Part B, Section 619

Two young children playing with playdough

Purpose

Acknowledging the importance of providing services to young children with disabilities,

Congress established the Part C Early Intervention Program and revised the Part B, Section 619 Preschool Special Education Program when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in 1986.

It is well documented that the beginning years of all children’s lives are critical for building the early foundations of learning and wellness needed for success in school and later in life. During these years, children’s brains develop rapidly, influenced by the experiences they share with their families, teachers, peers, and in their communities. Like all children, it is critical for children with disabilities to be exposed to a variety of rich experiences where they can learn in the context of play and everyday interactions and engage with their peers with and without disabilities.  (U. S. Dept of Health and Human Services and U. S. Department of Education Policy Statement, 2015)

The IDEA Part B provisions and requirements apply to children with disabilities ages three through twenty-one who are served under their state’s Part B system, consistent with each state’s determined age range.  Section 619 of IDEA authorizes an additional preschool formula grant for states that are eligible for grants under Section 611 of Part B if the state makes available free appropriate public education (FAPE) to all children with disabilities ages three through five in the state.  If consistent with state policy, IDEA funds may be used to provide services to two-year old children with disabilities who will turn three during the school year. The specific Section 619 provisions of IDEA primarily detail the allocation of the 619 funding for state and local programs, and state-level administration and activities to support children with disabilities ages three through five.  

State Part B data reporting requirements under Section 618, generally include children who are preschool aged where appropriate.  Three reporting requirements are specific only to preschool children.  These are information collected on preschool children’s educational environments, child outcomes, and for children who received services under Part C Early Intervention, timely transition to preschool special education. The U.S.  Department of Education is required to report annually to the U.S Congress on the progress made toward the provision of a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities including preschoolers. The report may be found at: https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/index.html.

Performance Measurement Information and Resources

The Department of Education has established a set of performance measures that are designed to yield information on various aspects of the effectiveness and quality of the program. Learn More


Additional Resources for Grantees

The Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs is pleased to provide additional resources to support your work with individuals with disabilities. Learn More


Engage OSEP logo

Engage OSEP Site Information

The following resources are presented by the Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to support grantees in collaborating with one another. Learn More

Performance Measurement Information and Resources

The Performance Measurement Description for the Part B/619 Program will be coming soon!

Additional Resources for Grantees

2014-2015 Child Count and Settings Data

2015-2016 Child Count and Settings Data

2016-2017 Child Count and Settings Data

2016-2017 Exiting Data

2017-2018 Child Count and Settings Data

2017-2018 Exiting Data

2018-2019 Child Count and Settings Data

To support States, ECTA Center developed A System Framework for Building High-Quality Early Intervention and Preschool Special Education Programs to address the question: "What does a state need to put into place in order to encourage/support/require local implementation of evidence-based practices that result in positive outcomes for young children with disabilities and their families?"

This information is intended for child care programs that remain open and should be used in conjunction with CDC’s guidance for administrators of child care programs and K-12 schools. This guidance does not supersede applicable federal, state, and local laws and policies for child care programs.

Display: Help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID-19.

Display: What you should know about COVID-19 to protect yourself and others

This document outlines the Child Find Self-Assessment best practices (BPs). This section includes content that is not required by the IDEA but can help Part C programs efficiently and effectively identify, locate, and evaluate infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. To complete the ratings of these items for the Child Find Self-Assessment, please refer to the Excel tool here: www.osep.grads360.org/highlighted-resources

The Child Find Self-Assessment (CFSA) is a voluntary toolkit to help state IDEA Part C programs strengthen their child find systems, with the goal of ensuring children eligible for services are referred and enrolled. The toolkit can be used for monitoring the regulatory components of a comprehensive child find system and to assist with identifying and using best practices for child find.

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has developed this voluntary Child Find Self-Assessment (CFSA) as a tool for State IDEA Part C programs to assess their Child Find system for identifying, locating, and evaluating all infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. States can utilize the CFSA as a monitoring tool to ensure they have met the regulatory components of a Comprehensive Child Find system, and as an informational tool to assist with implementing best practices for Child Find.

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has developed this voluntary Child Find Self-Assessment (CFSA) as a tool for State IDEA Part C programs to assess their Child Find system for identifying, locating, and evaluating all infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. States can utilize the CFSA as a monitoring tool to ensure they have met the regulatory components of a Comprehensive Child Find system, and as an informational tool to assist with implementing best practices for Child Find.

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has developed this voluntary Child Find Self-Assessment (CFSA) as a tool for State IDEA Part C programs to assess their Child Find system for identifying, locating, and evaluating all infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. States can utilize the CFSA as a monitoring tool to ensure they have met the regulatory components of a Comprehensive Child Find system, and as an informational tool to assist with implementing best practices for Child Find.

The purpose of our correspondence is threefold. First, we want to remind you of the requirements under Part B of the IDEA to provide special education and related services to eligible preschool-aged children with disabilities. Second, we want to emphasize the importance of ongoing collaboration between the State educational agency (SEA), local educational agencies (LEAs), and their Head Start program partners to effectively meet IDEA requirements and ensure the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE)[3] to children with disabilities. Lastly, our letter provides resources that may be helpful under both Parts B and C of the IDEA as well as Head Start to assist you in implementing high-quality early childhood programs for all children.

Part C and Part B (619) Leadership Knowledge and Skills Statements by Level and Content Area

A national initiative with partners across early care and education working to develop indicators that address inclusive policies and practices at the state, local program leadership and early care and education environments level. The indicators will support state and local program leaders to examine and implement strategies that strengthen their capacity to provide high quality inclusive options in their communities. The goal of the initiative is to improve and increase inclusive opportunities for young children with disabilities and their families, through system and practice refinements.

To support States, ECTA developed this listing of Part B, Section 619 regulations related to financing

ECTA Preschool Inclusion Finance Toolkit

The System Framework: Quick Start Guide is designed to help state leaders scan their system and determine which component(s) of the System Framework might be most helpful for in-depth assessment and improvement planning. Ideally, state leaders would conduct an in-depth review of all components of their system with stakeholder involvement. However, with limited time, state leaders can use this guide to help identify a starting point.

IDEA Statute and Regulations for Part B, Subpart H

This fact sheet provides guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine, in close consultation with public health authorities, what actions to take to further reduce the potential risk of coronavirus transmission in schools, and should check the CDC website at “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html) periodically for any updated guidance. 

The purpose of this guidance is to answer questions that school officials may have had concerning the disclosure of personally identifiable information from students’ education records to outside entities when addressing the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).   

A national picture of the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for the 2019 State submitted SPP/APRs.

In collaboration with OSEP Funded TA Centers, OSEP annually publishes an analysis consisting of an explanation of the reported federal fiscal year indicator measures, data sources for reporting, any variations in State approaches to the reported federal fiscal year’s data collection or measurement, review of six-year trends (reported federal fiscal year and 5 years prior data) in means and ranges, patterns and trends from prior year’s data in comparison to the reported federal fiscal year’s data (including progress and slippage), other relevant indicator data comparisons, and a brief conclusions/summary of the indicator report.

The purpose of this enclosure is to inform you about the following provision in the Department of Education's General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) that applies to applicants for new grant awards under Department programs. This provision is Section 427 of GEPA, enacted as part of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 (Public Law (P.L.) 103-382).

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of factors to consider when developing, implementing, and sustaining memoranda of understanding (MOUs)[2] at the State level to create a coordinated approach to service delivery to improve outcomes for young children who are at risk for or have a developmental delay or disability. While this document focuses on IDEA and Head Start programs, States may wish to consider whether MOUs with the relevant early care and education partners may be helpful to provide seamless services to young children with disabilities and their families.

Foundations of Coaching in Early Childhood: Partnering with Parents and Professionals is a video training resource for early childhood coaches, based on the 5 key characteristics of coaching as outlined by Dathan Rush and M'Lisa Shelden. These characteristics can be applied to a number of early childhood settings. 

This reporting Educational Environments resource is a suite of tools, with a technical guide updated with 2017-18 reporting clarifications as its foundation. State Part B data managers, 619 coordinators, local 619 personnel, technical assistance providers, and other interested parties can use the tools to help them report Educational Environments data for children ages 3-5 with disabilities as required for the OSEP Child Count and SPP/APR Indicator 6. States can use the tools as “stand-alone” materials or as a set. 

As explained in the preamble to the final regulations, these changes revise relevant regulations that implement the IDEA statutory requirements amended by the ESSA that are applicable to children with disabilities. 

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has developed this voluntary Child Find Self-Assessment (CFSA) as a tool for State IDEA Part C programs to assess their Child Find system for identifying, locating, and evaluating all infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. States can utilize the CFSA as a monitoring tool to ensure they have met the regulatory components of a Comprehensive Child Find system, and as an informational tool to assist with implementing best practices for Child Find.

To support States, NCSI developed the Leading by Convening (LbC) framework to engage stakeholders in improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. Learn more about how to apply these essential habits — coalescing around issues, ensuring relevant participation, and doing the work together — to help achieve state goals.

OSEP Dear Colleague Letter on Preschool Inclusion

OSEP Dear Colleague Letter on Referrals

Where to find OSEP policy documents such as supporting documents, policy letters, section 607 reports, etc.

States submit their State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS) following these outlined instructions.

States submit their State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS) according to calculations as outlined in the Measurement Table.

States submit their State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS) following this template.

States submit their State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS) following guidance in this memo.

A tool that can be beneficial for new coordinators to organize the members of their state's team.

Policy and Position Statements on Inclusion

Instructions on How to Protect Yourself & Others

This Questions and Answers document outlines states’ responsibilities to infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities and their families, and to the staff serving these children. During an outbreak of COVID-19, local educational agencies (LEAs) and early intervention service (EIS) programs will need to collaborate with their state educational agency (SEA), Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), or local public health department, as appropriate, to address questions about how, what, and when services should be provided to children with disabilities

IDEA Section 618 Data Products: Static Tables

States submit their State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS) using this optional 508 compliant template.

Information for States to ensure that school districts continue to provide free and appropriate public education (FAPE) consistent with the need to protect the health and safety of students with disabilities and those individuals providing education, specialized instruction, and related services to these students during the COVID-19 outbreak.

This site contains retired, optional and active file specifications

ED's Early Learning newsletter provides monthly updates to subscribers on early learning initiatives led by the Department and our partners across agencies and in the field. The newsletter features important resources for a wide range of stakeholders. In 2017, we debuted a new version of Early Learning, keeping in mind the most critical needs of our readers.

States submit their Child Count and Educational Environments data electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS).

States submit their State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS).

States submit their State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) electronically through the EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS).

This resource contains the organizational chart for Department of Education, OSERS and OSEP.

This site provides a listing of States alongside their OSEP assigned MSIP State Lead

Engage

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education has instituted a new strategy to enhance collaboration opportunities with grantees and other stakeholders. This Engage OSEP site will enable OSEP to virtually bring together a variety of stakeholders to share information and to work together to improve results for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. This site has been designed to give OSEP staff, grantees, and stakeholders a place to work together to solve complicated issues, facilitate informal knowledge sharing, exchange thoughts and ideas, and share resources, while also providing a place for collaborative creation of new knowledge.

Visit the new Engage OSEP Site at:  https://engage.osepideasthatwork.org/