Ways and Means Presentation

Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) Program

  1. Why does the program exist?

The Oregon Department of Education is required under state law (ORS 343.475) to administer a statewide program of early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) services for infants, toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities or significant developmental delays. This includes children with Down Syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, deafness, blindness, cerebral palsy, emotional disturbance, communication disorders, and other disabilities. Under federal law, special education services are mandated for children age 3 to age 21 (34 CFR Part 300) and are permissive for infants and toddlers birth through age two (34 CFR 303). Oregon implements the EI/ECSE program as one seamless system of services for children birth to eligibility for kindergarten.

The purpose of the early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) program is to:

  • Increase capacity for each child’s family and/or other providers to teach and care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities;
  • Improve developmental status for each child;
  • Increase each child’s readiness for school; and
  • Increase connections to community resources for each child’s family.
  1. How has the program been performing?

An integral component of the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) program is accountability. A current EI/ECSE statewide evaluation plan encompasses major outcomes that demonstrate the success of the program and links to benchmarks within Oregon Shines, the state’s strategic plan for growth. A complete status report of the program and its evaluation plan is available from the Office of Special Education and demonstrates program performance. Highlights from the report are:

System Outcome: The EI/ECSE program will operate in a cost effective manner

  • In 1998 and 2000, Oregon’s EI/ECSE program was reviewed related to costs of the program. The reviews were completed for ODE in response to legislative budget notes. The first review confirmed that ODE is providing services to children who qualify for the program and that the program is not “over-serving” the EI/ECSE population. The results of the second review confirmed that ODE is operating the program in a cost effective manner.
  • Increased program costs are directly related to increased program growth. Oregon’s EI/ECSE program continues to grow as more children with disabilities are identified. EI/ECSE programs are mandated services that prohibit wait lists. The table below demonstrates EI/ECSE program growth for 2000-2003.

Children Receiving Services

2000-2001 / 2001-2002 / 2002-2003
7,286 / 7,688 / 7,843
  • Although Oregon’s total enrollment of EI/ECSE children is growing, the percentage of EI children (birth through age two) is lower than established federal benchmarks. This may be a result of Oregon’s stringent eligibility criteria for early intervention.

Family Outcomes: The EI/ECSE program will have a positive effect on families with children in the program (Oregon Department of Education, EI/ECSE Family Survey, 2002)

  • 92% of families report that EI/ECSE makes a positive difference in their child’s life.
  • 89% of families report that EI/ECSE makes a positive difference in their family’s life.
  • 89% of families report that because of EI/ECSE, they know more ways to help their child with disabilities.
  • 95% of parents of EI/ECSE children report being satisfied with their child’s progress.

Child Outcomes: Children who receive EI/ECSE services will show improvement in their developmental status and will enter school ready to learn

  • 98% of children in EI/ECSE programs make measurable developmental gains (based on data from all service areas). The 2% of children not making measurable developmental gains include children with degenerative conditions and/or children who had a medical crisis.
  • Each year, approximately 10% to 20% of EI/ECSE children entering kindergarten no longer require special education services (data reported from three Oregon counties).
  • Many other EI/ECSE children entering kindergarten need fewer special education services (over 20% of children documented in one Oregon county).
  • 56% of EI/ECSE children entering kindergarten met three out of six critical dimensions of readiness on the Oregon Ready to Learn Survey (2002). When reviewing the results of the survey it is important to remember that children who attended ECSE are more likely to be rated lower than other children on some school readiness factors because of the effect of their disabilityon development and learning.

Additional Benefits of the EI/ECSE program:

  • 100% of the children eligible for services receive an evaluation and ongoing assessment to determine the impact of the disability on their development.
  • 100% of children eligible for services have their vision, hearing and health screened and are linked to other services if needed.
  • 100% of children eligible for services receive an individualized family service plan (IFSP) detailing how and when the child and family will receive EI/ECSE services. Services may include special instruction, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language therapy and other services on the child’s IFSP.
  • An additional 1,905 or more children were screened for developmental delay.
  1. How does the program use its budget?

A combination of federal funds (approximately 20%), state general funds (approximately 78%) and Medicaid fee for service reimbursements (approximately 2% to 3%) fund the EI/ECSE program. Program staff and other key stakeholders continue to look for cost efficiencies and currently are investigating other funding options for this program.

  • 99.12 % of the budget (combined federal and general fund) is contracted to Education Service Districts for programs that provide direct services to infants, toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities and their families.
  • .88% of the budget (combined federal and general fund) is used by ODE to administer the program including fiscal management, developing policies and procedures, monitoring compliance with federal and state rules and regulations, and providing technical assistance to local programs.
  • The EI/ECSE program currently contracts with Teaching Research at Western Oregon University to support activities (conducting authorization reviews, sending surveys to applicants, maintaining the authorization database) as part of the EI/ECSE Personnel Authorization requirements. These requirements assure that under-qualified EI/ECSE personnel meet Oregon’s highest qualified personnel standard through competency-based training. Beginning July 1, 2003, the ODE will assume the contract from Teaching Research.
  1. What can be expected in terms of outcomes with this budget?

It is expected that the Oregon Department of Education will continue to operate an EI/ECSE program that is accountable in meeting the outcomes targeted in the evaluation plan. In addition the program will:

  • Continue efforts to explore other funding options for the program. Currently the program is investigating Medicaid, private insurance, family cost participation, grants and private foundations, and interagency agreements. More detail on each of these options is available from the Oregon Department of Education.
  • Track, analyze and report a series of outcomes on how children who received EI/ECSE services perform on state testing in third grade (Third Grade Benchmarks).

During the last year Oregon Department of Education implemented a process of assigning identifiers to all K – 12 children in public school. So far children in Oregon’s EI/ECSE program have not been assigned identifiers although it is anticipated to occur this next year. Once children receiving EI/ECSE services are identified and tracked into the public school system the following data will be obtained and analyzed:

The third grade benchmarks of children who attended EI/ECSE but not identified as eligible for school age special education services.

The third grade benchmarks of children who attended EI/ECSE and receive school age special education services.

The State Extended Reading, Writing and Math assessments of children who attended EI/ECSE and 1) still receive special education services and 2) those who do not receive special education services.

The State Extended Career Related Learning assessments of children who attended EI/ECSE and 1) still receive special education services and 2) those who do not receive special educations services.