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Early Childhood Data System (ECDS) for Public Prekindergarten, High-Quality Prekindergarten Programs, Private Prekindergarten Providers and Kindergarten Data

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ACTION ITEM

February 21, 2018

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

Subject: Early Childhood Data System (ECDS) for Public Prekindergarten, High-Quality Prekindergarten Programs, Private Prekindergarten Providers and Kindergarten Data

The following information should be shared with early childhood and data management staff to ensure the prekindergarten and kindergarten data outlined below is submitted.

The ECDS is a state reporting feature in the Texas Student Data System (TSDS). All public schools will report Texas Education Data Standards (TEDS) Compliant XML data elements for public prekindergarten and kindergarten at the district and campus level through PEIMS and ECDS.

The ECDS application has been available for loading prekindergarten and kindergarten data since January 29, 2018, and will be available through July 19, 2018.

Data elements to be reported in the 2017–2018 school year vary by type of program. There are separate sections below outlining the data elements for each of the following:

  • Public Kindergarten Data
  • Public Prekindergarten Programs
    • (HQPK) indicates a High-Quality Prekindergarten Program data element
  • Private Prekindergarten Providers (voluntary)

Full details regarding the state reporting data standards can be accessed here.

Public Kindergarten Data

  • demographic information
  • special program information
  • classroom link on students enrolled in district kindergarten classes
  • each kindergarten student’s raw score on kindergarten Beginning of Year (BOY) reading instruments
  • for districts administering one of the reading assessments on either the 2017-2021 Commissioner's List of Approved Kindergarten Assessment Tools or the 2014-2018 Commissioner's List of Reading Instruments, BOY kindergarten data. These assessments include:
    • aimswebPlus (English/Spanish)
    • BASC-3-BESS (English/Spanish)
    • DESSA-mini (English/Spanish)
    • DIAL-4 (English/Spanish)
    • DIBELS Next (English)
    • easyCBM (English)
    • IDEL (Spanish)
    • ISIP – Early Reading (English/Spanish)
    • LION for Reading (English)
    • MAP (English)
    • PAPI (English/Spanish)
    • PALS (English)
    • Ready, Set, K! (English/Spanish)
    • STAR Early Literacy (English/Spanish)
    • TPRI (English)
    • Tejas LEE (Spanish)
    • TX-KEA (English/Spanish)
    • Woodcock-Johnson III Diagnostic Reading Battery (English)
    • Works Sampling System (English/Spanish)

Public Prekindergarten Programs

  • demographic information
  • special program information
  • classroom link on students enrolled in district prekindergarten classes, including the number of students who are eligible for classes under Texas Education Code (TEC) §29.153
  • the numbers of half-day and full-day prekindergarten classes offered by the district and campus
  • the sources of funding for the prekindergarten classes
  • course section data needed to determine class size (instructional staff-to-student ratio will be calculated by TEA)
  • the type of curriculum
      • The Texas DLM Early Childhood Express
      • Opening the World of Learning: Texas Comprehensive Pre-K
      • Scholastic Big Day for PreK Texas Program (Note: Vendor name changed to Big Day for PreK Texas Program 3/15/18)
      • High Scope Preschool Curriculum and Assessment
      • Frog Street Pre-K Texas System
      • Teaching Strategies System for Pre-K, Texas Edition
      • We Can! Texas Classroom System
      • Other
  • the type of commissioner approved prekindergarten progress monitoring tool and results (if administered) for the BOY and End of Year (EOY) which includes a raw score or percentile score for each of the following five (5) Academic Domains: Health and Wellness, Language and Communication, Emergent Literacy Reading, Emergent Literacy Writing and Mathematics. Assessments on the 2017-2021 Commissioner's List of Approved Prekindergarten Assessment Tools include:
    • BASC-3 BESS (English/Spanish)
    • CIRCLE CLI (English/Spanish)
    • CIRCLE Liberty Source (English/Spanish)
    • DIAL-4 (English/Spanish)
    • Frog Street Assessment (English/Spanish)
    • GOLD (English/Spanish)
    • ISIP-Early Reading (English)
    • LAP-3 (English)
    • Ready, Set, K (English/Spanish)
    • Work Sampling System (English/Spanish)
  • additional Teacher Qualifications (HQPK):
    • certification offered through a training center accredited by Association Montessori Internationale or through the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education
    • at least eight (8) years of experience teaching in a nationally accredited child care program
    • employment as a prekindergarten teacher in a school district that has ensured specific early childhood education professional development has been met
    • a graduate or undergraduate degree in early childhood education or early childhood special education
    • a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or
    • documented completion of the Texas School Ready Training Program (TSR Comprehensive)
  • family engagement URL (High Quality Prekindergarten (HQPK))
  • High-Quality Prekindergarten Program Indicator (student level) (HQPK)

Private Prekindergarten Providers

  • demographic information
  • special program information
  • classroom link on four-year-old students enrolled in a licensed child care or Head Start program

Additional Information

An LEA is exempt from the ECDS progress monitoring portion of state reporting if they are using a progress monitoring tool other than those listed above. The LEA should notify TEA of its choice of progress monitoring by email at ecds@tea.texas.gov and must also retain the progress monitoring data. The other data elements linked above are still required to be reported in ECDS.

The ECDS data will be used to inform stakeholders, such as educators, parents, and legislators, about the effectiveness of prekindergarten programs in preparing children for success in kindergarten under TEC §29.161.  For an example of Data Reports generated with this information, reference Texas Public Education Information Resource (TPEIR).

Organizations should contact their regional education service centers (ESCs) or a certified vendor for ECDS training and support. All ESC staff have completed training for TSDS and data loading and will be able to assist in this process.

For more information regarding ECDS, visit the ECDS program page. If you have policy questions, please contact TEA staff via email at ecds@tea.texas.gov. All technical questions should be submitted via the TSDS Incident Management System (TIMS), which is available from the TSDS Portal.  

Sincerely,

 

Jacquie Porter, Director
Early Childhood Education Division

Attachment: Instructions on the Data Submission Process

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