Important News

In a memo dated May 16, 2008, the USDA stated "Public Law 110-134 makes any child enrolled in Head Start automatically eligible for free meals without further application or eligibility determination. Therefore, even a child who is not from a household with an income at or below the poverty level is automatically eligible for free meals if they are enrolled in Head Start."  This change is effective for meals served December 12, 2007 and later.  Click here to read the entire memo.  

What's New in DataEngine Version 1.32

You can now read about all the new features in DataEngine each time you log into your system after an update. The scroll bar on your right will help you navigate through this information.   

This document covers each of the enhancements made for the 2007-2008 PIR.  In addition, it includes all of the general enhancements and fixes incorporated into version 1.32. Once you have finished reading the What's New in Version 1.32 information, click on the Close button to launch DataEngine.  

This information will display each time you log into DataEngine until you check the Don't show this again until the next update box.  If you would like to access this information from within DataEngine, just click on the Help menu and select What's New.

2007 - 2008 PIR Enhancements

This release of ChildPlus DataEngine includes changes and enhancements that were made for the 2007-2008 PIR.  Each PIR item is listed by question number.  You can view non-PIR related changes and enhancements in the General Enhancements and Fixes section of this document.

There are two documents that may assist you in completing your PIR. The DE PIR Calculation Guide provides details on how ChildPlus calculates each PIR question and, if applicable, which PIR Audit Report you can use to verify PIR calculations.  This document is available for download on the ChildPlus website at: www.childplus.com/document/DE_PIR_Calculations_Guide.pdf   For more information about changes to this year’s PIR and/or assistance in interpreting PIR questions, refer to Xtria’s PIR documentation at www.pirweb.net.

Question A.19

Participants who have an Income Status of either Homeless or 101-130% will now be counted towards question A.19 on the PIR.

Question A.24

Any classroom with a program option of Standard Head Start Double Session or Variable Attendance Double Session will now be counted twice for question A.24.

Questions C.9 and C.17

Due to changes in the 2007-2008 PIR, ChildPlus has modified the way questions C.9.a, C.9.b, C.17.b, and C.17.c are being calculated. These changes were made because the PIR now asks how many children needed treatment for chronic conditions. In the past, treatment was counted for any condition, regardless of whether it was temporary or chronic.

Health Events (C.9.a and C.17.b)

To address the changes to questions C.9.a and C.17.b, ChildPlus added a new checkbox to the Health module that will let you track if a treatment for a health event was for a chronic condition. For regular health events, this checkbox will be labeled Treatment for Chronic Condition C.9.a. For dental events, the label for this checkbox will read Treatment - Restoration, Pulp, etc C.17.b.

For your convenience, if you had previously checked the Needs Treatment box for a health event (this is the checkbox that was formerly used for C.9.a calculations), ChildPlus DataEngine will automatically check the new Treatment for Chronic Condition C.9.a box during the update. If you had Needs Treatment checked for an event that was a professional dental exam (this is the checkbox that was formerly used for C.17.b calculations), ChildPlus DataEngine will automatically check the Treatment - Restoration, Pulp, etc C.17.b box during the update.

Even though the Needs Treatment box will no longer be used for PIR calculations, it will still be available in the Health module so you can track treatments for non-chronic conditions. It will also still be available as an option on report 3050- Health Actions. For PIR purposes, however, only treatments for chronic conditions will be counted.

Health Actions (C.9.b and C.17.c)

To address the changes to questions C.9.b and C.17.c, the Treatment Received checkbox for health actions was also modified to reflect these changes. For regular health events, the checkbox for the action will be labeled Treatment Received for a Diagnosed Chronic Condition C.9.b. For dental events that have been set up to be counted as professional dental exams (you can set up health events in ChildPlus DataEngine by clicking System, Configuration, Health Events), the checkbox for the action will read Treatment Received - Restoration, Pulp Therapy, or Extraction C.17.c.

For your convenience, if you had previously checked the Treatment Received box for a health action (this is the checkbox that was formerly used for C.9.b calculations), ChildPlus DataEngine will automatically check the new Treatment Received for a Diagnosed Chronic Condition C.9.b box during the update. If you had Treatment Received checked for an action that was a professional dental exam (this is the checkbox that was formerly used for C.17.c calculations), ChildPlus DataEngine will automatically check the Treatment Received - Restoration, Pulp Therapy, or Extraction C.17.c box during the update.

Enrollment (C.9.a and C.9.b)

For last year's PIR, ChildPlus gave you the ability to decide how you wanted each child to count for PIR question C.9. This year, ChildPlus DataEngine has expanded this ability to also include questions C.9.a and C.9.b. These options are available in the PIR C.9 section of the Enrollment module.

When you update your system, ChildPlus DataEngine will automatically apply the choice you selected for question C.9 as your choice for C.9.a and C.9.b as well. You can change the way you want ChildPlus DataEngine to calculate these questions at anytime by changing your selection(s) and clicking Save. In the future, when you add a new enrollment record for a child, ChildPlus DataEngine will automatically select Let ChildPlus decide whether to count this child as the default for PIR questions C.9, C.9.a, and C.9.b.

Early Head Start Participants (C.9)

Due to additional wording that was included in the PIR Users Guide for the 2007-2008 PIR, ChildPlus has modified the way that Early Head Start participants are counted for question C.9.  In order to be counted for this question, Early Head Start participants will have only had to complete the last of an event's age requirements while enrolled.  For example, if a child has a 3, 6, and 9 month well baby check due during the program term year, then they will only need to have completed the 9 month well baby check in order to count towards C.9.    

This change only impacts you if you are using Age Health Requirements and you have set up these requirements so that multiple events of the same type are required throughout the enrollment year based on the child's age.  For example, if you require a well baby check at 3, 6, and 9 months of age.

Question C.27.b

Due to changes in this year's PIR, this question is now calculated based on the number of children who were counted for C.27.a.  In previous versions of ChildPlus DataEngine, this question was calculated based on the number of children who were counted for C.27.  

Question C.56

PIR question C.56 now asks Do you provide transportation to some or all of your enrolled children (either directly or through a formal contractual agreement with a transportation provider)?

In addition, question C.56.a was added to this year's PIR and asks If yes, how many children are transported?. You will only be required to answer question C.56.a if your answer for question C.56 is Yes.

While this question was a manual entry question in previous PIR years, ChildPlus DataEngine will now be able to automatically  calculate it for you based on data in the Transportation module. ChildPlus DataEngine will count each child towards this question if they have been assigned to a transportation route AND the date you entered as the Begin Date for the route falls within the Begin Date and End Date you specified for the PIR Enrollment Year on the PIR Setup screen.

If a child has been assigned to multiple transportation routes, ChildPlus DataEngine will look at each route to determine if he/she should be counted towards this question.

Question C.57

Question C.57 on last year's PIR (FEDERAL INTEREST IN HEAD START FACILITIES) was renumbered and is now available as question number C.58. Question C.57 now asks: DO YOU HAVE FORMAL COLLABORATION AND RESOURCE SHARING AGREEMENTS WITH PUBLIC SCHOOL PRE-KINDERGARTEN PROGRAMS?

C.57 is available as a manual entry question in ChildPlus DataEngine. If you answer Yes for this question, you should also complete question number C.57.a:  If yes, how many (count agreements not children)?

General Enhancements and Fixes

The following table lists the general enhancements and fixes that ChildPlus incorporated into the release of DataEngine version 1.32: