TX-KEA User Guide

USER GUIDE

Updated 8.2023

TX-KEA User Guide

Texas School Ready Project

Children’s Learning Institute at UTHealth Houston

7000 Fannin Street, Suite 2300 | Houston, TX 77030

childrenslearninginstitute.org | texasschoolready.org | cliengage.org

Find us on …

@ChildrensLearningInstitute

@cliengage

The contents of this resource were developed under a grant from the Department of Education. However, those contents

do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the

Federal Government. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3 and 3474) [45 FR 22497, Apr. 3, 1980. Redesignated at 45 FR 77368,

Nov. 21, 1980, as amended at 45 FR 86297, Dec. 30, 1980]. Portions of the research reported here were supported by the

Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education’s through grant R305A110549 to the University of Texas

Health Science Center at Houston. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent views of

the U.S. Department of Education.

TX-KEA User Guide

Table of Contents

About TX-KEA.................................................................................................................................................4

Accessing the TX-KEA Assessment on CLI Engage ..........................................................................................6

Administering TX-KEA ................................................................................................................................... 11

English Subtest Administration Times .................................................................................................... 14

Spanish Subtest Administration Times .................................................................................................... 15

Literacy Screener .......................................................................................................................................... 16

Dyslexia Screener .......................................................................................................................................... 16

Language Domain ..........................................................................................................................................17

Vocabulary Subtest ..................................................................................................................................17

Listening Comprehension Subtest .......................................................................................................... 18

Literacy Domain ............................................................................................................................................ 20

Letter Names Subtest .............................................................................................................................. 20

Decoding Subtest .................................................................................................................................... 21

Letter Sounds Subtest .............................................................................................................................22

Blending Sounds Subtests ....................................................................................................................... 23

Spelling Subtest ...................................................................................................................................... 25

STEM Domain ..............................................................................................................................................26

Mathematics Subtest ..............................................................................................................................26

Science & Engineering Subtest ...............................................................................................................28

Social Emotional Skill Domain ......................................................................................................................29

Social and Emotional Competence Subtest .............................................................................................29

Emotion Management Subtest ................................................................................................................ 30

Executive Functioning Domain ......................................................................................................................31

Working Memory Subtest ....................................................................................................................... 32

Inhibition Subtest ................................................................................................................................... 32

Attention Subtest .................................................................................................................................... 33

Academic Motor Skills Domain ..................................................................................................................... 34

Academic Motor Skills Subtest ............................................................................................................... 34

Language of Administration .......................................................................................................................... 36

Assessing Students with Disabilities .............................................................................................................. 37

FAQs .............................................................................................................................................................40

Please note, resources linked in this user guide may still be in the process of being translated to Spanish

TX-KEA User Guide

About TX-KEA

The Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment System (TX-KEA) is a collaborative eort between the U.S.

Department of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) at The

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston).

TX-KEA is a comprehensive assessment that can be used to evaluate many learning domains critical for

academic success at kindergarten entry and throughout the kindergarten year.

The Language and Literacy domains consist of vocabulary, letter names, and spelling. This serves as the

TX-KEA Literacy Screener and is only administered at the beginning of the school year. These domains also

include listening comprehension, letter sounds, blending, and decoding. The STEM domain consists of

mathematics, science, and engineering. The Motor Skills domain includes ﬁne and visual motor skills. The

Social Emotional domain assesses students’ social emotional competence and emotion management. The

Executive Functioning domain assesses students’ inhibition, working memory, and attention.

TX-KEA is a comprehensive assessment; however, you have the ﬂexibility to administer whichever subtests

that you and your administrators are most interested in. You also have the ﬂexibility to administer these

subtests in any order.

KINDERGARTEN PROGRESS MONITORING

In Fall 2017, CLI received a grant from the Brown Foundation to expand TX-KEA into a kindergarten progress

monitoring tool. The kindergarten entry screener serves as the BOY (beginning-of-year) assessment for this

progress monitoring tool; the MOY (middle-of-year) and EOY (end-of-year) assessments and reports were

developed and validated during the 2017-18 school year in Texas classrooms.

PILOT ITEMS

As part of CLI’s ongoing eorts to evaluate the performance of TX-KEA, additional items may be piloted and

included in some measures during the school year. These items will be identiﬁed for teachers as a “pilot item”

and are not included in the student’s score.

TX-KEA User Guide

TXKEA DOMAINS AND SUBTESTS ENGLISH AND SPANISH

DOMAIN MEASURE BOY (Wave 1) MOY (Wave 2) EOY (Wave 3)

LANGUAGE

Vocabulary

Vocabulario

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

Listening Comprehension

Comprensión Auditiva

En, Sp En, Sp

LITERACY

Letter Names

Nombres de las Letras

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

Decoding

Decodificación

En, Sp En, Sp En Sp

Letter Sounds-Receptive

Sonidos de las Letras-Receptivo

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

Letter Sounds-Expressive

Sonidos de las Letras-Expresivo

En En

Blending-Receptive

Combinación de Sonidos-

Receptivo

En, Sp En En, Sp

Blending-Expressive

Combinación de Sonidos-

Expresivo

Sp En, Sp

Spelling

Ortografía

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

STEM

Math, Part 1

Matemáticas, Parte 1

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

Math, Part 2

Matemáticas, Parte 2

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

Science

Ciencias

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

SOCIAL

EMOTIONAL

Social and Emotional Competence

Socioemocional

En, Sp En, Sp En, Sp

Emotion Management

Manejo de Emociones

En, Sp

EXECUTIVE

FUNCTION

Working Memory

Memoria

En, Sp

Inhibition

Inhibición

En, Sp

Attention

Atención

En, Sp

ACADEMIC

MOTOR SKILLS

Academic Motor Skills

Motricidad Académica

En, Sp

Literacy Screener

(BOY)

Dyslexia Screener

(EOY)

TX-KEA User Guide

GETTING READY

Visit the TX-KEA Toolkit under the Training & Support tab to download TX-KEA resources, including:

• TX-KEA User Guide

• TX-KEA Scoring Guidelines

• TX-KEA Reporting How-To-Guides

• TX-KEA Parent Feedback Forms

Accessing the TX-KEA Assessment on

CLI Engage

TX-KEA is available on the CLI Engage. To access TX-KEA, teachers, administrators, and district personnel will

need to log in to cliengage.org using any of the following sign in options: Google, ClassLink, Clever, Okta, or

Microsoft account. If you are new to CLI Engage this year, you must have completed the registration process by

clicking the link in the registration email before attempting to log in.

LOGGING IN TO CLI ENGAGE

• You will need a desktop computer, laptop, or tablet with Internet access. Open a new browser

window and go to cliengage.org.

• Click “LOGIN” on the top right corner of the screen.

• On the next screen, select your login option: Google, ClassLink, Clever, Okta, or Microsoft

• Enter your username and password and click “Sign in.”

GOOGLE ACCOUNT SETUP APPLICABLE FOR MOST USERS:

If you do not have a Google Account, you can create one using your existing email account or by creating

a Gmail account at the following link: accounts.google.com/signup

To use your current email address to set up a new Google Account, click “I prefer to use my current

email address” below the “Choose Your Username” box. Please write down your username and password

somewhere convenient.

CLI ENGAGE DASHBOARD

After logging in, you will see a dashboard that includes links to:

• SCREENING, PROGRESS MONITORING, & OBSERVATION tools, including the TX-KEA and

Assessment Practice Area

• ONLINE LEARNING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT for access to online courses

• ACTIVITIES & MATERIALS for teachers and families (CIRCLE Activity Collections)

• QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & INNOVATION to access collaborative tools

TX-KEA User Guide

• ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS to manage your student roster and classes

SUBMIT A HELP TICKET IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE.

The help ticket button is always available at the top of the screen,

in the website navigation. A CLI sta member will respond back

through email.

TO PRACTICE TXKEA:

1. Login to cliengage.org.

2. Click the “Assessment Practice Area” button under the red “Screening, Observation, and Assessment”

tab.

3. On the next screen, click the “Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment” button.

4. Now you will see a class of demo children. Be sure to select the correct wave in the top-right corner

to view subtests.

5. In the assessment practice area you can:

− Practice assessing children

− View assessment items in each subtest

− Practice pulling class-level reports

TO ACCESS TXKEA:

1. Login to cliengage.org.

2. Click the “Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment” button under the red “Screening, Observation, and

Assessment” tab.

3. On the “Class List” page, click on the name of the class that includes the students you wish to assess.

Be sure to select the correct wave.

4. Next, you will see the “Student View” page. This page allows you to:

− Choose to administer an assessment in English or Spanish.

− See the benchmark scores for students in a class.

− Launch an assessment, multiple assessments, or a subtest.

− Assess oine.

− View class-level reports, including small group and parent reports.

TX-KEA User Guide

STUDENT VIEW PAGE

OFFLINE ASSESSMENT

The oine assessment feature can be used to assess students when an internet connection is not available at

the time of administration. The oine assessment can also be used in the CLI Engage assessment practice

area.

Note: An internet connection is required for the initial setup.

This feature downloads the assessment for your class in only one language, English or Spanish. If you need

to assess in both languages, you need to complete the process below in one language (downloading the

assessment, assessing oine, uploading results) and then repeat in the other language.

You can view the instructions for the oine assessment in our TX-KEA Oine Assessment how-to guide.

EXCLUDING AND HIDING MEASURES

The green button with a white circle indicated in the screenshot above is used to “exclude” a student OR the

entire class from a speciﬁc measure or sub-task. The completion report takes this exclusion into account when

tabulating completion rates. For example, in a class of 10 students, if 2 are excluded and the remaining 8 are

tested, the completion report will indicate 100%. If the students are not formally excluded using this feature,

the report would indicate an 80% completion rate. Anyone with access to a class can exclude measures.

If all students are excluded from a measure (i.e., the measure is not being administered to any student),

it is more ecient to use the “Exclude All” button that appears just below the measure name, rather than

excluding each individual child. This feature excludes the entire class from a measure or

sub-measure with one click. In this case, the “Launch” icon is replaced by a gray square

preventing the measure from being administered to the student. This can also be done by an administrator,

but would have to be set for every class (i.e., it cannot be performed school-wide). In this case, the teacher

would not see the measures that had been excluded by the administrator.

If a teacher excludes all students from a measure, it is helpful to also remove it from view using the “Hide/

TX-KEA Subtests

Launch Multiple

Subtests

Launch Single

Subtest

Exclude Task

TX-KEA User Guide

Display Measures” feature. This makes it easier to locate measures you are actually assessing without having

to scroll through the full list of available measures. It is important to note that the “Hide/Display Measures”

button hides a measure from view for navigational purposes only. Hiding a measure does not aect data or

reporting. Hiding is set by each user, and the system remembers the user’s preference; therefore no user can

hide measures for another user.

MANAGING CLASS ROSTERS

There are several options for uploading data into CLI Engage to create accounts for teachers and other sta, as

well as adding children into the system for progress monitoring. You can view the instructions for uploading

teacher and student data on our Uploading Data web page.

TXKEA REPORTS ON CLI ENGAGE

TX-KEA provides you with several dierent reports. The reports can be completed at the class, campus, and

district levels.

• Completion Report: tracks completion of selected assessments.

• Class Summary Report: allows teachers to view performance of all children in every subject area by

classroom.

• Custom Score Report: allows access to a separate report for the TX-KEA Literacy Screener which is

only administered at BOY.

• Class Summary (Percentile Rank) Report: translates raw scores for each subtest and converts them

to percentiles. Then you are able to see how a student scores between the 1st to the 99th percentile

making it easier to compare scores where the score varies across each measure. It’s a dierent scale

that is available to help you analyze your data.

• Growth Report: allows teachers to view their children’s growth over time, throughout the school year,

comparing each assessment window.

• Student Report for Teachers: allows teachers to view children’s performance across all subject areas

per student.

• Student Report for Parents: connects families to activities that enable them to support their children

at home. Teachers can communicate students’ strengths and areas needed for growth.

• Group Report: groups children with scores below age-related benchmarks and recommends activities

for further skill development.

TX-KEA User Guide

HOWTO DOCUMENTS

Several how-to guides can be viewed on our How-To Guides webpage.

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

Engaging families in student’s education is a vital component to building strong relationships between

school and home. This provides opportunities to support skill development throughout the day. CLI Engage

oers many tools and resources to support family and parent engagement, including free family activities,

a customized parent report of child progress monitoring results, and free resources for hosting family

engagement sessions.

CLI has developed a family engagement toolkit and online professional development, available on CLI Engage

at no cost. View our Family Engagement Resources web pages on CLI Engage to learn more and download

resources.

Sharing Data with Families

Teachers using TX-KEA can share student scores with families electronically, via a QR code. Teachers can

also send families activities that are designed to support skill development at home. Electronic parent reports

provide:

• Performance categories at a glance (see right)

TX-KEA User Guide

• Family resources that are linked through a QR code (see right)

Including Families in the Assessment Process

Families are valuable sources of information on student’s skill development.

The Parent Feedback forms align with the learning domains of TX-KEA and

can be used in their portfolios and at parent-teacher conferences to provide

a full picture of their development. The Parent Feedback Forms can be

accessed from the CLI Engage dashboard.

CIRCLE Activity Collection for Families

Many studies have shown that families and teachers working together to

support children’s development can lead to better outcomes for children.

This collection includes fun, easy activity ideas that families can do together to help support important school

readiness skills for children ages 0-6. You can view the collection on our CLI Engage Family website.

Teachers can also share family activities directly with families via email throughout the school year. This

feature is accessed through the small group report for TX-KEA. After uploading parent email addresses,

teachers can select and share activities aligned to each child’s areas for skill development, so children are

supported at school and home. You can view more on our Create My Activities in the CIRCLE Activity

Collection how-to guide.

Administering TX-KEA

TESTING MATERIALS

Devices for Administration

• Computer/laptop with Windows operating system.

• Tablet screen size must be larger than 8" x 5" (iPads not recommended for use because of known audio

issues)

• Headphones

Other Materials

• Pencils and erasers for the Spelling subtest

• TX-KEA Scoring Guidelines - printed

GENERAL TESTING GUIDELINES

• TX-KEA is intended to be administered by the classroom teacher.

• Note that students will vary in terms of their familiarity and comfort with assessments.

• Print this User Guide in advance. Keep it with you so that you can refer to each subtest section

throughout administration.

TX-KEA User Guide

• Be suciently familiar with the CLI Engage platform.

• Make sure all equipment is working properly.

• Have a plan for managing your class while you work with one student.

• You do not need to complete TX-KEA in one sitting, but should complete a subtest in one sitting.

• Remember to be consistent and accurate when administering TX-KEA.

ASSESSMENT WINDOW

School districts and charter schools set their own assessment windows on CLI Engage. For the kindergarten

entry screener, the TX-KEA development team recommends an assessment window beginning in September

and ending in October, but the assessment will be available beyond this recommended window on CLI

Engage. Schools may slightly adjust this window based on their particular needs and schedules for all three

progress monitoring waves.

4 RESPONSE TYPES

Student-Selected Response Items

How should the teacher and student situate themselves?

• You can sit side-by-side.

• You can sit adjacent to each other.

How do you administer?

• Student must wear headphones.

• Have student listen to the audio prompt and make a selection.

• You do not prompt student.

How is it scored?

• Program scores each item.

Teacher-Recorded Response Items

How should the teacher and student situate themselves?

• You can sit side-by-side.

• You can sit adjacent to each other.

How do you administer?

• Student must wear headphones.

• Prompts will either be audio prompts given by the test or teacher prompts

read from the screen.

TX-KEA User Guide

• Have student listen to the audio prompt or your teacher prompt and verbalize

their response.

How is it scored?

• Program scores each item.

• For some teacher-recorded response items, the teacher will indicate whether the student response was

correct or incorrect by clicking a colored button.

− Incorrect student response: blue button, or press the left arrow on the keyboard

− Correct student response: Click the purple button or press the right arrow on the keyboard.

“Right is right!”

Teacher-Reported Behavior Checklists

How do you administer?

• Complete electronically in CLI Engage.

• Reﬂect on student’s typical interactions.

• Answer all questions.

• Only complete Checklists for 5 students or less in one sitting.

How is it scored?

• Program scores each checklist.

Student-Written Response Items (Speciﬁc to Spelling Subtest)

How do you administer?

• Teacher will prompt students to write words.

• Students will write responses on a sheet of paper.

How is it scored?

• Teacher will score on CLI Engage.

TX-KEA User Guide

ENGLISH SUBTEST ADMINISTRATION TIMES

MEASURE RESPONSE TYPE BOY (Wave 1) MOY (Wave 2) EOY (Wave 3)

Time In Minutes Time In Minutes Time In Minutes

LANGUAGE

Vocabulary

Teacher-recorded 1 2 1

Listening Comprehension

Student-selected 3 5

LITERACY

Letter Names Teacher-recorded

1 1 1

Decoding Teacher-recorded

1-2 2-3 1-2

Letter Sounds-Receptive Student-selected

1-2 1-2 1-2

Letter Sounds-Expressive Teacher-recorded

1-2 1-2

Blending-Receptive Student-selected

5 2 1

Blending-Expressive Teacher-recorded

Spelling Student-written

5 5 5

STEM

Math, Part 1 Teacher-recorded

4-5 1-2 3-4

Math, Part 2 Student-selected

4-5 1-2 3-4

Science Student-selected

5 5 5

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL

Social Emotional

Competence

Behavior Checklist 2-3 3 3

Emotion Management

Behavior Checklist 2-3

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

Working Memory Student-selected

2-3

Inhibition Student-selected

2-3

Attention Student-selected

ACADEMIC MOTOR SKILLS

Academic Motor

Behavior Checklist 3

Total Time

43-51 24-29 33-38

Total Time

Literacy and Dyslexia

Screeners

Literacy Screener

(BOY) 5-7 mins

Dyslexia Screener

(EOY) 5-9 mins

Additional measures may be added during the school year.

TX-KEA User Guide

SPANISH SUBTEST ADMINISTRATION TIMES

MEASURE RESPONSE TYPE BOY (Wave 1) MOY (Wave 2) EOY (Wave 3)

Time In Minutes Time In Minutes Time In Minutes

LANGUAGE

Vocabulario

Teacher-recorded 1 2 1

Comprensión Auditiva

Student-selected 5 5

LITERACY

Nombres de las Letras Student-selected

1 1 1

Decodificación Teacher-recorded

1-2 1-2 1-2

Sonidos de las Letras-

Receptivo

Student-selected

1-2 1-2 1-2

Combinación de Sonidos-

Receptivo

Student-selected

4 4

Combinación de Sonidos-

Expresivo

Teacher-recorded

2 2

Ortografía Student-written

5 5 5

STEM

Matemáticas, Parte 1 Teacher-recorded

4-5 1-2 3-4

Matemáticas, Parte 2 Student-selected

4-5 1-2 3-4

Ciencias Student-selected

5 5 5

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL

Socioemocional

Behavior Checklist 2-3 3 3

Manejo de Emociones

Behavior Checklist 2-3

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

Memoria Student-selected

2-3

Inhibición Student-selected

2-3

Atención Student-selected

ACADEMIC MOTOR SKILLS

Motricidad Académica

Behavior Checklist 3

Total Time

44-52 22-26 34-38

Total time

Literacy and Dyslexia

Screeners

Literacy Screener

(BOY) 5-7 mins

Dyslexia Screener

(EOY) 8-12 mins

Additional measures may be added during the school year.

TX-KEA User Guide

LITERACY SCREENER

The state-mandated the TX-KEA Literacy Screener is available as a brief assessment of language, literacy, and

emergent writing.

The literacy screener is a part of the BOY measures oered in TX-KEA. The screener takes 5-7 minutes to

administer and includes a mix of one-on-one and small group administrations. It oers screening to evaluate

Emergent Literacy (Letter names), Emergent Writing (Spelling), and Language (Vocabulary).

The TX-KEA Literacy Screener is comprised of the Vocabulary, Letter Names, and Spelling subtests. Students

will score within the “on track” (green), “monitor” (yellow) or “support” (red) benchmarks ranges for each

subtest. These scores assist districts in informing student instruction. The composite score produced can be

used to identify students who meet the “support” benchmark because they are in the bottom 25th percentile.

The Statewide Kindergarten Readiness score is comprised of the Vocabulary, Letter Names, and Spelling

subtests. Students must meet the “on track” (green) benchmark for all three subtests to meet the kindergarten

readiness criteria determined by TEA. Districts can use the additional subtest data to make individual

determinations regarding students who may require additional support.

For more information regarding assessment in PK-2nd grade, please visit TEA’s Data Driven Instruction in

Early Childhood Education website or contact TEA: ECE Support Portal.

DYSLEXIA SCREENER

The TX-KEA dyslexia screener found in wave 3 (EOY) is comprised of “Letter Sounds (receptive and

expressive), Blending Sounds (receptive and expressive) in English and Sonidos de las Letras (receptivo),

Combinación de Sonidos (receptivo y expresivo) and Decodiﬁcación in Spanish.

CLI Engage automatically calculates when you complete all of the required measures which are sequenced

in the same color in Wave 3 (EOY) as seen below. If a student’s score shows up red, there may be reading

Dyslexia

Screener Subtests

in Blue

Dyslexia

Screener Results

Select Wave 3

DRC

Results

TX-KEA User Guide

diculties you need to consider.

The Dyslexia Referral Checklist (DRC) evaluates areas considered to be important for early reading (e.g.,

language-based skills, letter and letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness,

decoding, and spelling).

We strongly recommend that the DRC be used to incorporate observations. The DRC has a point scale once

tallied that will indicate whether the student may be at risk. A score of 24 or greater indicates possible further

evaluation. CLI Engage automatically calculates the scoring and provides the total score in red if the student is

at risk.

Download the Kindergarten DRC manual (English and Spanish) to use with TX-KEA dyslexia screener and log

in to CLI Engage to complete the dyslexia screener and the checklist.

LANGUAGE DOMAIN

Vocabulary Subtest (Vocabulario)

Vocabulary is a foundational language skill that supports learning in all content domains. Knowing a student’s

vocabulary abilities helps teachers adjust their own vocabulary usage during instruction to levels that are most

beneﬁcial for individual students. This subtest is available in English and Spanish.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Teacher-recorded responses

• Picture naming task

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are not worn by the student.

2. Silently review the general administration directions on the screen in black font.

3. A picture will appear for the student.

4. The prompt you will say to the student is shown on the screen in colored font. Read the entire

prompt.

5. After the student provides a verbal response, select the purple button for a correct response and blue

button for an incorrect response.

TX-KEA User Guide

6. Use the Vocabulary Scoring Guidelines for list of correct responses.

7. The computer will score the response.

ALLOWABLE QUERIES/PROMPTS FOR VOCABULARY SUBTEST

There may be occasions when a student provides a response that requires the teacher to follow up with a

query, or prompt, rather than immediately scoring the response. There are four follow-up queries that can be

used. Each of these four prompts can only be used once per test item. If the same prompt would be needed a

second time on a given item, then the prompt should not be repeated and the item should simply be scored

as incorrect. More than one type of prompt can be used on the same test item if absolutely necessary, but

this would be very rare. If the student’s response to a prompt does not require an additional prompt (as will

usually be the case), then score the student’s response as correct or incorrect using the Vocabulary Scoresheet.

Prompts should not be used to give students a second chance to get the answer right. Most initial responses

can be immediately scored. Prompts should only be used under the following circumstances:

• If student responds in the wrong language:

− “What’s the English word?” or “¿Cual es la palabra en Español?”

• If student labels the wrong part of a picture:

− “What is this (point)?” or “¿Que es esto (point)?”

• If student’s response reﬂects a higher level of categorization (e.g., student responds “animal” for dog)

− “What kind?” or “¿Que tipo?”

• If student’s response reﬂects a lower level of categorization (e.g., student responds “golden retriever”

for dog)

− “Tell me another word.” or “Dime otra palabra.”

Listening Comprehension Subtest

(Comprensión Auditiva)

Listening comprehension is a foundational language skill that supports learning in all content areas. TX-KEA

assesses the student’s ability to understand verbal information and follow directions. Knowing your student’s

receptive language abilities will allow you to adjust the complexity of your own language during instruction.

This will help your students understand your instruction, and it will help you scaold their language

development. This subtest is available in English and Spanish.

TX-KEA User Guide

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Single-select items and multiple-select items

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. Silently review the administration directions on the screen.

3. The student is told what to do through the headphones.

4. Grayed pictures will appear on the screen while the computer provides auditory instructions.

5. Once the computer is ﬁnished providing auditory instructions, the pictures will change to color,

which allows the student to select the picture(s) that best illustrates the sentence they just heard.

Items are a combination of single-select (one answer) and multiple-select (more than one answer).

Note: Even though this is a self-guided test, teachers should watch students as they proceed to make sure

they are waiting for pictures to change from gray scale to color before making selections.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR LISTENING COMPREHENSION SUBTEST

• If the student does not respond by pointing to a picture(s) within 5 seconds:

− “Go ahead. Point to the picture(s).”

• If the student points to a picture before it changes from gray scale to color:

− “Wait until the computer is done talking.”

− “Wait until all the pictures turn to color.”

Failure of the student to respond after an extended period of time will result in the item being scored as

incorrect, and the program will advance to the next test item.

TX-KEA User Guide

LITERACY DOMAIN

Letter Names Subtest (Nombres de las

Letras)

The Letter Names subtest assesses students’ knowledge of the names associated with various letters of the

alphabet. Letter names is one component of letter knowledge which is an excellent predictor of reading

achievement. This subset is available in English and Spanish.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Teacher-recorded responses for English

administration

• Student-selected responses for Spanish

administration

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

English:

1. Headphones are not worn by the student.

2. A letter will appear on the screen for the student.

3. The prompt you will say to the student is shown on the screen in colored font. Read the entire

prompt.

4. The student responds verbally.

5. Score the student’s verbal response by selecting the appropriate button on the screen. (Correct =

purple button / Incorrect = blue button)

Spanish:

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. Four letters appear on the screen while the computer provides auditory instructions.

3. The student selects the best response.

4. The computer will score the response.

TX-KEA User Guide

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR LETTER NAME SUBTEST

Spanish Letter Names:

• If the student does not respond by pointing to a letter within 5 seconds:

− “Señala la letra.”

English Letter Names:

For the English test of Letter Names, allow 5 seconds for the student to respond before providing a prompt,

“Go ahead. Take a guess. What letter is this?” The student can be prompted only once during the test. If

the student does not reply with the correct answer within 10 seconds after the one follow-up statement is

provided, then the item is scored as incorrect.

• If student responds with the letter sound instead of the letter name:

− “That’s the sound this letter makes. Tell me the name of this letter.”

• If student responds with a word that starts with the letter:

− “Tell me the name of this letter.”

• If student responds in the wrong language:

− “What’s the English letter?”

• If student responds with the Spanish name for the letter, e.g., Bay instead of Bee.

− “Tell me the English name.”

Decoding Subtest (Decodiﬁcación)

The Decoding subtest measures ability to read non-high frequency words by sounding them out (decoding)

rather than knowing the whole word from memory (rote visual memory).

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Teacher-recorded responses

DIRECTIONS

The teacher and student should sit side-by-side. The student should read the words and the teacher will

score the response as correct or incorrect.

Say: “I am going to show you some words and I would like you to try to read them to me. What word is

TX-KEA User Guide

this?” The student responds: “hot.”

After the ﬁrst item, the instructions can be shortened to: “What word is this?”

If the child sounds out words, letter by letter, e.g., /h/ /o/ /t/, prompt by saying: “Now say the word

smoothly.” This prompt can be used each time the child attempts to read the word by sounding out each

letter.

Only give credit if the child is able to read the word smoothly and accurately. If the child does not

respond in 5-10 seconds, feel free to encourage the child to guess. If after 10 seconds the child does not

respond, record incorrect and proceed with the rest of the subtest.

Letter Sounds Subtests (Sonidos de las

Letras)

There are two letter sounds subtests that assesses students’ knowledge of letter sounds—Letter Sounds-

Receptive and Letter Sounds-Expressive. For an understanding of a student’s early literacy development that

is most complete and useful for instructional planning, we encourage educators to assess both letter names

and letter sounds. Letter knowledge at kindergarten entry is a strong predictor of literacy achievement. This

subtest is available in English and Spanish.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

Teachers must complete both Letter Sounds-Receptive and Letter Sounds-Expressive to calculate the student’s

score for the Letter Sounds subtest. In the Letter Sounds-Receptive subtest, a letter’s sound is given and the

student determines the corresponding printed letter. In the Letter Sounds-Expressive subtest, a letter is

shown on the screen and the student gives the corresponding sound.

• Letter Sounds-Receptive includes student-selected

items

• Letter Sounds-Expressive includes teacher-recorded

items

• Untimed

• Student-selected responses and teacher-recorded

responses

LETTER SOUNDSRECEPTIVE DIRECTIONS STUDENTSELECTED

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. Four letters appear on the screen for the student to view.

3. The computer provides auditory instructions about which letter to point to.

4. The student selects one of the letters.

TX-KEA User Guide

5. The computer scores the student’s response.

LETTER SOUNDSEXPRESSIVE DIRECTIONS TEACHERRECORDED

This section measures the student’s knowledge of letter sounds. The teacher and student should sit side-

by-side.

Say: “We are going to look at some letters and see if you know the sound they make. It is OK to guess if

you do not know the sounds. Some letters make only one sound and some make more than one sound.

Try to tell me at least one sound the letters make. Ready?”

If the students says the name of the letters, you can say: “Tell me the sound.”

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR LETTER SOUNDS SUBTEST STUDENTSELECTED

• If the student does not respond within 10 seconds.

− Prompt student to point to a letter. If the student does not reply with the correct answer within

10 seconds after the appropriate follow-up statement is provided, then the item is scored as

incorrect. Only use this prompt once during the subtest.

• If the student says “I don’t know” or shrugs shoulders, and does not initiate touching the screen:

− While sweeping pointed ﬁnger in a circular motion just above the screen, teacher says, “That’s

OK. Just go ahead and point to one. Point to the letter that makes (sound) .” or “Está bien.

Solamente señala una. Señala la(s) letra(s) que hace(n) (sound) .”

• If the student responds by touching multiple letters.

− Teacher says, “Just point to one letter” or “Solo señala un letra.” Teacher then scores the item as

incorrect by selecting an incorrect letter on the screen. The computer will automatically advance

to the next item.

Blending Sounds Subtests

(Combinación de Sonidos)

There are two blending Sounds subtests that assesses students’ phonological awareness, or sensitivity to the

sound structure of oral language–Blending-Receptive and Blending-Expressive. Phonological awareness is

necessary for learning to read and write and is predictive of literacy achievement. This subtest is available in

English and Spanish.

TX-KEA User Guide

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Blending-Receptive includes student-selected items

• Blending-Expressive includes teacher-recorded items

• Untimed

BLENDINGRECEPTIVE DIRECTIONS STUDENTSELECTED

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. Three or four grayed images will appear on the screen, one at a time. The pictures are labeled by the

computer as they appear.

3. The computer will provide a series of sounds, and ask student to point to the image of the blended

word.

4. The grayed pictures will change to color, allowing the student to select the picture that illustrates the

word formed by blending the sounds together.

5. The computer will score the response.

BLENDINGEXPRESSIVE DIRECTIONS TEACHERRECORDED

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student. The student should not be able to see the screen.

2. Teacher will say, “We are going to listen to some sounds and see if you know the word they make. It is

OK to guess if you do not know the word. Ready?”

3. The student will hear the instructions, “Put these sounds together,” then listen to a word split into the

component sounds. The word will not be repeated.

4. The student will say the complete word back to the teacher.

5. The teacher will score whether or not the student correctly identiﬁed the word.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR BLENDING SOUNDS SUBTEST STUDENT

SELECTED

• If the student does not respond within 10 seconds:

− Prompt student to point to a picture. If the student does not reply with the correct answer within 10

seconds, then the item is scored as incorrect. Only use this prompt once during the subtest.

• If the student responds by pointing to multiple images:

− Teacher says, “Just point to one picture” or “Solo señala un dibujo.” Teacher then scores the item

TX-KEA User Guide

as incorrect by selecting an incorrect image on the screen. The computer will automatically

advance to the next item.

• If the student says the word but fails to point:

− Teacher says, “Go ahead and put your ﬁnger on ” or “Pon tu dedo en .”

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR BLENDING SOUNDS SUBTEST TEACHER

RECORDED

• Ensure the student says the word ﬂuently.

• If needed, prompt the student: “Now, say it fast.”

Spelling Subtest (Ortografía)

The Spelling subtest assesses students’ early spelling abilities, which is the ability to use sound-symbol

relationships to write words. TX-KEA assesses spelling because it is highly related to later literacy

achievement. Attempting to spell words requires students to apply multiple literacy skills simultaneously,

such as alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. Dierent items are included on each wave of the

subtest. All materials can be downloaded from the TX-KEA Scoring Guidelines page.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Approximately 7-10 minutes in length

• Untimed

• Student-written responses

• Can be administered individually or in small groups (approximately 5

students)

This subtest requires the following materials that can be downloaded from the TX-KEA Scoring Guidelines:

• Teacher Demonstration Video of a teacher modeling the spelling of a sample word – available on the

direction page after launching the Spelling subtest for any student

− Note: Alternatively, Spelling Model Cards to allow the teacher to demonstrate the task if

technology is unavailable. Use of the video is strongly recommended.

• Student Form – print one for each student

• Teacher script with picture cards –print two-sided

• Scoring Guidelines

• Letter Approximations

DIRECTIONS

Use the teacher script for administration instructions. The teacher script can be downloaded from the

TX-KEA Scoring Guidelines on CLI Engage.

TX-KEA User Guide

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR SPELLING

English:

• If the student does not put their pencil down, but they seem to be done spelling the word or have

paused for 10-15 seconds, then prompt: “Are you done with that word?” Allow student to respond. If

they say no, then allow up to 10-15 seconds before you stop them: “Let’s go on to the next word.”

• If a student does not understand or says “I don’t know,” say: “That’s okay. Just write what you can and

put the pencil down when you’re done.”

• If a student is scribbling but staying within the line, then allow them to “scribble/write” for 10-15

seconds then stop them: “Okay that’s all the time we have for that word so put your pencil down.”

• If a student seems to understand to write on the line, you do not need to remind them to write on the

line after item 1, but if they are writing outside of the line repeat: “Remember to write on the line.”

Spanish:

• Si el alumno no ha bajado su lápiz pero parece haber terminado de escribir o ha pausado por

aproximadamente 10-15 segundos, diga: “¿Terminaste con esa palabra?” Permita que el alumno

responda. Si responde que no, entonces permítale continuar por aproximadamente 10-15 segundos

más antes de dar por terminado el ítem diciendo: “Continuemos con la próxima palabra.”

• Si el alumno no entiende o dice “Yo no sé” diga: “Está bien. Escribe lo que puedas y descansa el lápiz

sobre la mesa cuando hayas terminado.”

• Si el estudiante produce garabatos pero se queda dentro sobre la linea, permitale seguir escribiendo

por 10-15 segundos. Luego dentengalo y diga: “Muy bien. Ese es todo el tiempo que tenemos para esa

palabra. Puedes bajar tu lápiz.”

• Si el alumno parece entender como escribir sobre la linea, no tiene que hacerle recordatorios despues

de la primera palabra, pero si no esta escribiendo sobre la línea repita: “Recuerda escribir sobre la

linea.”

STEM DOMAIN

Mathematics Subtest (Matemáticas)

Students who have a strong foundation in mathematics in early childhood have a better trajectory for math

achievement in their elementary school years. Informal and formal mathematics learning helps develop

students’ ability to problem solve and use math in academic and everyday settings. Thus, the Mathematics

subtest focuses on math skills related to numbers and counting, operations, patterning, and math in the real

world.

TX-KEA User Guide

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

The Mathematics subtest is divided into two parts. Teachers must complete both Math Part 1 and Math Part 2

to calculate the student’s score for the Math subtest:

• Math Part 1 includes teacher-recorded items

• Math Part 2 includes student-recorded items

• Untimed

• Teacher-recorded and student-selected responses

DIRECTIONS TEACHERRECORDED AND STUDENTSELECTED

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. Silently review the administration directions on the screen.

3. The student is told what to do through the headphones.

4. For Math Part 1 (teacher-recorded items), score the student’s verbal response by selecting an option

on the screen.

− Select which prompt(s) you used. See Allowable Prompts for more information.

5. For Math Part 2 (student-selected items), the student selects the best response and the computer

scores the response.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR MATHEMATICS SUBTEST

There may be rare occasions when a student provides a response that requires the teacher to follow up.

Allow 10 seconds for the student to respond before providing a prompt. The student can be prompted one

time. If the student does not reply with the correct answer within 10 seconds after the appropriate follow-up

statement is provided once, then the item is scored as incorrect.

• If the student does not begin counting for the counting aloud item, prompt the student by saying, “1,

2, 3.”

• If the student counts the items without stating the cardinal value say, “How many are there?”

SPECIAL SCORING INSTRUCTIONS FOR MATHEMATICS SUBTEST

The student’s ﬁnal answer to the cardinal value is always the response that you will score. The student’s

counting of the objects is not taken into consideration for scoring.

Correct Responses:

• The student correctly counts the items and correctly says the cardinal value.

TX-KEA User Guide

− Example: The student is shown 5 objects and counts aloud, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5.” The teacher will check

for cardinality by asking the student, “How many are there?” If the student says “5”, it is recorded

as a correct response.

• The student incorrectly counts the items and correctly says the cardinal value.

− Example: The student is shown 5 objects and counts aloud, “1, 2, 5, 6, 3.” The teacher will check

for cardinality by asking, “How many are there?” If the student says “5”, it is recorded as a correct

response since the student provided the correct cardinal value.

Incorrect Responses:

• The student provides no response or says, “I don’t know.”

• The student states any number, except the correct cardinal value.

• The student correctly counts the items and states an incorrect cardinal value.

− Example: The student is shown 5 objects and counts aloud, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5.” The teacher will check

for cardinality by asking, “How many are there?” If the student says “6” or any other number than

“5”, record this as an incorrect response.

Science & Engineering Subtest

(Ciencias)

The Science & Engineering subtest assesses knowledge of physical, life, earth, and space sciences, as well

as engineering applications of science. Teaching science and engineering capitalizes on students’ natural

curiosities about the world and supports predictive thinking, casual reasoning, and reﬂection on systems and

models. This subtest is available in English and Spanish.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Student-selected responses

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. The student is told what to do through the headphones.

3. Pictures will appear on the screen as the computer provides the verbal prompt.

TX-KEA User Guide

4. The student will select the picture that best answers the question.

5. The computer will score the student’s response.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR SCIENCE & ENGINEERING SUBTEST

Allow 10 seconds for the student to respond before providing the prompt. The student can be prompted one

time for each item. If the student does not reply with the correct answer within 10 seconds after prompting

once, then the item is scored as incorrect.

• If student does not respond after 10 seconds, say, “It’s okay to guess.”

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL SKILL DOMAIN

Social and Emotional Competence

Subtest (Socio-emocional)

The Social and Emotional Competence subtest focuses on students’ social and emotional skills within a

classroom setting. The subtest evaluates students’ pro-social skills, approaches to learning, and emotion

understanding.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Checklist

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Observe student interacting with other students and teachers.

2. Select a rating for each item based on student’s average observed behavior.

3. The computer will calculate the student’s score.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE SUBTEST

None.

TX-KEA User Guide

SCORING SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE

Use the Social Emotional Scoring Guidelines, available on CLI Engage, to assist with scoring this subtest.

Input scores into the TX-KEA subtest on CLI Engage.

SPECIAL SCORING INSTRUCTIONS FOR SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE

SUBTEST

Students are assessed using a checklist, which is completed by observing students interacting with others.

Teachers will record whether the student’s behavior occurs rarely, sometimes, or consistently.

We recommend that you complete the checklist after students have adjusted to kindergarten and you have

suciently observed students interacting with other students and teachers to best determine the student’s

social and emotional competence.

• “Rarely” means that the teacher may have observed the student displaying the behavior only a few

times.

• “Sometimes” means the teacher has observed the student’s behavior occurring from time to time

since the beginning of the school year (more than a few times, but not regularly).

• “Consistently” means that the teacher has observed the student frequently displaying the behavior.

EXAMPLES OF BEHAVIOR FOR SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE SUBTEST

ITEMS

Appropriately asks for adult help when cannot

resolve peer conﬂict (without tattling)?

Pide ayuda de un adulto de manera adecuada

cuando no puede resolver conﬂictos con

compañeros (sin acusar)?

Rarely

Rara vez

Sometimes

Ocasionalmente

Consistently

Consistentemente

Feels and demonstrates pride for own

accomplishments?

Siente y demuestra orgullo por sus propios

logros?

Rarely

Rara vez

Sometimes

Ocasionalmente

Consistently

Consistentemente

Emotion Management Subtest

(Manejo de Emociones)

The Emotion Management subtest focuses on students’ ability to manage their emotions and respond

appropriately to an emotional experience. They are evaluated on whether they can adapt to the demands of a

classroom and school environment. This subtest is available in English and Spanish.

TX-KEA User Guide

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Checklist

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Observe student interacting with other students and teachers.

2. Select a rating for each item based on student’s average observed behavior.

3. The computer will calculate the student’s score.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR EMOTION MANAGEMENT SUBTEST

None.

SPECIAL SCORING INSTRUCTIONS FOR EMOTION MANAGEMENT SUBTEST

Students are assessed using a checklist, which is completed by observing students interacting with others.

Teachers will record whether the student’s behavior occurs rarely, sometimes, or consistently.

We recommend that you complete the checklist after students have adjusted to kindergarten and you have

suciently observed students interacting with other students and teachers to best determine the student’s

emotion management.

• “Rarely” means that the teacher may have observed the student displaying the behavior a few times.

• “Sometimes” means the teacher has observed the student’s behavior occurring sometimes since the

beginning of the school year.

• “Consistently” means that the teacher has observed the student frequently displaying the behavior.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DOMAIN

The Executive Functioning domain addresses the cognitive skills used by students to plan, problem solve, and

follow classroom rules. We focus on three executive functioning skills – Inhibition, Working Memory, and

Attention. These skills help students manage their own learning and behavior in the classroom.

TX-KEA User Guide

Working Memory Subtest (Memoria)

Students are assessed on their ability to hold in memory 1 – 3 pieces of information in an increasingly

complex setting. In this subtest, students recall where cars are parked in a garage. The number of cars and the

number of parking spaces increases as the student progresses. This subtest is available in English and Spanish.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Student-selected responses

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. The student is told what to do through the headphones.

3. Pictures will appear on the screen as the computer provides the verbal prompt.

4. Students will recall and select the spot where a car was previously parked.

5. The computer will score the student’s response.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR WORKING MEMORY SUBTEST

Allow 10 seconds for the student to respond before providing a prompt. The student can be prompted one

time. If the student does not reply with the correct answer within 10 seconds after the appropriate follow-up

statement is provided once, then the item is scored as incorrect.

• If student does not respond after 10 seconds, you can prompt student by saying, “It’s okay to guess.”

Inhibition Subtest (Inhibición)

Students are asked to respond accurately to a speciﬁc stimulus (e.g., butterﬂy), and withhold, or inhibit, a

response to a dierent stimulus (e.g., bee). This task involves students catching butterﬂies in a butterﬂy net

but NOT catching bees for a certain time limit. They are warned that the butterﬂies are fast and that the

students must be fast too. Scores reﬂect the student’s ability to respond accurately while inhibiting a response.

This subtest is available in English and Spanish.

TX-KEA User Guide

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Timed

• Student-selected responses

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. The student is told what to do through the headphones.

3. Pictures will appear on the screen as the computer provides the verbal prompt.

4. The student will attempt to only “catch” butterﬂies by touching the screen or clicking the mouse over

the image when a butterﬂy appears on screen.

5. The computer will score the student’s response.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR INHIBITION SUBTEST

Allow 10 seconds for the student to respond before providing a prompt. The student can be prompted one

time. If the student does not reply with the correct answer within 10 seconds after the appropriate follow-up

statement is provided once, then the item is scored as incorrect.

• If student does not respond after 10 seconds, you can prompt student by saying, “It’s okay to guess.”

Attention Subtest (Atención)

Students are assessed on their ability to focus their attention, stay on task, as well as quickly and accurately

focus on relevant features of the task. They are provided 2 minutes to make as many correct matches as

possible between the target object, a ﬂower, and 5 answer choices, other ﬂowers. This subtest is available in

English and Spanish.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Timed

• Student-selected responses

TX-KEA User Guide

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Headphones are worn by the student.

2. The student is told what to do through the headphones.

3. Pictures will appear on the screen as the computer provides the verbal prompt.

4. The student will attempt to match the ﬂower in the top row to a ﬂower in the bottom row from ﬁve

response choices by touching the screen or clicking the mouse over a ﬂower in the bottom row.

5. The computer will score the student’s response.

ALLOWABLE PROMPTS FOR ATTENTION SUBTEST

Allow 10 seconds for the student to respond before providing a prompt. The student can be prompted one

time. If the student does not reply with the correct answer within 10 seconds after the appropriate follow-up

statement is provided once, then the item is scored as incorrect.

• If student does not respond after 10 seconds, you can prompt student by saying, “It’s okay to guess.”

ACADEMIC MOTOR SKILLS DOMAIN

Academic Motor Skills Subtest

(Motricidad Académica)

The Academic Motor subtest includes items that evaluate many of the motor skills required for successful

completion of school activities. It is important to understand the motor skills of students because they form

the basis for the way young students learn. In fact, motor skills underlie aspects of cognitive development and

social development. This subtest is available in English and Spanish.

FEATURES OF THIS SUBTEST

• Untimed

• Checklist

TX-KEA User Guide

DIRECTIONS

Directions will be provided on the screen after the teacher enters the subtest.

1. Observe student’s motor behaviors in the classroom and on the playground.

2. Select a rating for each item based on student’s average observed behavior.

3. The computer will calculate the student’s score.

SCORING ACADEMIC MOTOR SKILLS

Use the Academic Motor Skills Scoring Guidelines on CLI Engage to assist with scoring this subtest. Input

scores into the TX-KEA subtest on CLI Engage.

SPECIAL SCORING INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACADEMIC MOTOR SUBTEST

Students are assessed using a checklist, which is completed by observing motor behaviors. Teachers will

record whether the student’s behavior is typical for their age, delayed, or if the teacher has not observed the

behavior. While it is recognized that questionnaire data introduces some ambiguity (i.e., ensuring that teacher

ratings are consistent across students, schools, and school districts), these types of scales can be an ecient

means to collect data on large groups of students.

We recommend that you complete the checklist after students have adjusted to kindergarten and you have

suciently observed students motor behaviors.

“Not Observed” means that the teacher has not yet observed the student displaying the behavior.

• Given that TX-KEA was designed to be used by kindergarten teachers approximately 1 month after

school entry, we do not anticipate the need for teachers to use the “Not Observed” anchor routinely.

For instance, by the time TX-KEA is administered, we anticipate that teachers would be able to spend

time with all students in their classroom participating in small group activities to observe multiple

items (e.g., use of a 3-ﬁngered pencil grip, name writing, ability to draw recognizable shapes). At the

minimum, a child’s ability to appropriately use writing implements can be observed as the students

complete the Spelling subtest. In addition, teachers can easily ask students to complete many of these

activities (e.g., ability to use scissors, sorting activities, ability to trace letters, etc.) if these skills have

not observed within a natural setting.

“Delayed” means the student’s motor skill is behind the development of their peers.

• The “Delayed” anchor should be used when the student’s skills are clearly outside of the norm. The

“Delayed” rating should be utilized in cases where the student is clearly outside of the norm for

kindergarten (e.g., bottom 10 percent of students in kindergarten). In terms of using a 3-ﬁngered

pencil grip, a student who receives a “Delayed” score would be one who is unable to maintain the

tripod grip even after being provided with assistance. In terms of drawing recognizable shapes, a

student who receives a “Delayed” score would have diculty drawing any recognizable shapes.

“Typical for Age” means that the student’s motor skill is developmentally appropriate.

• The “Typical for Age” rating anchor should be used for students who are able to complete activities

suggested in the Academic Motor Skills category in a manner that is similar to most kindergarten

TX-KEA User Guide

aged students. In relation to examples included in questionnaire, students do NOT have to be able to

complete all of the examples. For example, a student’s ability to draw recognizable shapes is evaluated

in one of the items. Examples included in this item include the ability to draw a circle, square, smiley

face, or stick ﬁgure. In order to receive an item score of “Typical for Age”, the student should be able

to successfully draw some but not all of the suggested shapes/ﬁgures.

Language of Administration

The Spanish and English versions of TX-KEA have been evaluated to ensure its reliability and validity with

Spanish speaking and English learner populations.

SELECTING THE LANGUAGE OF ADMINISTRATION

The decision to assess Spanish-speaking English learners in Spanish, or in both English and Spanish, should

follow the recommendations of the campus Language Proﬁciency Assessment Committee (LPAC). Decisions

on the language of assessment for native English speakers who are participating in Spanish-English dual-

language immersion programs is left to the discretion of program personnel.

MEASURING LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

TX-KEA has not been validated for use as a measure of language proﬁciency in either language.

USING THE SPANISH OR ENGLISH TXKEA TO GUIDE INSTRUCTION

When using TX-KEA results to guide instruction, you should assess students in the language of instruction to

determine current levels and goals. You may choose to also assess in the alternate language if you can make

use of the student’s skills in that language.

ASSESSING IN BOTH LANGUAGES

TX-KEA allows you the ﬂexibility to assess students in one or both languages. Students can be assessed in both

English and Spanish for individual subtests.

To help guide instructional planning, a teacher may wish to learn more about a student’s performance in

Spanish even if the student is receiving all English instruction. For example:

• It may be useful to know if a student has well developed phonological awareness skills in Spanish

relative to their age. This information may indicate that the student has skills in place for developing

phonological awareness in English.

• Alternatively, it may be useful to know if a student has limited phonological awareness skills in

Spanish as this may indicate the need for further instruction in English and/or Spanish to support

optimal phonological awareness growth. By assessing the student in both languages, the teacher can

better plan instruction to extend strengths and support weaknesses.

TX-KEA User Guide

ASSESSING IN THE MOST PROFICIENT LANGUAGE

There may be instances when you ﬁnd it helpful to administer speciﬁc subtests in a student’s most proﬁcient

language.

• Example 1: Student A is a native Spanish speaker. Their performance on the language subtests in

English is very low. The teacher may ﬁnd it helpful to administer the same subtest in Spanish to

gather some additional information about their strengths and needs.

• Example 2: Student B is also a native Spanish speaker. Their performance on the self-regulation

subtest administered in English is very low. The teacher may choose to assess self-regulation in

Spanish to be sure low English proﬁciency is not being confused with poor self-regulation.

LINGUISTIC ACCOMMODATIONS

Linguistic accommodations are those that reduce the English proﬁciency demands of the test without altering

the construct the test is intended to measure.

• Time accommodations are built into TX-KEA since the language, literacy, and cognitive subtests of

TX-KEA are not timed.

• An oral translation of the English TX-KEA test instructions can be provided to English learners who

do not speak Spanish. The person providing the translation should be a ﬂuent speaker of the student’s

language.

• Translation of test items and use of dictionaries are not appropriate linguistic accommodations for

TX-KEA.

Assessing Students with Disabilities

Multiple sources were used to determine the best recommendations to accommodate TX-KEA for use with

students with disabilities. This included a review of the Texas Education Agency’s published accommodations

recommendations and federal sources that provide considerations and accommodations for students with

disabilities. Feedback was collected from special educators, diagnosticians, and other district professionals,

such as speech, occupational, and physical therapists. Based on feedback from these professionals, attempts

were made to build an assessment system that could be used with a broad range of students with varying

disabilities.

When making a determination about whether or not TX-KEA is appropriate for a student with a disability,

consider the following factors:

• TX-KEA was NOT designed and should NOT be used to identify a student as having a disability.

• TX-KEA was not normed for students with disabilities. This means that we do not have normative

information about how students with a particular disability would perform on these measures that

could be used for comparison when evaluating the performance of a child with a disability.

SHOULD I USE TXKEA WITH A STUDENT WITH A DISABILITY?

• Students with disabilities have a wide range of skills and many students with mild forms of

TX-KEA User Guide

disabilities, such as a language delay, can easily complete many of the TX-KEA subtests with no, or

minimal, accommodations.

• Understanding how a student with a disability scores in relation to typically developing peers can

provide teachers with information that they can share with parents about the relative strengths and

weaknesses of students with disabilities. For example, you may have a student with a language delay

that scores within normal limits on the Math and Self-Regulation subtests, but struggle on subtests

evaluating phonological awareness skills. This provides a wide range of information about this

student’s strengths and where growth is needed.

TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY TEA ACCOMMODATIONS TO CONSIDER

The TEA provides detailed information about the provision of accommodations when completing state

assessments on their website. Even though TX-KEA is not a mandated state assessment, guidelines provided

by TEA should be used as a guide to determine the types of accommodations that can be made to TX-KEA.

Please see the Accommodations Resources section on the TEA website.

ACCOMMODATIONS WITH TXKEA

TX-KEA provides two classes of recommendations within the TEA model. 1) Low Risk and 2) High Risk.

1. Low Risk Decision Rule: Accommodations that DO NOT alter or change the wording, scoring

criteria, or time limits imposed on certain TX-KEA subtests are considered low risk and easily

approved and implemented by ARD or 504 committee. Many TEA accommodations are appropriate

for TX-KEA subtests with low risk to the integrity of the assessment. Examples of Low Risk

accommodations are provided below.

− Example 1: Use of individualized structured reminders to help a student pay attention, or get

ready for the next item. This would be seen as conforming to acceptable test practices for all

students.

− Example 2: Use of ampliﬁcation and projection devices with a range of students with visual or

hearing deﬁcits.

− Example 3: Manipulation of test materials is considered low risk. Student-selected response

items can be answered by assistive technology products, such as alternative keyboards, electronic

pointing devices, sip-and-pu systems, wands and sticks, joysticks, trackballs, and other tools.

− Other Low Risk Accommodations: Oral/signed presentation of test items would also be

acceptable. Math manipulatives are included in some of the easier TX-KEA counting and

operation items and would be acceptable accommodations.

2. High Risk Decision Rule: Accommodations that DO alter or change the wording, scoring criteria, or

time limits imposed on certain TX-KEA subtests are considered high risk. High Risk accommodations

may impact the validity and integrity of the assessment making interpretation more challenging. High

risk accommodations may be helpful when using TX-KEA to evaluate a student’s relative strengths

and weaknesses rather than using the scores to relate performance to the norm group. These would

not be norm-based, but may provide meaningful information for teachers and professionals for

children’s learning and educational planning.

TX-KEA User Guide

− Example 1: Providing extra time or an extra day for timed tests. If violated, the test isn’t valid for

its purpose.

− Example 2: Manipulating or substituting words for vocabulary and comprehension tests.

Accommodations that substantively change test items in any way should be avoided.

− Example 3: Changing scoring criteria to accommodate student’s response style. For example,

when counting on the Math screener, the item is scored based upon the cardinal value that is

provided by the child. Changing the scoring criteria to give credit for students who are able to

count objects correctly but do not understand the concept of cardinal value would be considered

to be high risk and should be avoided.

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS & CONSIDERATIONS

While not technically an accommodation, it is hoped that good testing practices are utilized when teachers

use TX-KEA in a classroom. Establishment of rapport with young students is critical for TX-KEA assessments.

Students should not be penalized for words that are poorly articulated. Kindergarteners often struggle

articulating words clearly. A good rule of thumb is that if two adults could easily determine what word the

student said then the verbal response should be scored.

Teacher and administrators should make reasonable eorts to provide appropriate accommodations that

will allow students with disabilities the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge. The best judges of the

appropriateness of the accommodations are the professional sta who has the most contact with the student

with a disability. Creative accommodation approaches that allow students with disabilities to successfully

complete TX-KEA subtests but do not violate the content of the assessment would be welcomed by the

authors of TX-KEA. TEA Guidelines should be considered when attempting to determine appropriate

accommodations.

TX-KEA User Guide

FAQs

Question Answer

How were TX-KEA items developed? Content was developed to align with Texas

Prekindergarten Guidelines and kindergarten

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

A range of items, from easy to hard, are

represented. It is not expected that all students

will answer all items correctly. The purpose is to

learn about the instructional needs and abilities

of students.

Can I compare end-of-year CIRCLE Progress

Monitoring data to TX-KEA data?

CIRCLE Progress Monitoring and TX-KEA are

conceptually aligned. However, they are not

vertically or horizontally equated, so their scores

are not comparable at this time.

Can you provide background on the

selection of Spanish words, prompts, letter

pronunciations etc.?

The selection of prompts, words, and general

item content used in the Spanish TX-KEA

was guided by criteria related to the construct

assessed in each subtest. In general, selection

was guided by curricular relevance, linguistic,

and conceptual features targeted by an item

and other developmental criteria such as age

of acquisition and age of instruction. All items

in Spanish were reviewed by committees of

Spanish speakers representing various dialects

of Spanish. Item translations were also done in

committee and when appropriate underwent

back translation procedures to ensure adherence

to the construct being measured.

Can the kindergarten entry assessment be

used at the end of prekindergarten?

The kindergarten entry assessment is intended

to be administered between early September

and the end of October of the kindergarten

school year. Assessment items are speciﬁcally

designed for children at that age, so giving it

several months early may invalidate the results.

Is TX-KEA computer adaptive? TX-KEA is not an adaptive assessment.