CPM User Guide

• New to CLI Engage? Sign up for access to CLI Engage  
• For more information, view the Getting a CLI Engage Account How-to Guide
• If you need additional support with your account, reach out to the Help Center

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 Learning and Professional Development section of CLI Engage. Users can earn certificates for the completion of each course.

• CPM Overview (30 minutes)
• Getting Started with CPM (30 minutes)
• CPM Administration Guidelines (1 hour)
  • Includes Administration videos

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): 58-60 minutes
Total Time to Complete Observables: 26 minutes
Total Assessment Time, All Measures: 84-86 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 Rapid Letter Naming benchmark for a child who starts the school year at age four increases from 7 at the beginning of the year (Wave 1) to 11 at the middle of the year (Wave 2), and to 14 at the end of the year (Wave 3). If a four-year-old gets 7 or more letter names correct at Wave 1, the score is considered on track and is colored green. If the child scores fewer than 7 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 Awareness 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.

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?”

The Rapid Vocabulary 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 this measure, teachers provide children with sounds that are combined to form words.

The first five items are multiple-choice items where children are asked to point to (or touch) the word that was blended. The second half of the measure is more complicated. Children are asked to blend phonemes independently, without multiple choices or images.

Teachers should remember to leave a consistent gap of between .75 to 1 second between sounds. The measure has the potential to become significantly easier if the gap is shortened (e.g., by a fourth of a second) and more challenging if the gap is longer than 1 second due to verbal memory demands.

If there is no response, the teacher should feel free to repeat the prompt one more time.

The Initial Sounds sub-measure is an early assessment of emergent phonetic abilities.

For each item, an object is introduced.

This is a ______.

The teacher then asks the child to

Point to the letter that starts with the same sound as ______.

If there is no response, the teacher should feel free to repeat the prompt one more time.

This sub-measure evaluates a child’s ability to identify rhyming words.

The first half consists of multiple-choice items in which children are asked to point to the pictures that rhyme. Teachers should not accept verbal responses for multiple choice questions (e.g., the one on the bottom).

The second half of the measure is more complicated. Children are asked to identify rhyming words independently, without multiple choices or images.

If there is no response, the teacher should feel free to repeat the prompt one more time.

This task requires children to identify parts of words and sentences by clapping.

Teachers will present a word or sentence, and the child will repeat it. Prompt the children to “Clap as you say each word of the sentence.”

Scoring depends on the accuracy of the clap count.

This sub-measure evaluates a child’s ability to recognize sounds contained in words. Pictures are used on two items to help children remember both the target sound (i.e., initial sound in Dog, final sound in Head) and possible answer choices.

The final items ask children to determine if two words are the same or if they have the same initial sound, without multiple choices or images.

If there is no response, the teacher should feel free to repeat the prompt one more time.

This task requires children to identify parts of words and sentences by clapping. Teachers will present a word or sentence, and the child will repeat it. Prompt the children: Clap as you say each word of the sentence or each part of the word.
Scoring depends on the accuracy of the clap count.

This sub-measure evaluates a child’s ability to identify rhyming words.
Some items consist of multiple-choice items in which children are asked to point to the pictures that rhyme. While other items of the measure are more complicated. Children are asked to identify rhyming words independently, without multiple choices or images.

The Letters Sounds section assesses a child’s ability to identify and match beginning sounds in words.

For each item, introduce the pictured object:
“This is a ____.”

Then point to each response option, one at a time, and say the sound represented by the letter.

Say the letter sound only. Do not say the letter name.
For example, for B, say /b/, not “B” or “B says /b/.”

Then ask:
“Point to the one that starts with the same sound as ____.”
If the child does not respond, repeat the prompt one time only.

Important: Always provide the sound for each response option. Do not ask the child to name the letters or produce their sounds.

This sub-measure evaluates a child’s ability to recognize sounds contained in words. Pictures are used on items to help children remember both the target sound (i.e., initial sound in Dog, final sound in Head) and possible answer choices.
Items ask children to determine if two words are the same or if they have the same initial sound, without multiple choices or images.

In this sub-measure, teachers provide children with sounds that are combined to form words. Some items are multiple-choice items where children are asked to point to (or touch) the word that was blended. The other part of Blending is more complicated. Children are asked to blend phonemes independently, without multiple choices or images.

Teachers should remember to leave a consistent gap of between .75 to 1 second between sounds. The measure has the potential to become significantly easier if the gap is shortened (e.g., by a fourth of a second) and more challenging if the gap is longer than 1 second due to verbal memory demands.

Children are asked to identify and name numbers. Some items ask children to point to (or touch) a specific number, while other items ask children to say the name of a number shown on the screen.

Teachers should read each prompt as written and allow the child to respond by pointing, touching, or responding verbally, depending on the item.

Children demonstrate their understanding of shapes. Some items ask children to name a shape, while others ask children to identify a specific shape or find multiple examples of the same shape.

Teachers should read each prompt as written and allow the child to respond verbally or by pointing to (or touching) the appropriate shape or shapes.

For items that ask the child to identify multiple shapes, follow any additional prompting instructions provided on the item screen. For designated items, if the child identifies only some of the correct shapes, the teacher may prompt one time, “Is that all of them?”

Children demonstrate their counting skills. Children are asked to count aloud and to count groups of objects shown on the screen.

For the rote counting item, allow the child to continue counting until they make an error, and record how high the child was able to count without making a mistake. For other items, read each prompt as written and allow the child to count the objects and provide their answer.

Children are asked to solve simple addition and subtraction problems. The problems describe objects being added to or taken away from a group, and children determine how many objects there would be altogether or how many would remain.

Teachers should read each problem exactly as written and allow the child to provide a verbal response or select an answer, as directed by the item.

Children are asked to recognize and complete patterns. Children look at a sequence and determine what should come next.

Teachers should read each prompt as written and ask the child to point to (or touch) the answer that completes the pattern. The teacher should then select the response indicated by the child.

Children demonstrate their understanding of mathematical language and concepts. Items assess concepts such as capacity, quantity, measurement, order, and position.

Teachers should read each prompt as written and ask the child to identify the object or image that best answers the question. Children may respond by pointing to (or touching) their answer.

Each item contains a scripted question that the child answers by pointing to one of 3 pictures (receptive task). 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). 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.
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.

Assessment Windows Lock Feature

The optional “lock” feature allows LEAs to limit access to specific administration windows for teachers. Administrators can set testing dates for assessments and waves. This feature ensures that teachers conduct assessments during the correct waves and within designated testing windows. Learn more about this tool here: Assessment Lock Feature How-to Guide

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.

For direct measures, the teacher will indicate a child’s correct or incorrect response for each item by clicking the buttons on screen or using the keyboard arrow keys:

• Click the blue button or your keyboard’s left arrow if the student gave the incorrect response.
• Click the purple button or your keyboard’s right arrow if the student gave the correct response.

For the Rapid Letter Naming and Rapid Vocabulary Naming measures, the teacher cannot correct scoring errors. If a scoring error is made, the assessment must be invalidated. To invalidate an assessment, click the “Invalidate this Assessment” button on the results screen.

Once an assessment has been completed and you have clicked “Done” you will not be able to invalidate. On CLI Engage, only administrators have the ability to invalidate student assessment scores. Invalidating a student score will delete the record of a student’s assessment and enable the teacher to reassess the child. Scores must be invalidated per child, per measure. Invalidated scores cannot be retrieved, so score invalidation should be done with utmost caution. For assistance, please submit a help ticket.

Score invalidation examples:

• Teacher accidentally assessed the wrong child
• Teacher accidentally assessed a child in the wrong language
• Teacher accidentally assessed the wrong measure
• Teacher accidentally assessed a child outside the guidance from their IEP

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.

The CLI Engage Family Engagement Toolkit make the most of procedures you likely already have in place, such as progress monitoring, homework, parent-teacher conferences, and open houses. CLI advocates a new focus for these efforts: supporting families in better understanding children’s development and engaging in fun, developmentally appropriate activities that not only build skills but strengthen the bonds between family members.

Family Engagement Toolkit

Teachers using CPM can share student reports with families by printing them or providing a PIN for online access. Teachers can also send families activities that are designed to support skill development at home.

Student Report Resources:

• Overview Video: Watch the Student Report for Parents
• Generating Student Reports for Parents how-to guide
• Printing Parent PIN Pages how-to guide

Implementation Guide (available in English and Spanish) includes the following topics:

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

Helping Families Understand Their Child’s Assessment Results:

• Understanding Your Child’s Assessment Results
• Family-Friendly Description of Assessment Measures

Teachers can collect valuable information on their student’s development by sharing these forms with families and asking them to give feedback about their child. Each form is aligned to the CPM measures to support the integration of family information into instructional planning. Family Observation Forms are available in English and Spanish.

Many studies have shown that families and teachers working together to support children’s development can lead to better outcomes for children. This collection includes fun, easy activity ideas that families can do together to help support important school readiness skills for children ages 0-6. Learn more here: Circle Activity Collection: Family

Teachers can also share family activities directly with families via email throughout the school year. This feature is accessed through your class small group report for CPM. After uploading parent email addresses, teachers can select and share activities aligned to each child’s areas for skill development so children are supported at school and home.

Circle Progress Monitoring was not designed or evaluated for use for children with disabilities (e.g., language delays, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, or Intellectual Disabilities). Additionally, it is a progress monitoring assessment, not a diagnostic test. Therefore, it should not be used to make determinations about whether or not children should be enrolled in Special Education. Data from Circle Progress Monitoring could be used to help school officials make a determination about whether or not a child should be referred for a more comprehensive evaluation. For instance, if a child does not socially engage with peers or teachers, is not able to follow simple verbal instructions (even though the teacher is speaking in the same language that is used in the home), AND is not able to complete more than a few progress monitoring items, this information can be presented to the school administration as documentation that this the child would benefit from a more comprehensive evaluation. To date, there is not enough information to allow us to determine if progress monitoring could effectively be used as part of an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) for young children.

As those who work with children with developmental disabilities understand, assessment is a complex undertaking. In terms of general guidelines, administrators, teachers, diagnosticians, and assistive technology specialists would be encouraged to consult TEA’s Accommodations for Students with Disabilities which can be located on TEA’s website: Special Student Populations

Whenever possible, decisions about accommodations should be made by the ARD committee based upon the eligibility criteria documented in the student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). For students receiving section 504 services, accommodation decisions should be made by the section 504 committee based on their eligibility criteria that is documented in the students Individual Accommodation Plan (IAP). As a general rule, teachers and administrators should allow accommodations for children in a manner that is consistent with their educational programming. For instance, accommodations that are routinely and effectively used within the classroom setting should be allowed when students complete Circle Progress Monitoring. For instance, children with hearing impairments who use amplification devices should be allowed to use amplification devices during administration of all progress monitoring subtests. Other appropriate accommodations that could be utilized in working with children with disabilities might include individualized structured reminders, projection devices, signed administration, math manipulatives, braille, and extra time.

Districts or programs using Circle Progress Monitoring should understand that appropriate accommodations should be encouraged. However, normative information about the performance of children who complete measures using accommodations is not available.

It is appropriate to use regular progress monitoring with students who have expressive communication difficulties that are not accompanied with a significant developmental disability. These students require the use of an alternative communication system to respond to others. An alternative communication system might be a switch or keyboard that the student operates and that produces a voice output response (for example “yes/no”). A system that allows the student to respond by pointing to the symbol or picture to indicate an answer (“yes/no” or a “1, 2, 3, or 4”) is also acceptable.

Application

• For the Listening, Rhyming 1, and Alliteration measures, allow the use of a device to give a “yes” or “no” answer
• For the Words in a Sentence and Syllabication measures, allow the use of a device to give a “1, 2, 3, or 4” response

Students with low vision or blindness need more time to process information and provide a response. Refer to your school district’s policies and specialists regarding how much time the student needs to complete the sub-measures as well as the amount of wait time the student needs. For example, braille readers have been found to need twice as long.

Some PDF versions of the Circle Progress Monitoring items can be requested by district administrators. To request a PDF version, submit a help ticket.

Rapid Vocabulary: If the student’s IEP provides for assessment through a system that enhances images (such as projection to enlarge), display the items and allow two times the amount of response time.

Rapid Letter Naming: Provide letters in braille and allow two times the amount of response time.

Math Shape Naming, Shape Discrimination, Counting Sets: Administer the measure untimed and substitute objects for pictures.

Math Number Discrimination, Number Naming: Provide numbers in braille. Administer the assessments using the extended time accommodation.

• Administer the directions to assessments in sign language.
• Do not administer the phonological awareness portion of the test.

Click the “Exclude” button on the student summary page to exclude the student from phonological awareness measures.

Allow the directions to be reworded in any format or language necessary (including sign language) to enable the student to understand the task(s) by repeating in English, using the native language, etc. No other part of the test may be reworded or translated. This rewording and/or translation of directions would not go beyond the scope and meaning of the written directions.

Before the test, translate each screen of directions into Sign Language or another language. Print the translation.

At administration time:

• Assess the student as normal
• When you see a directions screen, read or sign from the translated document
  • Note: The Book and Print Checklist requires translation; observables do not, since they are completed by the teacher without the child present.