Resources
CLI develops, implements, and supports an array of resources for families, teachers, early childhood specialists, program administrators, and more.
It takes a community to raise a child, and CLI’s many resources are available to schools and families to support children in reaching their optimal potential. Always based in research and best practices, many of these resources are available at no cost on our online platform CLI Engage.
Signature Resources
CLI Engage
CLI Engage is a comprehensive e-learning platform housing the Texas School Ready professional development, child progress monitoring tools, classroom observation tools, curriculum, and family engagement resources, available for free to thousands of Texas schools and early childhood programs.
Texas Workforce Registry & Texas Trainer Registry
Housed within the Texas Early Childhood Professional Development System (TECPDS), the Texas Workforce Registry provides career tracking advancement for early childhood professionals in all settings and at no cost. The Texas Trainer Registry is a statewide system that approves early childhood trainers and their trainings.
Child Progress Monitoring Tools & Assessments
Circle Progress Monitoring (Pre-K)
The Texas School Ready child progress monitoring tool, the Circle Progress Monitoring System, is a user-friendly, technology-driven tool that enables a teacher to quickly assess a child’s progress in a particular skill area in English or Spanish. This simple yet reliable data collection prompts teachers to focus on lessons that target their students’ least developed skills. Circle Progress Monitoring is hosted on CLI Engage.
Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment (TX-KEA)
TX-KEA provides teachers with a comprehensive understanding of students’ learning, enabling them to design differentiated instruction to better meet students’ unique needs and share information with families. TX-KEA is available though multiple implementation options to school districts and charter schools in English and Spanish. TX-KEA is hosted on CLI Engage.
TPRI Early Reading Assessment
TPRI is a highly reliable early reading assessment designed to help teachers provide targeted instruction to support the reading development of students in kindergarten through third grade. TPRI is hosted on CLI Engage and available from other vendors.
Continuous Quality Improvement and Teacher Observation Tools
Teacher Behavior Rating Scales (TBRS)
TBRS is a reliable and valid measure to evaluate teaching behaviors that target school readiness, developed as a classroom observational measure to target enriched learning activities in early literacy, language, and mathematics skills in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms. TBRS has been used in numerous studies as a tool to observe and evaluate teaching behaviors and change over time. CLI used TBRS to develop the Circle Classroom Observation Tool (COT), used by coaches across CLI’s implementation projects to observe teacher behavior, set goals for improvement, and track progress over time through the CLI Engage platform.
Circle Classroom Observation Tools
CLI offers several comprehensive classroom observation tools to assist coaches, mentors, and organizational leaders with monitoring and tracking teacher behavior in the classroom over time, and providing tools to guide improvement. These tools were developed for use in the Texas School Ready Project, guiding the positive growth of teacher behaviors for more than 15 years. Circle Classroom Observations Tools are hosted on CLI Engage and available for infant/toddler and pre-K classrooms.
Classroom Environment Checklist
The Classroom Environment Checklist (CEC) is a tool that early childhood professionals can use to evaluate and improve their classroom environments. The tool can be used to set goals for classroom enhancements, track progress over time, and provide a direction for coaching or technical assistance. This tool is available for three age groups: Infant & Toddler, Prekindergarten, and Kindergarten on CLI Engage.
Family Engagement Toolkit
CLI’s family engagement resources make the most of procedures that schools likely already have in place, such as progress monitoring, homework, parent-teacher conferences, and open houses. CLI advocates a new focus for these efforts: supporting families in better understanding children’s development and engaging in fun, developmentally appropriate activities that not only build skills but strengthen the bonds between family members. The Family Engagement Toolkit is available on CLI Engage to access and download at no cost.
Curriculum & Activities for School and Home
Circle Pre-K Curriculum
Incorporating time-tested lessons from the Circle Activity Collection, the Circle Pre-K Curriculum now provides all the resources to support weekly planning and delivery of preschool instruction. Circle Pre-K Curriculum is hosted on CLI Engage and available at no cost to download or access online.
Circle Infant & Toddler Curriculum
Incorporating time-tested lessons from the Circle Activity Collection, the Circle Infant & Toddler Curriculum now provides everything your program needs to create and implement weekly lesson plans that support meaningful interactions and playful learning experiences for infant and toddler children. The Circle Infant & Toddler Curriculum is hosted on CLI Engage and available at no cost to download or access online.
Circle Activity Collection
The Circle Activity Collection translates the best early childhood development research into practice through a variety of activities that teachers can implement during large group, small group, and one-on-one instruction, and families can implement at home to support young children’s learning. The Circle Activity Collection is hosted on CLI Engage: classroom activities for infant through 2nd grade, and family activities for birth through age 6. Access the family collection directly at cliengagefamily.org!
Developing Talkers & Hablemos Juntos
Developing Talkers and Hablemos Juntos were curriculum supplements used to promote oral language. Listening comprehension and vocabulary skills were targeted through lessons, materials, and instructions on developing and strengthening children’s oral language skills and conceptual knowledge. The curriculum used a series of instructional routines that were repeated across all units.
Reading RULES!
Reading RULES! is a comprehensive reading intervention program developed for first-grade students by literacy experts at the Children’s Learning Institute.
Professional Development & Training
BEECH Online Training for Home-Based Providers
BEECH is a web-based professional development system specifically designed for home childcare providers, available in English and Spanish. The program focuses on supporting the socio-emotional, cognitive, language, literacy, and mathematics development of young children. BEECH is hosted on CLI Engage and available at no cost.
eCircle Professional Development
eCircle is designed for teachers and administrators serving children three to six years of age and includes extensive video-based demonstrations of effective instructional practices, as well as application-based assignments and activities. eCircle is well-aligned to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, covering topics in classroom management, language and literacy, social and emotional development, science, and mathematics. eCircle is hosted on CLI Engage and available at no cost.
Early Childhood Specialist Micro-Credential Program
Offering opportunities for early childhood specialists (such as coaches, mentors, and trainers), the CLI Micro-Credential Program provides professional development acknowledgement for competencies developed throughout their careers. Micro-credentials are part of an early childhood specialist competency framework that includes competencies that all specialists need to demonstrate to serve the early childhood professionals they support effectively. The CLI Micro-Credential Program is available on CLI Engage.
Circle Infant & Toddler Teacher Training: Play with Me Series
Designed for caregivers and parents of children ages birth to three, this FREE online training features instructional strategies in action through video of real teacher-child interactions, common child development theories, experts discussing frequently asked questions, opportunities to track child developmental milestones, and more. The series includes courses on early language, literacy, social and emotional, and cognitive development. The Play with Me Series is available on CLI Engage.
State Early Learning Guidelines Training Resources
Texas Core Competencies for Early Childhood Practitioners and Administrators Online Training
Core competencies refer to specific, basic concepts, skills, and abilities that early childhood professionals should learn, understand and be able to demonstrate. This training was designed for early childhood professionals to improve the quality of care and education young children receive. The Texas Core Competencies for Early Childhood Practitioners and Administrators are fully integrated into TECPDS, and the training is available at no cost on CLI Engage.
Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines and Online Training
The purpose of the Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines (ITELG) is to outline expectations about what children should know and be able to do across domains of learning during specific age ranges and to outline steps for caregivers to support healthy development. CLI partnered with the Texas Workforce Commission to develop online training to assist caregivers in understanding early childhood development and in making the most of each day during the early years of growth. The ITELG online training is available on CLI Engage.
Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines Online Training
CLI partnered with the Texas Education Agency to provide free, online training that guides teachers through the child outcomes and instructional strategies presented in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. The training covers all ten learning domains and includes extensive video demonstrations of child outcomes and specific instructional strategies filmed in real Texas pre-K classrooms. Each subdomain also links to video lessons in the Circle Activity Collection that support the child skills discussed. The Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines online training is available at no cost on CLI Engage.
