TX-KEA Toolkit for ESC Specialists

The Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment (TX-KEA) is a standardized assessment designed to screen student skills upon entering kindergarten. TX-KEA covers six learning domains: language; literacy; science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); social and emotional skills; executive function; and academic motor skills. TX-KEA was developed through a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and the Children’s Learning Institute at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. See the table below for a complete list of TX-KEA domains and measure/subtests available in Spanish and English at each wave.

Your first step is to register your account on CLI Engage:

• New to CLI Engage? View our registration video for information.
• See our matrix to find which CLI Engage package is the best fit when you sign up for access.
• 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 page.
• Refer to Uploading Teacher and Student Data to learn about several options available for uploading data into CLI Engage. Click here to download a how-to guide on finding schools in CLI Engage.
• You can integrate CLI Engage with existing Clever, ClassLink, Okta, or Microsoft login. Submit a help ticket on CLI Engage with any questions.
• If a user has forgotten their login information, administrators can reset their account so they can login to CLI Engage again: Reset Account How-to-Guide

The TX-KEA User Guide is a comprehensive guide that includes “need to know” information about the administration of TX-KEA in kindergarten classrooms.

Download the TX-KEA User Guide

The Kindergarten Classroom resources page provides extensive information about how to use the tools and resources on CLI Engage in public school kindergarten classrooms.

Kindergarten Classroom Resource Hub

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

• TX-KEA Introduction (1 hour)
• TX-KEA Administration Guidelines (2 hours)
• TX-KEA Reporting Features (1 hour)
• TX-KEA Overview for Administrators (1 hour)
• ECAS TX-KEA TOT Webinar

When logged in, access the courses directly here: TX-KEA Self-Instructional Courses

• How to Access Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment Training
• How to Access Self-Instructional or Facilitated Online Courses

The TX-KEA Literacy Screener (administered at wave 1/BOY) assesses:

• Vocabulary, Letter Names, and Spelling in English
• Vocabulary, Letter Names, and Spelling in Spanish

The TX KEA Dyslexia Screener (administered at wave 3/EOY) assesses:

• Blending (receptive and expressive) and Letter Sounds (receptive and expressive) in English
• Blending (receptive and expressive), Letter Sounds (receptive and expressive), and Decoding in Spanish

TX-KEA Literacy Screening and Dyslexia Screening

Below are the TX-KEA guidelines to receive additional guidance on scoring the TX-KEA subtests. Documents are available for all three waves (BOY, MOY, and EOY), if applicable.

Scoring Guidelines in Spanish and English include:

• Vocabulary Subtest Acceptable Responses
• Letter Sounds Expressive Subtest
• Academic Motor Skills Subtest visual samples and instructions
• Social Competence and Emotion Management Subtest rating scales
• Spelling Subtest (teacher script, teacher demonstration video, student forms, acceptable letter approximations form)

TX-KEA Scoring Guidelines

Utilize CLI’s resources for alternative remote administration functionality and protocols for TX-KEA. 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 TX-KEA can be accessed from the assessment practice area (for practicing the offline feature) or directly from the class view in TX-KEA (when conducting the assessments): TX-KEA Offline Assessment

The TX-KEA training facilitation guides have specific training facilitation information for school staff who will be facilitating training on TX-KEA with their teachers:

• TX-KEA Training Facilitation Guide Module 1: Introduction
• TX-KEA Training Facilitation Guide Module 2: Administration Guidelines
• TX-KEA Training Facilitation Guide Module 3: Reporting Features

Download Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment Training Facilitation Guides

Interested in becoming a TX-KEA Facilitator? Receive access to facilitate online courses and award certificates directly on CLI Engage: Facilitator Application Form

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 TX-KEA assessment domains to support the integration of family information into instructional planning.

Parent/Family Feedback Forms in Spanish and English include:

• TX-KEA Emotion Management
• TX-KEA Social Emotional
• TX-KEA Motivation to Read
• TX-KEA Speech Production and Sentence Skills
• TX-KEA Fine Motor Skills

TX-KEA Family Observation Forms

View how-to guides for printing parent reports and viewing results online:

• Generating Student Reports for Parents
• Printing Parent PIN Pages

Learn about the various reports available on CLI Engage and find how-to guides along with support resources for districts. Many of the following reports can be generated at the individual student, class, school, and community/district levels.

• Completion Report
• Growth Report
• Summary Reports
• Percentile Rank
• Custom Score Report (for Literacy and Dyslexia Screening)
• Grouping Reports (class level only)

Learn more about all the levels of CLI Engage Reports.

View the most recent recorded session on analyzing data and reports on our  Webinars & Presentations.

The CIRCLE Activity Collection: Pre-K to Grade 2 Collection includes the following in each lesson:

• A description of the activity, the learning domains the activity supports, and an appropriate grade level
• Materials needed for the activity
• Activity instructions and soft scripting for implementation
• Helpful hints, including tips to create variations, related books to read aloud, and ways to scaffold student’s learning
• Applicable alignments to the TEKS

Teachers can access many activities just for kindergarten by utilizing these search options:

• Activities by Kindergarten TEKS
• Activities/Kindergarten Filter

The CIRCLE STEM Lab Collection is a virtual laboratory that hosts video segments from PBS Learning Media with hands-on STEM activities which can be completed independently by students at home. These interactive activities integrate video segments with hands-on activities and can also be used independently by students at school or as a teacher directed activity.

Benchmarks are the minimum performance levels students are expected to reach by certain points of the year to indicate skill understanding. The TX-KEA Benchmark table displays the cut scores for benchmarks and is helpful in analyzing your data.

Review TX-KEA Benchmarks

Each TX-KEA subtest is directly aligned to Kindergarten TEKS in the TX-KEA-Kindergarten TEKS Alignment.

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

• TX-KEA Required Measures for ECDS
• ECDS Uploads for Kindergarten Data

Teachers using TX-KEA can share individual student reports with families by printing reports or by providing a personalized identification number (PIN) for families to view results online. Teachers can also send families activities that are designed to support skill development at home.

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

When sharing assessment results with parents, refer to our Family-Friendly Description of Assessment Measures.

CLI Engage provides a CIRCLE Activity Collection specifically designed to support children’s skill development at home with their parents and families. The CIRCLE Activity Collection: Family can be accessed on mobile devices and does not require a login. This collection provides a variety of hands-on activities that families can do at home. This collection is organized around seven learning domains: Language & Communication, Reading & Writing, Math, Science, Social & Emotional, Physical Development, and Art & Sensory.

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

• 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.
• Pre-K/Kindergarten Family Engagement Bag that can be folded into district-level family engagement plans: Download English Booklet | Download Spanish Booklet
• Family Engagement Bag Materials. Families will need just a few materials to complete the activities in the family engagement bag booklet: Download Family Engagement Bag Materials List
• Family Engagement Bag Message. Let parents know you would like to partner with them to support their child’s learning at home by sending this message with their Family Engagement Bag: Download Family Engagement Bag Message English | Download Family Engagement Bag Message Spanish

It is district decision which assessment domains are measured. It is intentionally designed as a comprehensive multidimensional assessment. While many districts and Kindergarten teachers utilize the entire suite of TX-KEA subtests, there is a state-mandated TX-KEA Kindergarten Literacy Screener at BOY. TX-KEA Literacy Screener includes three separate TX-KEA subtests and can be completed by teachers in 5-7 minutes. CLI Engage also provides a dyslexia screener at the end of the school year.

The color coding represents benchmarks which are important because they provide the classroom teacher with a way to effectively communicate with other educators and parents (e.g., your child appears to be “on track” within the letter naming domain as indicated by the green color). TX-KEA uses three color-coded benchmark categories that can be interpreted as follows:

• On Track (green): The child’s performance is above the cut-off score and indicates the child is progressing as expected within a given skill (e.g., letter naming, mathematics).
• Monitor (yellow): The child’s performance is approaching the cut-off score that indicates on-track development. This area should be monitored to ensure adequate progress is made.
• Support (red): The child’s score is below the cut-off that indicates additional assessment and/or support is recommended.