Texas Rising Star Toolkit

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)

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.

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
• Core content knowledge in key school readiness domains
• Alignments to early childhood credentials
• 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.

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.

• Circle Pre-K Curriculum
• Circle Infant & Toddler Curriculum

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.

Family Engagement Toolkit