2024 CPM User Guide

• New to CLI Engage? Sign up for access to CLI Engage  
• Most CLI Engage users log in using their Google Account. If you do not have a Google account, you can create one using your existing email account or create a Gmail account by going to our Account Set-Up How-to-Guide  
• View our registration video  for information 

From the dashboard, you can navigate everything on CLI Engage! After logging in, you will see a dashboard that includes links to: 

• SCREENING, PROGRESS MONITORING, & OBSERVATION tools, including the Circle Progress Monitoring System and Assessment Practice Area
• ONLINE LEARNING & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT for access to online courses
• ACTIVITIES & MATERIALS for teachers and families (Circle Activity Collections)
• QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & INNOVATION to access collaborative tools to support teacher goal-setting
• ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS to manage your student roster and classes

View the Quick Start Guide to learn where to find all the tools and resources on the platform.  

The Assessment Practice Area is located under the red banner, “Screening, Observation, and Assessment.”

In the assessment practice area, you can:

• Practice assessing children
• View assessment items in each sub-measure
• Practice pulling class-level reports

Comprehensive training for CPM is available in the Online Courses section of CLI Engage. Users can earn certificates for the completion of each course.

• CPM Introduction (20 minutes)
• CPM Assessments Components (20 minutes)
• CPM Administration Guidelines (20 minutes)
• CPM Assessment Measures (2.5 hours)
• CPM Overview for Administrators (1 hour)
• CPM Assessment Resources: Data & Reports (30 minutes)

When logged in, access the courses directly here: CPM Self-Instructional Assessment Training Course

• Login to CLI Engage and locate the “Screening, Progress Monitoring, and Observation” red banner on the dashboard
• Click the “Circle Progress Monitoring Pre-K” button
• On the “Class View” page, click on the name of the class that includes the students you wish to assess
• View your roster and begin assessing students on the “Student View” page

This page allows you to:

• Select which wave you are assessing (BOY – Wave 1, MOY – Wave 2, EOY – Wave 3)
• Choose to administer a measure in English/Spanish
• See the benchmark scores for students in a class
• Launch a measure, or multiple measures or sub-measures

There are several options for uploading data into CLI Engage to create accounts for teachers and other staff, as well as adding children into the system for progress monitoring. Your rosters may be uploaded on your behalf.

Find instructions and more information: Uploading Teacher and Student Data

CPM includes both direct assessment measures and observable checklist measures. Additional details about each measure are available in the sections below. Follow guidance from your district or school leadership on the measures to be administered for your classroom.

Total Direct Assessment Time (Student): 58.5 minutes
Total Time to Complete Observables: 28 minutes
Total Assessment Time, All Measures: 86.5 minutes

Learn about how the CPM measures are aligned to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines:

• Circle Progress Monitoring-Texas PKG Alignment
• Alineación del sistema de monitoreo del progreso Circle con las pautas actualizadas de prekínder de Texas

CPM is also aligned to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Circle Progress Monitoring-Head Start Alignment

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. These research studies were primarily conducted in preschools and child care centers in Texas, Maryland, Ohio, and Florida. For detailed information about its reliability and validity, please refer to the Circle Progress Monitoring Technical Manual, available upon request.

While formal benchmarks are scientifically identified through comparisons of sufficiently sized data sets, informal benchmarks are not identified through an examination of data but represent CPM recommendations that can be used to inform instructional decision-making.

While most measures have formal benchmarks, some sub-measures do not have a full range of formal benchmarks. This may be because a sufficient sample size has not been collected to set benchmarks for the task, a specific language, or a specific age range of children assessed with the measure. CLI’s validation efforts are ongoing, and formal benchmarks will be added as they become available. However, CPM provides color coding for several tasks to identify children at risk for academic difficulties based on scoring against an “informal” benchmark for specific age ranges.

If a benchmark exists for the child’s age range, the shade of color presented on reports indicates if it is a formal benchmark (dark shade) or informal benchmark (light shade). Colors in the assessment indicate the level of support needed for 3 to 4-year-old children.

CPM benchmarks are dichotomous: Proficient or Not-proficient. The “Not-proficient” category includes “monitor” and “needs support,” depending on the age group. Monitor was set as an indicator for those students under the age of 4 years who have an additional year in pre-K to reach proficiency.

CPM Benchmark Legend on CLI Engage

In the CPM benchmarks, the tables display the benchmarks for each measure listed by child age and then if they are considered to be at or meeting the benchmark. For example, the vocabulary benchmark for a child who starts the school year at age four increases from 16 at the beginning of the year (Wave 1) to 18 at the middle of the year (Wave 2), and to 19 at the end of the year (Wave 3). If a four-year-old gets 16 or more pictures named correctly at Wave 1, the score is considered on track and is colored green. If the child scores fewer than 16 correct, the score indicates the child needs support and is colored red.

This measure is given to evaluate a student’s ability to identify letters of the alphabet. The child is given a total of 60 seconds of stimulus time to identify letters that appear on the screen. The child must respond within 3 seconds. If 3 seconds elapse without a response, the item is automatically scored as incorrect. A response should be recorded if the child correctly names the letter, if the child says: “I don’t know”, or if the child provides the incorrect response. In other words, record a response should the child correctly or incorrectly name the letter.

The Book and Print Checklist observes the child’s engagement and awareness of books and print.

Select a book with these features:

• Print on every page
• At least one page with multiple lines of print
• No more than three lines of print on each page
• Print that moves from left to right
• Hardback book, not paperback
• Has pictures drawn by an illustrator, not photographer
• Has more than one layout across pages. For example, sometimes the first word to read is at bottom of the page, other times it is oriented at top of page, not consistently at bottom of page.

Select “Correct” or “Incorrect” for each item on the checklist as you ask the child about the book.

• Correct – the child demonstrated this behavior.
• Incorrect – the child did not demonstrate this behavior

The Letter-Sound Correspondence measure assesses a child’s ability to identify sounds associated with individual letters.

Directions to the child: “We are going to look at some letters and see if you know the sound each letter makes. It’s okay to guess if you don’t know the sounds. Some letters make only one sound and some make more than one sound. Try to tell me at least one sound each letter makes. Ready? What sounds does this letter make?”

Record the response.

The Rapid Vocabulary Naming sub-measure attempts to gain insight into a child’s expressive vocabulary skills.

Directions: Child is given a total of 60 seconds stimulus time to identify pictures as they appear on the screen. There are different pictures for each wave of the assessment. The Rapid Vocabulary Naming assessment includes 2 untimed warm-up items. Conduct a practice session with the warmup items and give feedback for both practice items:

Correct response: “Good job.”

Incorrect response: “That was a good try, but this is a ball. Let’s try some more. You say, ‘ball.’” Prompt the student by reading the instructions on the “ready” screen of the assessment.

After a picture appears on the screen, the student must respond within 3 seconds. If 3 seconds elapse without a response the item is automatically scored as incorrect. A response should be recorded if the child correctly names the letter if the child says: “I don’t know,” or if the child provides an incorrect response.

Note: A list of acceptable responses can be found on the Rapid Vocabulary Naming scoresheets here: CPM Scoresheets

The Story Retell component assesses a child’s ability to retell a story. In this task, the teacher uses illustrations to provide a stimulus for an oral narrative and then asks the child to retell the story, in their own words, to match the pictures. The teacher scores three story retell items to measure the child’s ability to create a narrative using important elements of narrative macrostructure, including characters, setting, emotions or problems, conjunctions or transition phrases, and an ending or conclusion. Afterward, the teacher asks three comprehension questions that are scored as correct or incorrect.

Directions:

1. Print and read the Story Retell procedures sheet and scoresheet from the CPM Scoresheets.
2. Elicit the narrative. Record data on the scoresheet and follow onscreen instructions for recording responses.
3. Comprehension. Ask the three questions as prompted on the screen. Record data on the scoresheet and follow onscreen instructions for recording responses.

You may help the child by using the following acceptable prompts.

• Do not prompt more than twice
• Acceptable prompts include: “Tell me the story.” “What else can you tell me about the story?” “Mhm” or “Uhhuh.”
• Acceptable nonverbal prompts include: Smiles and eye contact or nods of affirmation and agreement
• Unacceptable prompts include:
  • “What is he doing?”
  • “Where is he?”
  • “Pointing at pictures while prompting”
  • “What’s this?”
  • “What’s happening here?” Avoid asking the “wh” questions, (who?, what?, when?, where?) These often lead to obvious and limited responses/answers.

In the Syllabication submeasure, children are asked to demonstrate knowledge of how words can be broken down into syllables. The purpose of this task is to determine the word parts in a word. Teachers should use syllable counting methods that are consistent with their classroom instruction (e.g., clapping, moving blocks, counters, tapping, etc.). Students should receive a correct mark if they can accurately identify the appropriate number of syllables.

Directions: The teacher will say a word, and the child will repeat the word and identify the word parts or syllables in a word by clapping, moving blocks, counters, tapping, etc., according to counting methods that are consistent with their classroom instruction.

Onset-rime is the ability to blend two parts of a word together when segmented between the beginning consonant(s) and the rest of the word.

The Onset-Rime submeasure includes a sample item and five measure items and evaluates one of the key components of phonological processing (i.e., blending) within single-syllable words.

Directions: Teacher breaks up a word into sounds. Child repeats the parts and says the word. Record whether the child’s response was correct or incorrect. Make sure there is a clean break between word sounds, approximately 1 second.

Note: This skill is not assessed in Spanish.

Alliteration is the ability to give two or more words that have the same sound(s) at the beginning of the words.

This submeasure is another task that asks children to provide a “yes” or “no” answer to whether a pair of words start with the same sound. This submeasure contains a sample item and 7 measure items.

Directions: Have the child repeat each word pair prior to indicating if the words are the same or not. Record the response.

Note: Emphasize the /s/ sound only on the practice items. Have the child repeat the words prior to attempting to provide an answer for the item.

Rhyming is the ability to listen to two words and distinguish if two words rhyme.

The Rhyming 1 submeasure contains 9 items that evaluate whether a child can identify whether two words rhyme.

Directions: Have the child repeat each word pair before indicating if the words are the same or not. Record the response.

Listening is the ability to screen out other noises and selectively focus attention on a specific sound. The Listening section contains 5 items that evaluate whether a child can differentiate between similar-sounding words.

Directions: Have the child repeat each word pair prior to indicating if the words are the same or not. Record the response.

This task is the ability to move counters to show how many words are in a sentence. The Words in a Sentence sub-measure requires that teachers use simple manipulatives (e.g., single-colored blocks, unifix cubes, counters, etc.) Children move the manipulatives to indicate how many words are in a sentence. Sentence length varies from two words to six words.

Directions: Teacher will say the sentence and the child will move the counters to show how many words are in the sentence. Make sure you are sitting across from the child and exaggerate the block movements during sample items. Record the response.

Note: It is acceptable to have the child repeat the task one additional time to reinforce the concept.

Remember to have the child repeat the sentence prior to attempting to move the blocks. This ensures that the child has heard the sentence accurately.

Rhyming 2 is the ability to give a word that rhymes with the word given independently. The Rhyming Part 2 submeasure is a production task where children are asked to provide a word that rhymes with another word. There are 5 measure items in this section of the measure.

Directions: Have the child repeat each word pair prior to indicating if the words are the same or not. Record the responses.

Note: Nonsense words that rhyme with the target word are acceptable. For each item, have the child repeat the word and then provide the answer.

The first item evaluates the rote counting skills of children and the highest number that the child counts correctly yields a score of either 0 (child counts between 1 & 10), 1 (child counts between 11 & 20), and 2 (child counts to 21 or above). Type in the box provided the highest number the child counted in sequence.

In these items children are asked to scan a complex visual array of shapes and point to all of the triangles (items 14 through 17) and squares (18 through 20). The child is scored on the first three shapes that they touch. Touch or click the items the child selected.

Children view four picture items and are asked to identify which one is a number, “Look at these pictures. Which one is a number?” Teacher selects (taps or clicks) the quadrant identified by the student.

Children view a number and are prompted, “What number is this?” Teacher records correct or incorrect.

In these items, children are asked to scan a complex visual array of shapes and point to all of the triangles and squares. The child is scored on the first three shapes that they select. If the student points only to one or two of the 3 shapes, the following question can be asked again: “Is that all of them?” Tap or click only the shapes pointed by the student and click the button to continue.

In these items, children are asked to count sets of 3, 5, 7, 10, and 15 and indicate the cardinal value for each set. The most important thing to remember when administering this item is that the response is scored based on the cardinal value that the child provides. If the child accurately counts the 10 stop signs, but provides the wrong cardinal value, such as “6”, the item is scored as incorrect. Children are being asked to understand that a set of objects has a specific (cardinal) value and are not being evaluated on their ability to count items.

Children view items and answer prompts for adding to or taking away. Children can use hands to cover objects on screen but may not use manipulatives to support this assessment. Teacher records correct or incorrect.

Children are prompted to look at a pattern and select an appropriate response from items to what comes next. The teacher asks, “Look at this pattern. What comes next?”

Children are asked to view pictures and touch or point to ordinal numbers identified by the teacher, identify measurement (tallest/shortest) in a picture, and identify quantity (more/less) in a picture.

Each item contains a scripted question that the child answers by pointing to one of 3 pictures (receptive task). There are no practice items. Follow the prompt on the screen and record the response by clicking or touching the item the child selected as the answer.

This is an untimed measure, but if the child does not provide a response after about 10 seconds, move on to the next item (e.g., “OK, let’s try another one”) by clicking an incorrect response. If no response after about 5-10 seconds: “It’s okay to take a guess.”

Directions: Each item contains a scripted question that the child answers by pointing to one of 3 pictures (receptive task). There are no practice items. Follow the prompt on the screen and record the response by clicking or touching the item the child selected as the answer.

This is an untimed measure, but if the child does not provide a response after about 10 seconds, move on to the next item (e.g., “OK, let’s try another one”) by clicking an incorrect response.

Teacher Prompt:

• No response after about 5-10 seconds: “It’s okay to take a guess.” Repeat the prompt.
• Child responds, “I don’t know.”: “It’s okay to take a guess.” Repeat the prompt.
• After your prompt to guess, if the child still says, “I don’t know.”, the examiner says: “That’s okay. Let’s try another picture.”
• Verbal response when a child should point: “Show me with your pointer finger.” Repeat the prompt.
• If the student provides multiple responses by pointing to more than one: “Point to just one picture.” or “Choose just one answer.” Repeat the prompt.
• Repeat: If the child seems unclear or asks for a repetition, you can repeat the prompt/ question.
• If child points to stimulus on top: stop and mark incorrect.

The Observables should be based on observances and documentation such as anecdotal notes, portfolios, cumulative records, and other sources as recent as three weeks prior to assessment. Teachers often document the following types of notes related to the behaviors: the date, the setting (e.g., recess, library center, block center), whether support or scaffolding from the teacher or another child was needed, and how often the behavior occurs.

Mark your observations according to the following scale. CLI Engage automatically scores the teacher’s responses and applies the benchmark, as applicable.

• Rarely (0 points): the child never or rarely demonstrates the behavior.
• Sometimes (1 point): the child sometimes demonstrates the behavior, but it is inconsistent or requires assistance.
• Consistently (2 points): the child consistently demonstrates the behavior.

Captures the ability to write letter-like forms or real letters, understand that writing moves from left to right, engage in writing activities within centers, and write in response to literature.

Captures skills in positive social behaviors, classroom community and safety, emotional and behavior regulation, self-care, attention, and approaches to learning.

Captures student initiative and curiosity, flexibility, and art, creativity, and dramatic play.

Includes items that capture developmental progress in three categories: fine and visual motor skills, gross motor skills, and understanding healthy behaviors (e.g. hygiene).

Captures the ability to vocalize, pronounce, and discriminate among sounds of the alphabet and words, as well as the use of grammar to convey meaning.

Observation of a student’s interest and enthusiasm for books and reading.

1. Progress monitoring activities should be pleasant and enjoyable for children.
2. When completing any standardized assessment, following the scripts verbatim is extremely important. Do not change the instructions in any way – the administration should be consistent and standardized no matter which examiner gives the measure.
3. It is also important to complete all sample items. Sample items on the Phonological Awareness sub-measure provide key information that can help children understand task demands (e.g., providing definitions and examples of when words sound the “same” or “different”).
4. Prior to administering individual items, make sure that children are paying attention. Gentle reminders that pull for attention (e.g., “Look at me”) are often effective at helping children regulate their attention. Do not assess while a child is sick, distraught, or upset.
5. Teachers are also encouraged to monitor their vocal tone and volume during the progress monitoring assessments. For example, in the Listening and Rhyming sections of the Phonological Awareness measure, it is important for teachers to enunciate clearly.
6. Praise effort, not success. A child should not be able to tell if he or she got an item correct or incorrect. Some examples are: “You are working hard.” “You are doing a great job paying attention.” “I am proud of your hard work.” “You’re behaving so nicely.” “Good listening.” “I’m having fun playing these games with you.” “You’re paying attention so well.” “I can tell you’re working hard.”
7. Do not offer hints or potential strategies to children or give praise that indicates how the child is doing/scoring. For example: DO NOT say: “Good.” “Great.” “Right.” “Uh-huh.” “You’re so smart.” Do not get in the habit of repeatedly saying “okay/bien” between items. Do not use facial expressions that reveal how the child is doing. Do not give high fives during a measure/between items. Do not give hints (i.e. nodding, clapping, tapping, yes/no responses) when administering the assessment. Do not try to give additional information (i.e. we covered this last week, this letter makes this sound, this number comes after).
8. Progress monitoring assessment is not a time to teach children. Do not model a skill for a child once you have begun the assessment. The practice time is the only time.
9. The Rapid Vocabulary Naming and Rapid Letter Naming measures have clearly specified time limits (i.e., one minute). It is critical that time limits are strictly adhered to during these sub-measures. In addition, the Rapid Vocabulary and Rapid Letter Naming measures have clearly specified rules for when to move on to the next item.
10. We recommend teachers administer all items within a sub-measure at each progress monitoring session; however, districts/program administrators may determine that particular measures may be more useful to their needs. Please note that for Phonological Awareness and Math, all sub-measures must be completed to produce a total score.
11. If a child is unclear about expectations, feel free to repeat the item. When repeating an item, please refer to administration guidelines for the measure. A good rule of thumb is that teachers should not repeat items more than two times. For example, if a child appears confused or hesitant after you have read an item 1-time, feel free to reread the item once more (for a total of two times). If the child still does not provide a response, move on to the next item (e.g., “OK, let’s try another one”).
12. Do not try to delete the assessment and change the answers. True results are more effective.
13. Do not continuously click the keys when administering a timed measure.
14. There are a multitude of options for assessing within the classroom. While students are actively engaged in center activities, you can identify individual students who come to a small group area; assess on the rug, at a table, or even in the hallway if there are two people in the room. It is a good idea to let the students know that you will be playing a game and what the rules are for interrupting you if needed. You can place a cone on the table, or wear a badge or a hat, for example, to signify that you are unavailable while engaged in the assessment.
15. Assessment measures can be administered at any time – they do not have to be completed in entirety in one sitting. Some teachers have success completing assessments during student naptime. If a student is unresponsive, sick, or highly distracted, then it is a good idea to discontinue the assessment and plan for an alternative time slot.

CLI Engage allows you to set your own assessment schedules; this is a local leadership decision. We normally suggest that beginning-of-year (Wave 1 on CLI Engage) assessments be conducted starting in mid-September and ending by mid-October. Middle-of-year (Wave 2) may be around mid-January to mid-February. Administration at the end-of-year (Wave 3) can be around mid-April to mid-May. You can also determine which of the available measures, beyond the required measures, may be more useful to meet your instructional objectives.

Optional Four Waves

Most of our progress monitoring systems are designed around 3 waves of assessment. If your organization is interested in the option of using 4 waves of assessment for your pre-K classes, contact us through the help ticket system prior to starting the administration of your BOY measures to ensure your schools are properly set up for four waves of progress monitoring administration.

Utilize CLI’s resources for alternative administration functionality and protocols for CPM. Visit our detailed webpage to access teacher’s guides, webinars, and visual schedules to support teachers as they administer assessments remotely: Remote Assessment Administration

The offline assessment feature can be used to assess students when an internet connection is not available at the time of administration. The offline feature for CPM can be accessed from the assessment practice area (for practicing the offline feature) or directly from the class view in CPM (when conducting the assessments): CPM Offline Assessment

The Exclude button is used to “exclude” a student OR the entire class from a specific measure or sub-measure. The completion report takes this exclusion into account when tabulating completion rates. For example, in a class of 10 students, if 2 are excluded and the remaining 8 are measured, the completion report will indicate 100%. If the students are not formally excluded using this feature, the report would indicate an 80% completion rate. Anyone with access to a class can exclude measures.

If all students are excluded from a measure (i.e., the measure is not being administered to any student), it is more efficient to use the Exclude All button that appears just below the measure name, rather than excluding each individual child. This feature excludes the entire class from a measure or sub-measure with one click. In this case, the “Launch” icon is replaced by a gray square preventing the measure from being administered to the student. This can also be done by an administrator, but would have to be set for every class (i.e., it cannot be performed school-wide). In this case, the teacher would not see the measures that the administrator had excluded.

If a teacher excludes all students from a measure, it is helpful to also remove it from view using the Hide/Display Measures feature. This makes it easier to locate measures you are actually assessing without having to scroll through the full list of available measures. It is important to note that the “Hide/Display Measures” button hides a measure from view for navigational purposes only. Hiding a measure does not affect data or reporting. Hiding is set by each user, and the system remembers the user’s preference; therefore no user can hide measures for another user.

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For some direct assessments, the child may see a celebratory completion page after completing all items.

When finished, you may dismiss the child and click “Next” to see the results.

The teacher’s results screen includes:

• Child’s name, class, and DOB
• Assessment items, child’s answers, and the child’s score for each item
• Option to click “Done” to submit the score or “Invalidate” the results
• Comment feature to record important notes.