Take a Tour!
New to CLI Engage? Watch this quick video to learn about the tools and resources on CLI Engage, and where to find them!
Texas Rising Star Toolkit
Access free resources to support your Texas Rising Star quality improvement journey!
Being Texas Rising Star qualifies early learning programs to access many free resources on CLI Engage to support quality improvement! Your Texas Rising Star Mentor may share resources from CLI Engage with you, or you may find them linked from the Texas Rising Star Digital Resource Collection. CLI Engage is available for free to all home-based and center-based:
- Texas Rising Star-certified providers
- Programs with the Entry Level Designation
- All others that have contacted their Board with interest in participating in Texas Rising Star
“How do you get four stars without CLI Engage? You don’t!” –Texas Rising Star-Certified Provider
Setting Up Your CLI Engage Account
All Texas Rising Star participants can access the tools and resources on CLI Engage at no cost. The first step is to create your free account!
- Administrators/directors: As part of the Texas Rising Star onboarding process, you should receive an invitation to login to your CLI Engage account. If you’re not sure you received this email, please contact our support team for assistance (be sure to mention you are part of Texas Rising Star).
- Assistant directors and other program leaders: Contact our support team for assistance (be sure to mention you are part of Texas Rising Star and your role at your program).
- Teachers and classroom staff: There are several ways for teachers to receive their free CLI Engage account.
- Request an account through a QR code (highly recommended): Directors can follow these instructions to help teachers quickly opt-in to an account. Directors can easily verify their access.
- Complete the request form: Each teacher can contact our support team for assistance (be sure to mention you are part of Texas Rising Star)
Progress Monitoring on CLI Engage
CLI Engage features easy-to-administer, playful child progress monitoring tools capture a child’s skill development and progression in skill areas known to predict school readiness. Approved for Texas Rising Star, these tools are free to access.
- Circle Progress Monitoring (CPM) for pre-K classrooms (3- and 4-year-olds): Fully aligned to TWC’s requirements for Texas Rising Star formal assessment in preschool/pre-K classrooms. There are many reports for directors, teachers, and families to learn about children’s skills and support instruction at school and home.
- Infant & Toddler Developmental Milestones Checklists for children ages 0-48 months: These checklists are informal assessments of children’s growth and development across multiple domains. Teachers can use these checklists to track milestones and plan instruction.
More than 80% of public schools use CPM in their pre-K classrooms. If your program is in a child care partnership, using CPM helps with alignment and collaboration with your school district partners.
Online Professional Development for Administrators and Teachers
CLI Engage offers hundreds of hours of online, interactive professional development for early childhood professionals in many key areas of learning for Texas Rising Star participants:
- Texas state guidelines trainings, like the Texas Pre-K Guidelines and Core Competencies
- Core content knowledge in key school readiness domains
- Alignments to early childhood credentials, like the CDA
- Specific Texas Rising Star trainings
All online training on CLI Engage awards a certificate of completion with all information needed for Child Care Regulation and Texas Rising Star. It’s highly recommended for all staff to connect their CLI Engage account to TECPDS, so all certificates automatically save in their TECPDS accounts. This will save time during Texas Rising Star assessments.
Classroom and Home Activities and Curriculum
Texas Rising Star participants have access to hundreds of classroom activities for use in the classroom and to share with families. The Circle Activity Collections translate the best early childhood development research into practice through a variety of activities that teachers can implement during large group, small group, and one-on-one instruction. The activity collections feature video demonstrations, alignments to state guidelines, and teaching tips to support teachers.
- Circle Activity Collection: Infant & Toddler Classroom
- Circle Activity Collection: Pre-K to Grade 2 Classroom
- Circle Activity Collection: Family
Based on the Circle Activity Collections and aligned for comprehensive instruction, the Circle Curriculum provide all the resources needed to support weekly planning and delivery of high-quality, playful instruction. Approved for Texas Rising Star, the curriculum is digital and free to access online through CLI Engage. Printed versions can be purchased from the Children’s Learning Institute.
Family Engagement Resources
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. 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.
CLI Engage for Texas Rising Star Video Series
Welcome to CLI Engage for Texas Rising Star
This detailed introduction to CLI Engage will showcase the tools and resources available to you to support early childhood learning.
Setting Up Your CLI Engage Account
Watch this short video to learn ways to easily establish new CLI Engage accounts for Texas Rising Star educators.
Creating Class Rosters
Learn how to manually create classes, assign teachers to their class, and add students to the class roster by watching this video.
Online Professional Development on CLI Engage
Log in to CLI Engage to access these online courses and earn completion certificates.
Texas Rising Star Orientation
Developed with TWC, an overview of Texas Rising Star and the onboarding process for early learning programs interested in applying for certification.
1 course, 7 hours
Workforce Registry Accounts for Texas Rising Star
Make the most of your TECPDS account for administrators and practitioners (additional courses for Texas Rising Star staff).
2 courses, up to 2 hours
2022 Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines Training
Developed with the Texas Education Agency, these courses guide teachers through pre-K outcomes and instructional strategies for 3’s and 4’s.
11 courses, up to 23.5 hours
Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines Training
These courses guide teachers through child growth and instructional strategies for 0-3.
5 courses, up to 10 hours
Texas Core Competencies for Educators and Administrators Training
An overview of the educator and administrator core competencies, the skills and behaviors expected for ECE professionals.
12 courses, up to 16.5 hours
Circle CDA Training Program
Online courses aligned to the CDA Functional Areas and support for the professional portfolio. *See alignments by age group for more information on earning all 120 hours needed to apply for the CDA.
Up to 120 hours
eCircle Professional Development
Featuring real classroom videos and exemplars, comprehensive professional development covering key pre-K school readiness domains.
17 courses, up to 73.5 hours
Circle Infant & Toddler Teacher Training: Play with Me
Featuring experts, classroom videos, and activities, comprehensive professional development covering child growth from 0-3.
19 courses, up to 36 hours
Beginning Education: Early Childcare at Home
Specifically designed for home-based, strategies for supporting children from 0-5 (in English and Spanish).
4 courses, up to 20 hours
Circle Progress Monitoring Training
An overview of CPM administration and reports to support instructional planning.
6 courses, up to 5 hours
Need Help?
Contact our support team! We're here to help you set-up your account and access everything on the platform.
