State Requirements for Kindergarten Assessment

Circle KPM may be used by local education agencies to support both required kindergarten screening activities and required state reporting. The beginning-of-year literacy screener and end-of-year dyslexia screener serve different purposes and occur at different points in the school year.

Literacy Screener Requirement (BOY)

Per Texas Education Code (TEC) §28.006(c-2), LEAs must administer a commissioner-approved reading instrument to kindergarten students at the beginning of the school year. LEAs may use the Circle KPM Literacy Screener to meet this requirement.

The Literacy Screener composite score is comprised of the following measures:

• Vocabulary

• Letter Names

• Spelling

These measures generate:

• A KPM Literacy Screener Composite Score, automatically calculated in CLI Engage using scoring criteria developed through CLI's research and analysis.

• A Statewide Kindergarten Readiness Score, automatically calculated in CLI Engage based on kindergarten readiness requirements established by TEA.

Dyslexia Screener Requirement (EOY)

Per Texas Education Code §38.003, LEAs must administer a dyslexia screening instrument to kindergarten students at the end of the school year. LEAs may use the Circle KPM Dyslexia Screener found in Wave 3 (EOY) to meet this requirement.

Family Notification Requirement

Families must be notified of beginning-of-year literacy screener results in writing or electronically no later than the earlier of:

• The 20th school day after the results become available

• The 30th calendar day after results become available

Helpful family resources include:

• Student Report for Parents

• How do I Print Parent PIN Pages?

• Family Engagement Resources

• Understanding Your Child’s Assessment Results

ECDS Submission Requirements

Kindergarten ECDS Data Domains

Kindergarten ECDS submissions include student basic information, enrollment details, and assessment data from approved instruments.

Texas school districts and charter schools submit kindergarten data to TEA through the Early Childhood Data System (ECDS) using the Ed-Fi IODS submission process.

Required KPM Measures for ECDS

LEAs using KPM to meet TEC §28.006 requirements must administer all three Literacy Screener measures:

• Vocabulary

• Letter Names

• Spelling

ECDS submissions include:

• Literacy Screener Composite Score

• Vocabulary raw score

• Letter Names raw score

• Spelling raw score

These data are used by TEA to calculate the Statewide Kindergarten Readiness Score.

Before Submitting Data

Before submitting kindergarten data, confirm the following:

Submission Timeline

Assessment Windows

Assessment windows are determined locally by the district or charter school.

District administrators may optionally enable Assessment Lock to prevent assessments from being administered outside locally designated testing windows.

This feature does not affect reports or Ed-Fi data submitted to ECDS.

How-to guide: CLI Engage Assessment Lock

Additional Resources

TEA Resources

• Early Childhood Data Collection Requirements

• TEA Early Childhood Data Collection Requirements & Key Dates

• Data Tool Selection Guidance | Texas Education Agency

CLI Resources

• KPM Toolkit

• Ed-Fi ECDS Submission

• Dyslexia Screening

• Family Engagement Resources

Contact Information

For questions regarding prekindergarten through grade 2 assessment instruments, contact the TEA Division of Early Childhood at earlychildhoodeducation@tea.texas.gov or submit a help ticket through the ECE Support Portal.