PK & K Required Assessments
Just a reminder from Region VII
Texas Kindergarten Entry and Progress Monitoring Assessments
All state funded kindergarten classrooms will need to assess entering students' readiness levels within the first 6 - 8 weeks of school. You have several options on the Commissioner's List. An important factor to consider is that you will also need to progress monitor kindergarten students' literacy levels. You can, however, choose one from the list that will do both. CLI offers TX-KEA (free) as an entry exam, however, it is not a progress monitoring tool. Some districts are choosing to use a literacy progress monitoring tool and also administer the non-literacy components of the TX-KEA. The data from your entry exam and progress monitoring tool will be reported on the end of year ECDS.
See the link below to access the Commissioner's approved list.
Pre-K Progress Monitoring
All state funded Pre-K programs are required to administer a progress monitoring tool that assesses 5 domain areas. It is suggested that the beginning assessment be given within the first 6-8 weeks of school. Results of the beginning and end of year assessments will be reported on the end of year ECDS. Please follow the link below to access the Commissioner's list.
Approved list of Curricular Materials
TEA Clarification on Rider 78
Rider 78 ensures that school districts expend 15% of the districts’ prekindergarten foundation school program (FSP) funding on High-Quality Prekindergarten programs over the period of the biennium. As an example, the TEA State Funding Division has calculated the 15% minimum to be allocated for High Quality Prekindergarten programs in the 2018-19 biennium based on the four-year-old prekindergarten half-day average daily attendance (ADA). TEA will implement monitoring as necessary to ensure that FSP funds are used as described.
For all official information, straight from TEA
TEA High Quality Pre-K Information
Scroll to find what you need: FAQ, Approved PK/K assessments, Approved Curricular materials, and more information on Rider 78 FAQ.
Free Online Training for Early Childhood Teachers and Paras
CLI Engage is offering free online trainings and webinars on various topics: Circle, Pre-K Guidelines, Core competencies for EC, Infant and Toddler, TX-KEA, Progress Monitoring, etc. The Pre-K Guidelines is new and is quite good! From the home page, select the Online Learning and Professional Development icon. After you have logged in, select the "Training and Support" tab, then "Online Courses".