ECDS Submission Requirements: Public Pre-K and Kindergarten Programs

The Early Childhood Data System (ECDS) is a feature in the Texas Student Data System (TSDS) that enables state reporting of early childhood education data.

All school districts and open-enrollment charter schools in Texas must report assessment data, aligned with the Texas Education Data Standards (TEDS), that is collected using instruments that are on the commissioner’s list of approved instruments for prekindergarten (19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §102.1003(i)(2)) and kindergarten (Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.006(d)(3)).

Detailed information about the instruments approved by the commissioner can be found on the TEA Data Tool Selection Guidance page.

School systems can complete the ECDS kindergarten submission between November 10, 2025, and January 29, 2026. For prekindergarten data, school systems can complete the ECDS prekindergarten submission between May 7, 2026, and June 25, 2026. It is strongly recommended that school systems begin the submission process early to allow sufficient time to address any potential data issues before the deadlines.

Data elements to be reported in the 2025-2026 school year vary by type of program. Separate sections below outline the data elements for each of the following:

• Public Kindergarten Programs
• Public Prekindergarten Programs

Public Kindergarten Programs (Due January 29, 2026)

It is mandatory for all school systems that administer a kindergarten program to report their ECDS data in TSDS.

School systems must use an approved instrument from the commissioner’s list (TEC, §28.006(c-2)), which currently includes the following:

• Circle Kindergarten Progress Monitoring (formerly known as TX-KEA) by CLI Engage
• mCLASS Texas Edition by Amplify Education

More detailed information about the requirements can be found on the TEA Early Childhood Data Collection Requirements page and in the correspondence released on August 7, 2025.

Each school system will load the following data extracted from its SIS:

• Demographic information
• Special program information
• Course section information on students enrolled in kindergarten classes

Each school system will also load raw scores from its selected reading instrument vendor to enable state reporting of kindergarten readiness.

• For Circle Kindergarten Progress Monitoring (formerly known as TX-KEA), kindergarten readiness will be determined if a student meets each benchmark for the vocabulary (Language and Communication), letter names (Emergent Literacy Reading) and spelling (Emergent Literacy Writing) measures.
• For mCLASS, kindergarten readiness will be based on meeting the specified benchmark for the composite academic subject score.
• The readiness ranges and subjects used for determination are aligned to the 2025-2026 ECDS Assessment Specifications published in TEDS. CLI Engage (Circle Kindergarten Progress Monitoring) and Amplify (mCLASS Texas) will provide the BOY data directly to TEA. The vendors will establish the frequency of submissions and communicate the delivery schedule directly to school systems.

Kindergarten ECDS data will be available for users to complete on November 10, 2025. Before the final ECDS kindergarten submission, school systems must validate their student, staff, course section and assessment data by verifying data and counts on reports and resolving any fatal business validations.

Public Prekindergarten Programs (Due June 25, 2026)

The reporting of public prekindergarten program data into ECDS is mandatory for school systems that administer a prekindergarten program to 3-year-old and/or 4-year-old students. The collection includes the following data:

1. Demographic information
2. Special program information
3. Sources of funding for prekindergarten classes
4. Course section data needed to determine:
   1. students enrolled in school system prekindergarten classes, including the number of children who are eligible for free prekindergarten under TEC, §29.153
   2. the number of half-day and full-day prekindergarten classes offered by the school system and campus (calculated by TEA)
   3. class size (instructional staff-to-student ratio will be calculated by TEA)
5. The PK school type (PKSchoolType Descriptor Table)
6. The childcare operation number of the childcare facilities with which a school system has a prekindergarten partnership (defined as students enrolled in both the childcare and the school system)
   1. For PKSchoolType Descriptors 11 In-District Charter Partnership and 12- Public Prekindergarten Head Start (Non-school system grantee), the school system will be required to submit a Child Care Operation Number for the partnering entity. If the partner is a licensed child care provider through Child Care Regulation (CCR), the school system will enter the child care operation number assigned by CCR. If the partnering provider is NOT licensed, eight zeros, “00000000”, must be entered.

In addition to the data elements above, the following data related to high-quality prekindergarten is also required to be submitted into ECDS for those public prekindergarten programs serving eligible 4-year-old students (19 TAC §102.1003(i)):

1. BOY and EOY student progress monitoring data (see 19 TAC §102.1003(c) and (i)(2))
2. PK Teacher Requirements (see 19 TAC §102.1003(d) and (e))
3. URL (link) to the prekindergarten family engagement plan (indicates the internet website address that connects directly to the school system’s high-quality prekindergarten family engagement plan document)
4. Program evaluation type
5. High-quality prekindergarten program indicator (student level)
6. Curriculum used in the program: The requirement for curriculum to align with the current Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines still applies to the curriculum reported as “Other.” School systems should keep documentation on file to confirm alignment with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines when reporting Descriptor 99.

Additional Information regarding Progress Monitoring for three-year-olds vs four-year-olds
Student progress monitoring is an important part of the teaching cycle and is considered a best practice with all age groups, as it enables a teacher to effectively adapt the daily classroom instruction to meet their students' needs. However, in terms of required progress monitoring that enable state reporting for prekindergarten programs, there are differences between requirements for 3-year-old students and 4-year-old students.

Progress monitoring for eligible 3-year-old students is not required and may be conducted at the discretion of the school system.

Progress monitoring is required in all prekindergarten classrooms serving eligible four-year-old students. Monitoring may not be adjusted for 4-year-old students.

If a district conducts student progress monitoring with its eligible 3-year-old students using a tool from the commissioner’s list, the BOY and EOY data must be submitted in the ECDS annually. This is true for both standalone PK3 classes and mixed PK3/PK4 classes (TEC, §29.1532(c)(6)).

Additional Support

School systems can seek training and support from their regional education service centers (ESCs) or assessment vendors. The ESC ECDS data champions, trained in TSDS and data loading, can provide technical assistance throughout the process. For a list of ESC ECDS data champions for ESCs 1 through 10, visit the ESC TSDS Champions 1-10 webpage. For a list of ESC ECDS data champions for ESCs 11 through 20, visit the ESC TSDS Champions 11-20 webpage.

TEA will hold information sessions on the following dates to better support ECDS submission needs:

ECDS General Submission Guidance with Breakout Sessions for Questions and Answers:

• Monday, December 8, 2025, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. CT. Registration Link.
• Thursday, December 11, 2025, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. CT. Registration Link.

Kindergarten ECDS Submission Guidance with Instrument Vendor Breakout Sessions:

• Thursday, January 8, 2026, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. CT. Registration Link.
• Tuesday, January 15, 2026, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. CT. Registration Link.  

Prekindergarten ECDS Submission Guidance with Instrument Vendor Breakout Sessions:

• Tuesday, May 12, 2026, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. CT. Registration Link.
• Wednesday, May 20, 2026, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. CT. Registration Link.

Technical Assistance

Questions regarding high-quality prekindergarten components, kindergarten programs, or assessments should be sent through the Early Childhood Education Support Portal.

Technical questions regarding ECDS submission should be submitted via the TSDS Incident Management System (TIMS) using a TEAL login.