Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment Welcome! This webinar will begin at 2:00 PM CST While you are waiting, please locate the “chat” box on your screen. Use the chat feature to post questions. Your questions will be answered via a Q&A that will be posted on the Texas KEA website:

Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment (TX-KEA) Children’s Learning Institute at UTHealth May 4, 2015

Overview Welcome What is TX-KEA? Explore TX-KEA – TX-KEA Item Review TX-KEA Timeline Stakeholder Input

Welcome The Texas Kindergarten Assessment System (TX- KEA) is a collaborative effort between the US Department of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and the Children’s Learning Institute at UTHealth.

Our Development Team Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) Principal Investigators Susan Landry Jason Anthony Co-Investigators Michael Assel Ursula Johnson Janelle Montroy Heather Taylor Jeff Williams Tricia Zucker Texas Education Agency (TEA) Statewide Coordinator, ECE Howard Morrison Technology Department UTHEALTH and TEA

What is a Kindergarten Entry Assessment, or “KEA”? – KEAs are administered during the first few months of kindergarten – KEAs covers all essential domains of school readiness – KEAs closely align with Early Learning and Development Standards – KEAs conform with recommendations of the National Research Council reports on early childhood – KEAs must be valid and reliable for their intended purposes and target populations

Intended Populations & Purposes of TX-KEA Target Population of TX-KEA – Kindergarteners’ across Texas – Dominant language is either English or Spanish Purposes of TX-KEA – Screen what children know and can do – Help identify children in need of further assessment – Help inform instruction

Political Context for KEA in TX Currently, schools districts are required to test literacy in kindergarten – 2 nd grade SB 172 requires using a multidimensional test that tests literacy, as well as at least two other developmental skills (e.g., mathematics, language, social and emotional development).

TX-KEA Implementation TX-KEA will not be mandatory in Texas public schools TX-KEA will be listed on the Commissioner’s List, with at least one other multidimensional assessment School districts can choose to use TX-KEA (full assessment or specific subtests) or another approved assessment TX-KEA will provide coverage of legislatively- mandated school readiness domains

About TX-KEA TX-KEA will: – Be available in English and Spanish – Provide reports to parents, teachers, and school district personnel – Will be linked with TEA’s state-wide longitudinal data & tracking system (LDTS) – Provide on-line training in administration procedures – Provide on-line instructions for loading data into LDTS – Provide on-line training in reporting functionality – Be available on a variety of platforms and devices – Be freely available to all entities who will use it for its intended purpose, including technology platform providers and public schools, charter schools, private schools in Texas and all other states

TX-KEA TX-KEA will be “comprehensive” in that it will evaluate many learning domains critical for academic success. Two methods of assessment: – Direct assessment Student selects response(s) or Student states a response that is scored by examiner – Teacher-reported behavior checklists TX-KEA administered in approx. 45 min. – Not necessarily all at one time

Children with Special Needs Research study includes a sub-sample of children with a diagnosis List of accommodations and adaptations will be provided to teachers TX-KEA will not be validated for children with severe special needs

TX-KEA Domains Domains: – Oral Language – Literacy – Cognition – Physical Well-being – Social and Emotional Each domain has a contributing nationally recognized expert as a consultant outside of UTHealth

Oral Language Base measure for TX-KEA Children who score low on Oral Language will receive an alternate form – Vocabulary – Math

Oral Language Subtests Oral Language Subtests: – Vocabulary – Listening Comprehension

“What is this?” Oral Language Domain Expressive Vocabulary

Oral Language Domain Listening Comprehension (Two-Step Direction with Possessive Suffix) “Point to the girl’s cat and then to the boy’s dog.”

Oral Language Domain Listening Comprehension (Past Tense) “The snowman melted in the sun.”

Literacy Domain Literacy Subtests: – Letter Knowledge – Phonological Awareness – Early Writing

“Point to the letter ef.” (uppercase letter names) Literacy Domain Letter Names

Literacy Domain Phonological Awareness

“Forks.” Literacy Domain Phonological Awareness

“locks.” Literacy Domain Phonological Awareness

“fox.” Literacy Domain Phonological Awareness

“socks.” Literacy Domain Phonological Awareness

“Pont to… f…ox.” Literacy Domain Phonological Awareness

Literacy Domain Writing

Cognition Domain Cognition Subtests: – Mathematics – Science &Engineering

“Look at this pattern… What should come next?” Cognition Domain Mathematics

“The elephants are walking across the savanna. Touch the first elephant in line. Touch the third elephant in line. Touch the second elephant in line. Touch the last elephant in line.” Cognition Domain Mathematics

“Which of these is a planet?” Cognition Domain Science

“When you knock the red ball into the others... which picture shows how the balls will look?” Cognition Domain Science

Physical Well-being Domain Physical Well-being Subtests (checklists): – Gross and Fine Motor – Physical Health Status

Social and Emotional Domain Social and Emotional Subtests: – Social Competence (checklist) – Self-Regulation – Approaches to Learning (checklist)

TX-KEA Items – Self-Regulation In this item, the child will see the vehicles appear at the top, and then move into position below. Then, the vehicles will disappear and the child will select the order that vehicles appeared in the correct position.

Project Timeline Spring 2014 – Pilot Test Fall 2014 – Spring 2016 – Scaling Study with over 2,000 children across TX Fall 2016 – Spring 2017 – Validity Study with 200 kindergarten students – Development of training materials

Scaling Study Houston Area Houston ISD Aldine ISD KIPP Charter School San Antonio Area San Antonio ISD South San Antonio ISD Rio Grande Valley Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD La Joya ISD Dallas/Ft. Worth Area Ft. Worth ISD Austin Area Kids R Kids Child Care Centers

Scaling Study Continue to work with school districts, charter schools, and child care centers we collaborated with in Request collaboration with more schools districts in Austin, TX, West Texas, and rural areas.

Stakeholder Input Pilot Study, Scaling Study, and Validity Study – Currently recruiting participants for year 2 of the scaling study Focus Groups – Social/emotional focus groups with teachers from the scaling study – Special needs focus groups with specialists and teachers from the scaling study – Item review focus groups in Houston at the TSR Early Childhood Summer Institute in July 2015

TX-KEA Contact at CLI Ursula Y. Johnson, PhD Assistant Professor Children’s Learning Institute University of Texas – Health Science Center at Houston