Child Care and Development Fund: ACF-800 State-Level Data Standards, Reviewed August 2014
This Technical Bulletin lists the data standards for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Annual ACF-800 Report. The Report, which is submitted by States and Territories to the Office of Child Care (OCC), includes key State-level data required by the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, as amended. Along with the instructions to the ACF-800 Report, the data standards described here serve as the principal guidance to be used in developing the report and identifying possible errors in the data. The submitting State or Territory should correct data that fail to meet these data standards.
The data standards for each item required in the Annual Report are found in the table beginning on page 3. The table’s five columns are:
- Data Element #'s: The first column lists each item that must be reported. Each item is referenced by the intersection of the applicable row and column in the CCDF Annual Report form. For example, the first item of the table, “1(A): Families,” represents the total number of families receiving child care services. It is located in row “1.” and column “(A)” of the CCDF Annual Report form. Please note that in addition to individual data items, the first column may list a group of related items that have the same data standards. For example, in the third row of the table, “2(B-L): Children by type of provider” represents the number of children receiving child care services by category or type of child care. All of these items are related and have the same data standards.
- Field Size: The second column lists the size (maximum number of digits or characters) of the data element. For example, for the first row of the table, item “1(A): Families,” the Field Size is 6.
- Missing Data Standard: The third column indicates whether you are required to report this data element. Data elements #15 and #16 are optional. Requirements for other elements also may depend upon the response to a related element.
- Out of Range Standard: The fourth column indicates the acceptable range of values for the data. All values must occur within this range. For example, for the second row of the table, element “2(A): Children,” the value must occur within the range of 1 to 999,999. Values less than 1 or greater than 999,999 are incorrect.
- Internal Consistency Standard: The fifth column lists the standards for consistency among related elements. All of these standards are intuitively logical relationships. For example, the value of element “1(A): Number of Families” must be less than or equal to the value of element “2(A): Number of Children.” This makes sense because more families cannot be receiving child care services than children who are receiving child care services.
ADDITIONAL Guidance for Elements #12 and #13 (Pooled Funds and the Pooling Factor)
The purpose of the pooling factor reported on the ACF-800 (element #13) is to enable OCC to report to Congress and the public the number of families and children served by CCDF alone (as opposed to those being served with CCDF funds combined with other sources of funding).
Only families and children that are CCDF-eligible (that is, meet CCDF reason for care, child’s age, and income requirements) should be reported on the ACF-801 and ACF-800.
The pooling factor is defined as the proportion (percent) of all direct service costs for the families and children reported on the ACF-801 and ACF-800 that are paid for with CCDF funds (CCDF direct service costs ÷ All direct service costs). Depending upon how a grantee decides to expend its available child care funds, the monies used to pay for direct services may (or may not) reflect all sources of funds available in the child care budget.
After grantees submit their ACF-801 and ACF-800 reports, the counts of families and children served on the ACF-801 and ACF-800 are subsequently ‘adjusted” by the Office of Child Care to reflect the CCDF population by multiplying the counts by the pooling factor.
GRANTEES THAT DO NOT POOL FUNDS:
All families and children served with CCDF funds should be reported on the ACF-801 and ACF-800 reports, and a pooling factor of 100 must be reported. For grantees that do not pool funds and include only CCDF-funded families and children on the ACF-801 and ACF-800, there is no adjustment to family and child counts (multiplying the number of families and children served by 100% returns the same counts).
GRANTEES THAT DO POOL FUNDS:
All families and children receiving child care services who meet CCDF-eligibility requirements should be reported on the ACF-801 and ACF-800. Families and children who do not meet the CCDF eligibility requirements should not be reported on the ACF-801 and ACF-800. The direct costs of child care services associated with families and children that do not meet CCDF eligibility requirements should never be included in the calculation of the pooling factor since those families and children should not be included on the ACF-801 and ACF-800.
For grantees that pool funds, the pooling factor will be less than 100, and should be calculated based on the direct services costs for only those children and families reported (i.e. those meeting CCDF eligibility requirements). For grantees that do pool funds, the application of the pooling factor reduces the counts of families and children served based on the use of funds to pay for direct services. For example, if 100 families and 200 children were served, and a grantee reported a pooling factor of 80 (or 80%), then the adjusted counts of families and children served with only CCDF funds would be 80 and 160, respectively. Note that the Office of Child Care uses the pooling factor to adjust the counts after the grantee has reported; the grantee should not make this adjustment.
It is critical to remember that the ACF-801 and ACF-800 reports should be based on the same population, and that the pooling factor reflects the monies used to pay for the services for these families and children. In order to calculate an accurate pooling factor, the fiscal and program offices should coordinate efforts to ensure that the monies included in the calculation truly represent the direct services dollars for all and only those families and children reported on the two reports.
Appendix A (PDF) contains Guidance and an Excel Pooling Factor Calculation Worksheet that grantees may find helpful for calculating an accurate pooling factor.
|
I. Data Element #s |
II. Field Size |
III. Missing Data Standard |
IV. Out-of-Range Standard |
V. Internal Consistency Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1(A). Families |
6 |
Always required |
1-999,999
|
- Less than or equal to 2(A) |
|
2(A). Children |
6 |
Always required |
1-999,999 |
- Greater than or equal to 1(A) |
|
2(B-L). Children by type of provider |
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- The sum of 2(B) through 2(L) must be equal to 2(A) |
|
3a(A). Does the State claim public pre-kindergarten expenditures on CCDF eligible children as State CCDF Match? |
1 |
Always required |
Y, N, |
If “Yes” then Element 4 must be completed.
|
|
3b(A). Does the State claim public pre-kindergarten expenditures on CCDF eligible children as State CCDF MOE? |
1 |
Always required |
Y, N, |
If “Yes” then Element 4 must be completed. |
|
4. If “Yes” to either 3a or 3b, indicate the estimated number of CCDF eligible children receiving public pre-kindergarten services for which CCDF Match or MOE is claimed. |
6 |
Required if either #3a or #3b is “yes” |
1-999,999 |
If the answer to either Element 3a or 3b is “Yes,” question 4 must be answered. If the answers to both Element #3a and #3b are “No,” then this question will be left blank. This number must be smaller than Element 2. In this data element, the Lead Agency is asked to report on the total unduplicated number of children served through the public Pre-K program who were determined to be CCDF eligible and for which CCDF Match and MOE expenditures were claimed. This estimated number of children reported in this data element is distinct from the number of children reported in data element 2. These children should not be reported as part of other data elements on the ACF-800 or the ACF-801 reports. Expenditures from State-funded public Pre-K services claimed as CCDF Match or MOE must be for services to children from families who meet CCDF eligibility criteria. |
|
5(A). Number of children served through grants or contracts with providers
|
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- Equal to the sum of 5(B) through 5(L) |
|
5(B-L). Number of children served through grants or contracts with providers by type of provider |
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- The sum of 5(B) through 5(L) must be equal to 5(A) |
|
6(A). Number of children receiving child care services through certificates (to parents, to parents and providers, or to providers) and/or cash
|
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- Equal to the sum of 6(B) through 6(L) |
|
6(B-L). Number of children receiving child care services through certificates (to parents, to parents and providers, or to providers) and/or cash by type of provider |
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- The sum of 6(B) through 6(L) must be equal to 6(A) |
|
7(A). Of the children served through certificates, number of children served through cash payments directly to parents only |
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- Equal to the sum of 7(B) through 7(L) |
|
7(B-L). Of the children served through certificates, number of children served through cash payments directly to parents only by type of provider |
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- The sum of 7(B) through 7(L) must be equal to 7(A) |
|
8(A). Number of child care providers receiving CCDF funding |
6 |
Always required |
1-999,999 |
- Equal to the sum of 8(B) through 8(L) |
|
8(B-L). Number of each type of child care providers receiving CCDF funding
|
6 |
Always required |
0-999,999 |
- The sum of 8(B) through 8(L) must be equal to 8(A) |
|
9a. Estimated number of families receiving consumer education |
8 |
Always required |
1-99,999,999 |
No internal consistency standard |
|
9b. How is the estimated number of families receiving consumer education determined?
|
Text 1000 characters |
Always required |
None |
No internal consistency standard |
|
10a-10f. Indicate the Consumer Education Content Used on a Regular Basis
|
1 |
Always required |
Y, N, |
At least one Element 10a-10f must be marked “Yes”
|
|
11a-11d. Indicate the Consumer Education Methods used on a Regular Basis |
1 |
Always required |
Y, N, |
At least one Element 11a-11d must be marked “Yes”
|
|
12. Is this report based on pooled CCDF and non-CCDF funds? (See Appendix for additional guidance)
|
1 |
Always required |
Y, N: |
- If “Yes” is selected, then Element 13 must be completed - If “Yes” is selected, then the value of Element 13 must be less than 100% - If “Yes” is selected, at least one of the Elements 14a – 14f must be marked “Yes” |
|
13. If this report is based on pooled CCDF and non-CCDF funds, what is the percent of funds which are CCDF? |
3 |
Always required if Element 12 is “Yes” |
0.01-99.99 |
- If Element 12 is “Yes”, then the value of Element 13 must be greater than 0% and less than 100%
|
|
14a-f. If this report is based on Pooled CCDF and non-CCDF funds, please indicate which non-CCDF funds are included in the pool. |
1 |
Always required if Element 12 is “Yes” |
Y, N: |
If Element 12 is “Yes”, at least one of the Elements 14a-14f items must be marked “Yes” If Element 14f is “Yes”, specify additional sources of non-CCDF funds in the pool (not included in the list) in the space provided. |
|
15. Explanatory Comments |
Text 1000 characters |
Optional |
None |
No internal consistency standard |
|
16. Additional Materials |
None |
Optional |
None |
No internal consistency standard Reports, materials developed or other information may be provided to the Regional Office Child Care Program Manager (optional). |
Resources for Additional Assistance
If you have other questions or need more information about the ACF-800 report, there are two primary resources for additional help – the Regional Office Child Care Program Manager for program and policy questions, and the National Center on Child Care Data and Technology (NCDT) for general reporting questions.
The Office of Child Care is represented by staff in each of the ten administrative regions across the country. You should contact your Regional Office if you have questions regarding your Child Care program policy or operations. Contact information for the Regional Offices can be found on the OCC website.
NCDT works with the OCC to provide technical assistance to all of the State, Territory, and Tribal CCDF Grantees with matters related to the required CCDF data reporting. You can reach NCDT Monday to Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, prevailing Eastern Time.
Phone (toll-free): 1-877-249-9117
E-mail: ncdt@childcaredata.org
Fax: 301-816-8640
Mail: 2600 Tower Oaks Boulevard, Suite 600, Rockville, MD 20852
Files
- PDF Technical Bulletin #1r-v4, Appendix A, Pooling Factor Calculation Guidance (60.48 KB)
- XLS Technical Bulletin #1r-v4, Pooling Factor Calculation Worksheet (40.50 KB)
- PDF Technical Bulletin #1r-v4 (Reviewed August 2014) (116.58 KB)