Early Childhood Education UPDATES
New PK-2nd Grade Diagnostics Web Resources!
The Early Childhood Education division is excited to announce a new section of the TEA website focused on Data Driven Instruction in Early Childhood! This section currently defines data collection requirements for prekindergarten through second grade. It also provides links to free tools and information to help decide what tool(s) will work best for each LEA. Over time, this section will grow to include guidance on tool selection, best practices for using data to inform instruction, and family engagement partnerships to support each child.
Prekindergarten Tuition Approval
The Early Childhood Division is excited to announce that our Early Childhood Division Prekindergarten Tuition page has recently been updated to begin accepting and approving Pre-k tuition proposal letters from LEAs for school year 2020-2021.
Districts that are interested in offering tuition-supported half and full-day prekindergarten classes to 3- and 4-year old children who are ineligible for district-financed prekindergarten classes may begin submitting proposed tuition letters for the commissioner’s approval to earlychildhoodeducation@tea.texas.gov.
The sample proposed tuition rate letter and the 2020-2021 tuition rate chart can be found on the EC Prekindergarten Tuition page.
For additional information, contact Rachel Robinson at rachel.robinson@tea.texas.gov or (512) 463-8869.
Changes in the National School Lunch Program
For school year 2020-2021, the Texas Department of Agriculture’s request for a waiver to permit all Texas PK students to receive free eligibility for School Nutrition Programs (SNPs) was denied. Districts and open-enrollment charters are encouraged to use the following resources to find answers to their specific questions regarding this prekindergarten eligibility criteria:
- District nutrition personnel
- Student Attendance Accounting Handbook, Section 7
- National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Handbook: Administrator’s Reference Manual
- General prekindergarten FAQs located on TEA’s website, specifically # 16 - 24
The income guidelines that are applicable for the upcoming school year are available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/03/20/2020-05982/child-nutrition-programs-income-eligibility-guidelines
It is important to note that the eligibility criteria for free public prekindergarten have not changed.
Prekindergarten End of Year Assessment Coding
Q: Due to the pandemic, districts may not be able to complete the EOY prekindergarten student progress monitoring. How do districts code the EOY PK assessment if it is not administered?
A: If no EOY assessment was completed with prekindergarten students, districts will report BOY assessment information only. If there was no EOY assessment completed, their files should only include BOY assessment data; there are no additional codes for EOY.
Public Comment Opportunity for Spanish Instructional Materials Rubrics
TEA is currently developing quality rubrics to review instructional materials for Spanish Prekindergarten systems (Proclamation 2021), Spanish Foundational Literacy K-2, and Spanish Language Arts and Reading K-6. Content experts and educators from across the state convened in working groups to develop rubrics. Rubrics are available in English and Spanish and are now open for a 30-day public comment before final publication. Quality reviews will begin in fall 2020.
Interested individuals are encouraged to provide feedback through the Public Comment Submission Form.
Visit the Texas Resource Review webpage or email TexasResourceReview@tea.texas.gov with additional questions related to the Texas Resource Review.
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