Participant Information:

  • 19 individuals participated in two focus groups in San Antonio, TX. There were 9 teachers with kindergarten experience, 3 pre-kindergarten teachers, and 7 early childhood professionals from Head Start, school districts, and organizations.

What are your thoughts on conducting KEAs on computers and tablets?

  • Most teachers had experience with computer-based assessments and were comfortable using technology in regards to a technology-based KEA.
  • Participants liked the idea of completing the assessment with the child, instead of having each child complete it independently.
  • Participants were concerned that students had varying levels of experience with technology, which could possibly affect their responses to an assessment.
  • Some participants prefer completing the assessment on a tablet because students will be less likely to know if they gave an incorrect or correct response, less paperwork, immediate feedback for teachers, and the ability to capture data in real-time.

What is your technology preference? What technology is available now?

  • The biggest concern was classrooms having the most up-to-date technology to collect the data.
  • Most classrooms have access to at least one tablet, laptop, or desktop computer with a school computer lab.

How do you typically assess students?

  • Typically, students are in centers while the teacher individually assesses a child.
  • Some school districts provide a substitute for a day while the teacher individually assesses students.
  • Participants recommended guidelines for when to assess students to make sure that students are being assessed when they first enter kindergarten. One suggestion was to have teachers assess all students within the first 6 weeks of school.

Discussion about TX-KEA Domains

Oral Language Domain:

  • Most participants rated this domain as very important.
  • There were concerns about the vocabulary being culturally sensitiveand administration for English Language Learners.
  • Participants liked the range of vocabulary words and that grammar would be assessed.

Literacy Domain:

  • Most participants rated this domain as very important.
  • Participants recommended that uppercase and lowercase letter identification be included in the assessment.
  • Concerns included computer pronunciation of letter sounds and that for multiple-choice items studentsthat guess have agood chance of choosing a correct answer without knowing the correct answer.
  • Participants did not agree on expectations for entering kindergartners’ability to write their names. Some participants believed entering kindergartners should be able to write their first name only, while other participants believe they should be able to write their first and last name.
  • In regards to specific questions about invented spelling, participants believed teachers would be able to complete a spelling task in small groups, but would prefer to complete it one-on-one with each student. Also, assessing fine motor skills may be more important than spelling skills at the beginning of the year, and the process to administer the spelling task may be too difficult.

Cognitive Domain:

  • Most participants rated this domain as very important.
  • Participants stated that the “patterns” questionsare important, but since it is no longer in the TEKS, it should be dropped entirely or taken from the math section and added to the science section.
  • Participants specifically liked that TX-KEA will assess students’ problem solving skills.
  • Participants would prefer a more hands-on approach to the science section, and less assessing science-related vocabulary.

Approaches to Learning Domain:

  • Most participants rated this domain as important because it influences the other domains.
  • Participants were concerned with the subjectivity of teachers completing ratings of students’ behavior, but believe a clear rubric and video examples of behaviors will help with this subjectivity.

Physical Health and Well-being Domain:

  • While most participants believed this domain is important, especially fine and gross motor skills, there was disagreement on the physical health sub-domain.
  • In regards to physical health, participants were concerned about the amount of time to complete questionnaires on each child, the fluctuation in students’ physical health, sensitivity to families’ culture and socioeconomic status, and how teachers’ instruction cannot modify students’ health status.

Social and Emotional Domain:

  • Most participants rated this domain as extremely important.
  • Participants believed there is a high proportion of their students with social and emotional issues, and the assessment would provide documentation and a formal report on students’ skills in this domain.
  • Participants would like a specific, clear rubric to help teachers objectively rate students’ social competence.
  • Participants would like instructional strategies to support students in their areas of social-emotional need.
  • Participants recommend that photographs be used for questions about emotions, not “cartoon” pictures

Final comments

What are your thoughts on the administration time (i.e., 45 minutes) for each student?

  • It is important to assess the students in many sessions rather than in one 45 minute session.
  • The assessment should use sequencing and/or branching to shorten the test for students that may struggle with the assessment.

What type of training would you like in regards to implementation and interpretation of TX-KEA?

  • Participants would like a face-to-face training with a well-trained facilitator.
  • Participants would be amenable to web-based training if it included videos modeling how to conduct the assessment. Also, web-based training is good to standardize implementation across the state and it allows teachers to re-visit training sections.
  • Participants recommend TX-KEA have a test mode for practice.

What type of reports would you like for your classroom and individual students?

  • Class reports should include information about the students most in need of assistance and help in grouping students for small group work. Also, item-level information may be helpful in planning instruction.
  • Parent reports would be great for conferencing, but the parent would need some instruction in interpreting the results.

What concerns you the most about TX-KEA?

  • Participants would like if TX-KEA was a progress monitoring tool.
  • Participants were concerned that administrators would use the assessment results to penalize teachers (e.g., affect their pay, determine effectiveness of pre-k programs, etc.).