2023-2024 Pre-Kindergarten Assessment

[Audio] Today we will be exploring the Circle assessment that all Houston I S D pre-kindergarten scholars are required to take..

[Audio] Our state's education agency and district mandate that prekindergarten students be regularly monitored around The Guiding Principles that align to the purpose of the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. the Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines I T E L G describe expectations about what children should know or understand and be able to do or competencies and skills across domains of learning during specific age ranges. The Requirements include Conducting a beginning-of-year, or B O Y assessment using an approved tool on the Commissioner's list in the five required domains: Emergent Literacy: Language and Communication & Emergent Literacy: Reading; in Emergent Literacy: Writing; Mathematics; and Health and Wellness and then also Conduct an end-of-year E O Y assessment using an approved tool on the Commissioner's list in the five required domains, and finally Submit B O Y and E O Y data in the Early Childhood Data System (E C D S) between November 13, 2023 and June 27, 2024.

[Audio] The Circle Progress Monitoring System is a standardized, criterion-referenced measure that relates well to established standardized tests and is sensitive to growth in children's skills over time. The data used to support the reliability and validity of the Circle Progress Monitoring System came from numerous research studies conducted by the Children's Learning Institute over a five-year span..

[Audio] The Circle assessment is great because it helps educators monitor student's progress, Make informed instructional decisions, Modify the instruction being delivered, and Respond to children's changing needs. The Early Childhood Outcomes connects the developmental continuum of skills to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines to help educators design appropriate, individualized goals and interventions for the youngest learners who are developmentally functioning below four-year-old expectations. This includes students with disabilities, students learning English as a second language, and any child who may be at risk educationally..

[Audio] The Circle Progress Monitoring system provides several subtests that comprise the Circle Assessment and it is up to districts to decide which subtests they want to include as part of their growth measures for prekindergarten teachers. Here you will see what Houston I S D along with the early childhood department requires all pre-kindergarten scholars to take.

[Audio] More information on Circle can be found and is available at w w w dot Houston I S D dot org forward slash F A.

[Audio] Thank you for joining our session today around the pre-kindergarten Circle Assessment..