60D Comment Response

1820-0557 Report of Children Receiving Early Intervention Services in Accordance With Part C; Report of Program Settings in Accordance with Part C; Report on Infants and Toddlers Exiting Part C Response to 60-day Comments

General

Comment: One commenter expressed overall support for these data collections and expressed how the collection provides feedback regarding the functions of the U.S. Department of Education as well as informed future service provisions and impacts funding.

Discussion: The Department appreciates the commenter’s support for the Department to collect the Report of Children Receiving Early Intervention Services in Accordance With Part C; Report of Program Settings Where Early Intervention Services are Provided to Children With Disabilities and Their Families in Accordance to Part C; and Report on Infants and Toddlers Exiting Part C and agree that these collections are necessary to the proper functions of the Department.

Changes: None.

Impact of the COVID-19 National Emergency

Comment: All three commenters submitted concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 national emergency. One commenter expressed concerns of the necessity of overall COVID care and spending however, this comment did not directly relate to the data required to be reported in Tables 1, 2 and 3 under Sections 618 of the IDEA. Commenters expressed concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health emergency may impact the burden of collecting this data. One commenter recommends that the Department consider new data codes and new data collection on contextual variables, when looking at numbers of children in early intervention, including where and how they receive services and the reason(s) infants and toddlers might exit Part C. Another commenter does not suggest any changes to the data collections due to COVID-19 but rather expresses concern that many state lead agencies and local programs are experiencing service and data disruptions that are likely to continue and be reflected in federal data for at least several years.

Discussion: The Department appreciates the commenters’ feedback regarding the impact of the COVID-19 national emergency on the data collections. Since these data collections span across three years, the Department does not believe it is necessary to add new data elements to capture contextual values for a portion of that time period. However, the Department does agree that the service and data disruptions that are likely to continue and be reflected in federal data for at least several years and OSEP will continue to work with state and local leaders to identify any additional areas where it can provide information to support stakeholders in their important work.

Changes: None.