of ECEAP Compliance?

300

Contractors must have a system which ensures compliance with ECEAP Performance Standards. This system must include monitoring, recordkeeping, and timely follow-up. Contractors must ensure that all staff, including subcontractor staff, receive orientation, training, and monitoring on current ECEAP Performance Standards.

What is A-1 Continuous Improvement System?

400

Contractors must develop a written procedure for handling complaints. The procedure must address:  How to register a complaint.  Steps and timeline for investigating a complaint.  Documentation of complaints, including resolution of substantiated complaints. If resolution of a complaint cannot be reached, the contractor must contact the State ECEAP Office.

What is A-10 Community and Parent Complaints?

500

Direct services must include:  Early childhood education (Section E).  Family support (Section F).  Health and nutrition (Section D).

What is A-3 Service Delivery Plan? Contractors must develop a written Service Delivery Plan, in collaboration with ECEAP parents, staff, and community partners (A-4, A-6). The plan must include a minimum of 32 weeks of direct services to families per school year, including at least 30 weeks of direct early childhood education services (E-1).