Required Implementation of Early Childhood Instruments in the 2024–25 School Year

At the Texas Education Agency (TEA), our goal is for all Texas children to enter school with the foundational knowledge and skills to be curious, confident and successful learners. This correspondence provides updates about approved early childhood instruments available for school system (school district or open-enrollment charter school) use, key dates for administration and reporting of instruments for prekindergarten, kindergarten and grades 1–2 along with guidance related to Early Reading Indicator coding and dyslexia screening requirements.

Approved Prekindergarten Progress Monitoring Instruments for 2024–25

In accordance with Texas Education Code (TEC) §29.169, school districts and open-enrollment charter schools must select prekindergarten progress monitoring instruments from the updated 2024-2025 through 2026-2027 Commissioner's List of Approved Prekindergarten Progress Monitoring Instruments when planning for school year 2024-25 and beyond.

The following progress monitoring instruments are on the new Commissioner’s List of Approved Prekindergarten Progress Monitoring Instruments to be used in the 2024-25 school year: 

• Circle Progress Monitoring System by Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) 
• COR Advantage by HighScope Educational Research Foundation 
• CPALLS+STEM by Circle Progress Monitoring administered through TANGO Software (formerly on the list as CIRCLE Assessment by Liberty Source) 
• Frog Street Assessment – Criterion Referenced Assessment by Frog Street 
• GOLD® by Teaching Strategies, LLC 
• LION for Prekindergarten by Liberty Source 
• READY, SET, K! by E3 Alliance

The Commissioner’s list, with detailed information about each instrument, can be found on the Educator Resources page of the TEA website or on the Data Tool Selection Guidance webpage.

Progress Monitoring Instrument Administration Requirements

In the provision of high-quality, full-day prekindergarten for 4-year-old students, school systems must collect data regarding student progress in all five domains of health and wellness, emergent literacy language and communication, emergent literacy reading, emergent literacy writing and mathematics at the beginning-of-year (BOY), middle-of-year (MOY) and end-of-year (EOY) by using one of the instruments on the Commissioner's list. (19 Texas Administrative Code §102.1003(c)(1))

Raw data for BOY and EOY should be submitted to the Early Childhood Data System (ECDS) by June 26, 2025. Raw data for MOY will not be collected in the 2024-25 school year.

As part of the required family engagement plan, school systems are encouraged to provide families with progress monitoring updates that address all five required domains at least three times a year.

The instrument administration windows are determined locally. It is recommended that the BOY instruments be administered within the first 60 days of school so that the resulting data can be used for instructional purposes. School systems should ensure they have systems in place to collect and report student progress monitoring data for students who may have missed the administration or enrolled after the designated window. This data is crucial for the accuracy of Texas Public Education Information Resource (TPEIR) reporting.

While the ECDS submission window for prekindergarten data closes on June 26, 2025, school systems are encouraged to begin submitting BOY data as early as September 16, 2024.

Requirements for 3-year-olds vs 4-year-old Prekindergarten Students

In mixed classrooms with both 3- and 4-year-olds, school systems should use developmentally appropriate progress monitoring for 3-year-old students. Monitoring can be adjusted for 3-year-olds at the school system’s discretion. Monitoring may not be adjusted for 4-year-old students.

In stand-alone prekindergarten 3-year-old classrooms, specific progress monitoring is not required for students served. However, if a school system conducts student progress monitoring with its eligible three-year-old students using an appropriate tool from the Commissioner’s list, the BOY and EOY data should be submitted to TEA through ECDS annually.

Kindergarten Reading Instruments

In accordance with TEC §28.006(c-2), school systems must use either the Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment (TX-KEA) or mCLASS Texas Edition as the required beginning-of-year reading instrument.

The authorization period for mCLASS Texas Edition as a free, Commissioner-approved alternative reading instrument for kindergarten is through August 2025 (TEC §28.006(b-1)).

Learn more about each of the kindergarten reading instruments on the Kindergarten Data Tool Selection Guidance page.

It is recommended that students are administered the kindergarten instrument within the first 60 days of school so that resulting data can be used for instructional purposes. Families must be notified of the BOY results in writing within 60 days of administration (TEC §28.006(d)(2)).

BOY data should be submitted to TEA through ECDS by January 30, 2025. LEAs can start promoting SIS and available reading instrument data as early as September 16, 2024.

Grades 1 and 2 Reading Instruments

In accordance with TEC§28.006(c), school systems must collect data regarding student reading proficiency using an approved instrument (either from the Commissioner's List or selected by a district-level committee as authorized under TEC §28.006 (b)) for all students in grades 1 and 2.

There are two free, Commissioner-approved reading instruments for grades 1 and 2: TPRI/Tejas LEE and mCLASS Texas. The authorization period for mCLASS Texas as a free, Commissioner-selected reading instrument for first and second grade is through August 2025 (TEC §28.006(b-1)).

Results from the required reading instrument administration in grades 1 and 2 are used to determine reporting of student Early Reading Indicator codes in the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) twice a year. For additional information, reference the following section titled “Early Reading Indicator (ERI) Code Guidance.”

Learn more about each of the instruments approved by the Commissioner for grades 1 and 2 on the Grades 1 and 2 Data Tool Selection Guidance page.

Dyslexia Screening Requirements for Kindergarten and Grade 1

A universal dyslexia screener must be conducted by the end of the school year for all kindergarten students and by January 31, 2025, for all grade 1 students (TEC §38.003(a)).

Commissioner-approved reading instruments include aligned dyslexia screening elements. These free tools meet the dyslexia screener requirements outlined in the Dyslexia Handbook; however, they are not required to be used by LEAs to fulfill dyslexia screener requirements.

The Dyslexia-Risk Code should be submitted in PEIMS for all kindergarten and grade 1 students by June 19, 2025. For additional information regarding dyslexia PEIMS coding, reference the PEIMS Dyslexia Coding Flowchart.

Early Reading Indicator (ERI) Code Guidance for Grades K–2

The ERI Code should be submitted for all students in kindergarten-grade 2 in PEIMS twice a year by December 12, 2024, and June 19, 2025.

For the fall submission (due December 12, 2024), school systems should report the ERI code based on BOY reading instrument assessment results. For the summer submission (due June 19, 2025), school systems should report the ERI code based on the latest assessment results available for students.

It is important to note that, while ERI codes should reflect data from the administered reading instrument, school systems have flexibility to also consider formative assessment data collected by teachers. This allows school systems to analyze multiple data points to inform instructional actions.

Questions

For additional information regarding early childhood instruments and requirements, visit the Early Learning Assessments webpage.

If you have any questions regarding prekindergarten, kindergarten, grade 1 or grade 2 instruments, please contact the Division of Early Childhood Education by submitting a ticket through the ECE Support Portal.