Pre-K and Head Start Classroom Resources

CIRCLE Progress Monitoring is a tool that enables the early educator to assess a child’s progress in a particular skill area and to see the results almost instantly. The instrument is designed to be administered three times a year, referred to as Wave 1-Beginning of Year, Wave 2-Middle of Year and Wave 3-End of Year.

CIRCLE Progress Monitoring User Guide

The CIRCLE Progress Monitoring User Guide provides a thorough overview of the assessment and all component domains and sub-measures. The guide also includes directions for offline assessment, general administration guidelines, and recommendations for assessment environments.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring User Guide

The CPM Scoresheets for all three waves are available for review and download.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Scoresheets

The alignment of the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework are available to download at these links.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring-Head Start ELOF Alignment
• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring-Texas PKG Alignment

Benchmarks are the minimum performance levels students are expected to reach by certain points of the year to indicate their understanding of different skills. The CIRCLE Progress Monitoring benchmark chart shows the cut points that take into consideration the child’s grade level, time of year, and domain area. If the student scores at or above the cut points, they would show as “On Track”, for students younger than 4 years of age it would show as “Monitor” and “Need Support” for students 4 years of age and older.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Benchmarks

CLI recognizes that in order to maximize the benefits of student progress monitoring, data reports should be easily accessible, quickly digestible, and provide multiple perspectives. The link below is your one-stop source for CLI Engage reports.

• Class Level Completion Reports
• Class Growth Reports
• Class Summary Report
• Small Grouping Tool
• Student Report for Teachers
• Student Reports for Parents

Additional reports are available at the school and district level on CLI Engage. Find information on reports here: Accessing Reports

Family-Friendly Descriptions of CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Measures

These dual-language resources help teachers describe assessment measures and why they are important for later school success in family-friendly ways. These resources are designed to be shared with families to help them understand their child’s assessment results.

• Family-Friendly Description of CIRCLE Progress Monitoring (CPM) Assessment Measures (Spanish and English)

Refer to Understanding Your Child’s Assessment Results to assist families in becoming more knowledgeable about progress monitoring and supporting learning at home.

CIRCLE Progress Monitoring: Family Observation Forms

Teachers can collect valuable information on their student’s development by sharing these forms with parents and asking them to give feedback about their child. These forms are aligned to the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring assessment domains and can be found here:

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Family Observation Forms (Spanish and English)

Implementation Guide: Student Report for Parents

This guide was developed for teachers who are sharing the Student Report for Parents with families. It includes the following topics:

• Understanding the Student Report for Parents
• Generating the Student Report for Parents and Sharing it with Families
• Having Conversations with Families about Data
• Supporting Resources

View the Implementation Guide: Student Report for Parents

Early Childhood Data System (ECDS) for Kindergarten Data

ECDS is part of the Texas Student Data System (TSDS). Download and review the information in the document below that includes the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring measures that will be required for ECDS.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring: Recommended Measures for ECDS

The offline assessment feature can be used to assess students when an internet connection is not available at the time of administration. The offline assessment can also be used in the CLI Engage assessment practice area.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Offline Assessment

CLI developed test alternative administration functionality and protocols.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Remote Administration

CLI Engage hosts many online professional development courses and learning resources for early childhood teachers, administrators, coaches, and parents.  You can view your course completions and training certificates that you have earned at any time using the “My Learning” navigation features.  

There are training resources available on the public webpage and within CLI Engage which requires an account to log in to access the course. The online training provides an overview of the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring assessment, guidelines for administration and reports.

CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Training (Log-in required)

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring PreK Assessment Self-Instructional Courses
• How to Access CIRCLE Progress Monitoring PreK Online Assessment Training
• How to Access Self-Instructional or Facilitated Online Courses

CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Administration Videos (Public access, no log-in required)

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Administration Videos

*Please note that certificates are not awarded for viewing the videos on the public page. If you would like to earn a training certificate, please log into your CLI Engage account and then enroll in the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Assessment Training course, which is available in the Full Course Catalog under the Online Learning and Professional Development section of the CLI Engage dashboard.

CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Training Facilitation Guide

The CPM Training Facilitation Guide has three modules to provide CIRCLE Progress Monitoring training with staff. The guide is designed for easy facilitation of the CPM online training courses, available on the CLI Engage Online Course section.

• CIRCLE Progress Monitoring Training Facilitation Guide

The eCIRCLE Professional Development Program includes 16 courses (73.5 hours) for teachers and administrators. These courses include extensive video-based demonstrations of effective instructional practices, as well as application-based assignments and activities.

• eCIRCLE Professional Development Program

CLI has expanded its online courses to provide early childhood teachers the training hours needed to apply for the Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™ for Center-Based Programs, Preschool Endorsement through the Council for Professional Recognition.

• CIRCLE CDA Training Program

The Children’s Learning Institute partnered with the Texas Education Agency to provide online training that guides teachers through the child outcomes and instructional strategies of all ten learning domains presented in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines.

• Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines Training

View the CLI Engage Training Calendar to view the full calendar for the school year, register for upcoming sessions, and view presentations that have been previously recorded.

• CLI Engage Training Calendar
• Webinars and Presentations – previously recorded sessions

The CIRCLE Activity Collection: Pre-K through Grade 2 includes a variety of hands-on learning activities in English and Spanish that teachers can implement in their classrooms during whole group, small group, centers, and one-on-one instruction. Free of charge to all educators.

• Pre-K to Grade 2 Collection
• Colección de prekínder hasta segundo grado

CIRCLE Activity Collection: Pre-K Activities

There is a search feature for the CIRCLE Activity Collection Pre-K to Grade 2 Collection by Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines domains.   

• Search Activities by Pre-K Guidelines

The CIRCLE Activity Collection: Family is available in English and Spanish as a family resource to provides a variety of hands-on activities to use at home. This collection is organized around seven learning domains: Language & Communication, Reading & Writing, Math, Science, Social & Emotional, Physical Development, and Art & Sensory. There is a sample letter that can be used to invite parents to partner with their child’s teacher by engaging in activities from the collection that support child development through play.

• CIRCLE Activity Collection: Family
• La Colección de actividades CIRCLE para la Familia

Parent Introduction letter to the CIRCLE Activity Collection: Family

This sample letter invites parents to partner with their child’s teacher by engaging in activities from the collection that support child development through play.

Sample Parent Introduction Letters (English and Spanish)

The Texas State Board of Education voted to approve the adoption of the CIRCLE Pre-K Curriculum which includes 35 weeks of instruction using the Scope and Sequences and 10 Theme Guides.  The components utilize the lessons in the CIRCLE Activity Collection to support the cognitive, social, and emotional development of prekindergarten children.    

• CIRCLE Pre-K Curriculum

CIRCLE STEM Lab is a virtual laboratory that hosts video segments from PBS Learning Media and hands-on STEM activities to be completed independently by children 3-6 years of age. The extensive STEM LAB collection integrates video segments with hands-on activities.

• CIRCLE STEM Lab Collection
• CIRCLE STEM Lab Family Guide

Classroom Environment Checklist 

The CIRCLE Classroom Environment Checklist (CEC) is a tool that early childhood professionals can use to evaluate and improve their classroom environments. The CEC can be a great tool to use at the beginning of year to set goals for classroom enhancements, track the environment progress over time, and provide specific information for technical assistance.  

• Classroom Environment Checklist (CEC) 
• Classroom Environment Checklist How-To-Guide (CEC) 

Classroom Environment Checklist Analysis

The CEC Analysis provides key points on the benefits for the classroom and the opportunities available to children when the items are fully met at a level three.   

• Classroom Environment Checklist Analysis 

The CIRCLE Classroom Observation Tool (COT) is a formative assessment that includes teaching behaviors that are known to make up high quality instruction. The COT is typically used with a coach or intervention specialist to annotate observed instructional behaviors, referenced for creating specific short-term goals, and to track progress throughout the year to promote effective teaching. The system is well-aligned with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the goals are organized by content areas.

• Classroom Observation and Goal-Setting Tools
• COT User Guide
• How to Use the Administrator COT
• COT Reports

CLI’s family engagement resources make the most of procedures you likely already have in place, such as progress monitoring, homework, parent-teacher conferences, and open houses.

Family Engagement Toolkit

Family Engagement Teacher Strategy Checklist Pre-K/K Version

The checklist can be used to self-assess where you are in your family engagement efforts and to set goals for practicing new strategies.

Family Engagement Teacher Strategy Checklist Pre-K/K Version

Pre-K/Kindergarten Family Engagement Bag

CLI created these Pre-K/K family engagement bag which can be folded into district-level family engagement plans

• Download English Booklet
• Download Spanish Booklet

Families will need just a few materials to complete the activities in the family engagement bag booklet.

Download Family Engagement Bag Materials list

Let parents know you’d like to partner with them to support their child’s learning at home by sending this message with their Family Engagement Bag.

• Family Engagement Bag Message English
• Family Engagement Bag Message Spanish