Glossary

Child care

Child care (childcare) or preschool is a broad term for programs that provide care and supervision of children, usually from age 6 weeks to age 13.

EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS)

EDFacts Metadata and Process System (EMAPS) produced the EMAPS User Guide: IDEA Part C Exiting Survey (Release 4.0, September 2015). EMAPS is the website maintained by the U.S. Department of Education where state data personnel enter Part C Exiting Data, Dispute Resolution, and Child Count and Settings data. EDFacts is a U. S. Department of Education (ED) initiative that puts performance data at the center of policy, management and budget decisions for all K-12 educational programs. The purpose of EDFacts is to place the use of robust, timely performance data at the core of decision and policymaking in education.

Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN)

EDEN is the Education Data Exchange Network (or data submission system) for the U.S. Department of Education. The EDEN Submission System is designed to provide State Education Agencies and the Federal government the capacity to transfer and analyze information about education programs. EDEN is a U.S. Government computer system operated and maintained by the U.S. Department of Education which encourages its use by staff, researchers, and contractors.

Head Start

Head Start refers to early childhood programs that promote the school readiness of young children from low-income families through agencies in their local community. Head Start and Early Head Start programs support the mental, social, and emotional development of children from birth to age 5.

Regular Early Childhood Program

Regular Early Childhood Programs (RECP) for the purposes of this data collection are public and private programs that include a majority (at least 50 percent) of children without disabilities (i.e., children not on IEPs). This category may include, but is not limited to:
  1. Head Start kindergarten (public or private)
  2. Preschool classes (public or private)
  3. Group child development center or child care

Special Education Program

A special education program is a program that includes less than 50 percent nondisabled children (i.e., children not on IEPs). This may include, but is not limited to, the following:
  1. Special education classes in regular school buildings
  2. Trailers or portables outside regular school buildings
  3. Child care facilities
  4. Hospital facilities on an outpatient basis
  5. Other community-based settings
  6. Separate schools
  7. Residential facilities

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk.