# **Child Care and Development Fund**![](media/image1.png){width="0.9in" height="1.0in"}

> **ACF-800 State-Level Data Standards**

## *Technical Bulletin #1*

> ***REVISED: November 24, 1998***

This Technical Bulletin lists the data standards for the Child Care and
Development Fund Annual Report. This Report, which is submitted by
States and Territories to the Child Care Bureau, includes key
State-level data required by the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The data standards described
here serve as the principal guideline to identify errors in State data.
Data that fail to meet these data standards must be corrected by the
submitting State or Territory.

The data standards for each item required in the Annual Report are found
in the table on page 2. The table's five columns are:

**I. Data Item #\'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 Child Care and Development Fund Annual Report form
(see Appendix A.) 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 Child Care
and Development Fund 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,
"2.(B) through 2.(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.

**II. Field Size**: The second column lists the size (number of digits
or characters) of the data element. Any response that does not use all
of the available digits should be right aligned and padded with zeroes.
For example, for the first row of the table, item "1.(A): Families", the
Field Size is 6. If the value was 45,000 families, it would be entered
as 045000 so that it contained 6 digits.

**III. Missing Data Standard**: The third column indicates whether or
not the data element is required to be reported. In this report, all the
data elements are required.

**IV. 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 in error.

**V. 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): Families" must be less than or equal to the value of element "
2.(A): Children". This makes sense because more families cannot be
receiving child care services than children who are receiving child care
services.

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  I. **Data Item  **II.    **III.       **IV.          **V. Internal Consistency
  #s\             Field    Missing Data Out-of-Range   Standard**
  (See Appendix   Size**   Standard**   Standard**     
  A)**                                                 
  --------------- -------- ------------ -------------- ---------------------------------
  1.(A): Families 6        Always       1-399,999      \- less than or equal to 2.(A)
                           required                    

  2.(A): Children 6        Always       1-999,999      \- greater than or equal to
                           required                    1.(A)\
                                                       - equal to the sum of 2.(B)
                                                       through 2.(L)\
                                                       - equal to the sum of 3.(A) and
                                                       4.(A)

  2.(B) through   6        Always       0-999,999      \- sum of 2.(B) through 2.(L)
  2.(L): Children          required                    must be equal to 2.(A)\
  by type of                                           - for each column (x=column)\
  provider                                             2.(x) must be equal to the sum of
                                                       3.(x) and 4.(x)

  3.(A): Payment  6        Always       0-999,999      \- equal to the sum of 3.(B)
  method- grants           required                    through 3.(L)\
  or contracts                                         - the sum of 3.(A) and 4.(A) must
                                                       be equal to 2.(A)

  3.(B) through   6        Always       0-999,999      \- sum of 3.(B) through 3.(L)
  3.(L): Payment           required                    must be equal to 3.(A)\
  method- grants                                       - for each column (x=column)\
  or contracts by                                      the sum of 3.(x) and 4.(x) must
  type of                                              be equal to 2.(x)
  provider                                             

  4.(A): Payment  6        Always       1-999,999      \- equal to the sum of 4.(B)
  methods-                 required                    through 4.(L)\
  certificates                                         - the sum of 3.(A) and 4.(A) must
  and/or cash                                          be equal to 2.(A)\
                                                       - greater than or equal to 5.(A)

  4.(B) through   6        Always       0-999,999      \- sum of 4.(B) through 4.(L)
  4.(L): Payment           required                    must be equal to 4.(A)\
  methods-                                             - for each column (x=column) the
  certificates                                         sum of 3.(x) and 4.(x) must be
  and/or cash by                                       equal to 2.(x)\
  type of                                              - 4.(x) must be greater than or
  provider                                             equal to 5.(x)

  5.(A): Payment  6        Always       0-999,999      \- equal to the sum of 5.(B)
  method- cash             required                    through 5.(L)\
                                                       - less than or equal to 4.(A)

  5.(B) through   6        Always       0-999,999      \- sum of 5.(B) through 5.(L)
  5.(L): Payment           required                    must be equal to 5.(A)\
  method- cash by                                      - for each column (x=column)\
  type of                                              5.(x) must be less than or equal
  provider                                             to 4.(x)

  6.(A):          6        Always       1-999,999      \- equal to the sum of 6.(B)
  Providers                required                    through 6.(L)

  6.(B) through   6        Always       0-999,999      \- sum of 6.(B) through 6.(L)
  6.(L):                   required                    must be equal to 6.(A)
  Providers type                                       

  7.(A): Consumer 8        Always       1-99,999,999   \- no internal consistency
  education                required                    standard

  8 through 16:   1        Always       Y, N, NA:\     \- at least one of elements 8
  Consumer                 required     Y = Yes;\      through 16 has a value of "Y"
  education                             N = No\        
  methods                               NA = Not       
                                        Applicable     
                                        (for element   
                                        #8 only)       
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------