To: The Administrator Addressed
From:The Texas Education Agency, Division of Health, Safety & School Readiness
Date: December 7, 2007
Re: Senate Bill 1871 Implementation
Passed by the 80th Texas Legislature, Senate Bill 1871 amends provisions relating to the school readiness certification system used to evaluate the effectiveness of prekindergarten programs and certain federal or government-subsidized child care and education programs.The legislature enacted a new provision to require the superintendent of each school district to electronically report each kindergarten student’s raw score on the kindergarten reading instrument (TPRI or Tejas Lee) starting in the 2007-08 school year.The amendment requires the scores to be submitted to the TexasStateCenter for Early Childhood Development (SCECD) on behalf of TEA.
The amendment also requires TEA to provide assistance to the State Center in receivingthese raw scores and in requiring confidentiality and other security measures for student data submitted to the State Center as TEA’s agent, consistent with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g).
To submit the required data, school districts willuse a FERPA-compliant web-based reporting system. The system is provided at no charge to the district and will be available beginning December 17, 2007 and continuing through February 22, 2008. Districts may enter data into the system at any time during that period. The website for the system is the Kindergarten eSchoolPlusTM website ( Customer support is provided from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM CST at 866-336-3025, option 2. In addition, e-mail and user manual support will be available from the website.
Appropriate school faculty or staff will log onto the application and identify/verify their region, ISD, school(s), and classrooms from drop-down menus. They will then enter the beginning-of-year TPRI or Tejas LEEand the Social Screenerinformation for each kindergarten student, following the application prompts. The required information is limited to the first administration, beginning of year, of the assessment and to only specified responses. In addition, a scientifically research-based social screener is included as an added resource for use in determining the school readiness of children. Districts not using the TPRI or Tejas LEE as the kindergarten student diagnostic will be provided with instructions regarding how to submit the required data at a later date.
The TexasStateCenter for Early Childhood Development (SCECD) created the school readiness certification system (SRCS), known as TexasSchool Ready! ™,following a 2005 mandate by the Texas Legislature (Senate Bill 23) for the development of a quality rating system of prekindergarten education programs. Adopted by theTexas P-16 Council, TexasSchool Ready!TMcollects dataused to certify early childhood education programs as providers of high quality early childhood programs.
The Texas Education Agency recognizes your commitment as well as work, time and effort involved in fulfilling this legislative mandate.We hope to provide school districts and personnel with support, resources and guidance as this requirement is implemented.If you have additional questions, please contact Lilie Elizondo-Limas at 512-463-3070 or by e-mail at .
We look forward to working with you in establishingthe pathways that will enable Texas’ preschoolers to succeed in kindergarten and throughout their school careers.
Sincerely,
GinaS.Day
Deputy Associate Commissioner
School Readiness and Partnerships