Summer Pre-K and Kinder News
Region 7 Education Service Center
TSDS - ECDS Data Upload
- If you are extracting data for the ECDS template, please contact the vendor (i.e. DMAC, CLI-Engage, etc.) to get instructions.
- CLI has recently updated tools to help customers with the alignment between assessment data and the ECDS template. Please visit the CLI dashboard and follow the links in the "Download" paragraph. Currently, they are working with TSDS to release a new tool (in July) to provide fully customized XML files for upload to ECDS.
If you have any questions or difficulties, please contact our specialist, Jessica Fernandez at jfernandez@esc7.net or 903.988.6747.
2017 - 2021 Approved Assessments
"The Commissioner’s Lists of Approved Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Assessment Instruments are comprehensive and ensure school districts and charter schools select instruments that are based on valid and reliable scientific research, thoroughly measure each domain of development, and are user friendly. The following five primary domains of development may be assessed using the instruments on the lists:
- Emergent literacy - Reading
- Emergent literacy - Writing
- Language and Communication
- Health and Wellness
- Mathematics.
Prekindergarten: In accordance with Rider 78, school districts and charter schools are strongly encouraged to adopt a multidimensional prekindergarten student progress monitoring instrument from the Commissioner’s List of Approved Prekindergarten Assessment Instruments and administer it for all 4 year-old students in prekindergarten.
Kindergarten: School districts and charter schools are required to administer a Kindergarten assessment instrument for all students enrolled in Kindergarten. A district may meet this requirement with use of a reading or multidimensional assessment included on the 2017-2021 Commissioner’s Approved List of Kindergarten Assessment Instruments. (§28.006 (c)). The district shall administer the reading instrument in accordance with the commissioner's recommendations. Use of an assessment instrument from the Commissioner’s list is highly recommended."
High Quality Pre-K Rider 78 Attached to Texas Budget
Rider 78 - "Adopt a new rider requiring the Commissioner ensure that recipient school districts and charter schools use a portion of their Foundation School Program kindergarten entitlement, totaling $236 million statewide, to implement prekindergarten consistent with the requirements of a High-Quality Prekindergarten program, pursuant to the provisions in Education Code, §§29.167 – 29.171."
We are awaiting TEA clarification on HQPK Rider 78. Once received, we will communicate these with all districts. In the meantime, you will find the HQPK requirements listed below.
Sec. 29.167. HIGH QUALITY CURRICULUM AND TEACHER REQUIREMENTS.
(a) A school district shall select and implement a curriculum for a prekindergarten grant program under this subchapter that:
(1) includes the prekindergarten guidelines established by the agency;
(2) measures the progress of students in meeting the recommended learning outcomes; and
(3) does not use national curriculum standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
(b) Each teacher for a prekindergarten program class must:
(1) be certified under Subchapter B, Chapter 21; and
(2) have one of the following additional qualifications:
(A) a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or another early childhood education credential approved by the agency;
(B) certification offered through a training center accredited by Association Montessori Internationale or through the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education;
(C) at least eight years' experience of teaching in a nationally accredited child care program;
(D) be employed as a prekindergarten teacher in a school district that has received approval from the commissioner for the district's prekindergarten-specific instructional training plan that the teacher uses in the teacher's prekindergarten classroom; or
(E) an equivalent qualification.
(c) A school district may allow a teacher employed by the district to receive the training required to be awarded a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential from a regional education service center that offers the training in accordance with Section 8.058. Training may not include national curriculum standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
(d) A school district must attempt to maintain an average ratio in any prekindergarten program class of not less than one certified teacher or teacher's aide for each 11 students.
Added by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 142 (H.B. 4), Sec. 7, eff. May 28, 2015.