Texas Even Start Annual Evaluator Meeting

October 5, 2009
1:00 pm – 3:30 pm Web Conference

Welcome and Announcements

Roll Call
Funded Programs
New TEA Contact for Adult Education and Even Start
NCFL Conference to be held in San Antonio, April 11-13, 2010. Pre-conference sessions will be April 9-10, the Texas Even Start Business Meeting will be held in conjunction with the conference on April 14. All events are scheduled at the Riverwalk Marriott in San Antonio, Texas.
Funding for LINCS has been discontinued. The Goodling Institute and NCFL are working to assume operation of the LINCS listserv.

US-TX 2008 Results Highlights

Opportunities

What Texas Can Do to Improve Outcomes

Provide additional grantee training on CSPR measures
Clarify testing guidelines, e.g., scheduling of post tests
Update its Indicators of Program Quality
Use desk and onsite monitoring to reinforce importance of accurate and complete data collection
Revise data collection system as needed
Strengthen use of English language instruction in PK

2008-2009 Texas Results

Exceeded state targets for all six Early Childhood Indicators of Program Quality
Exceeded state targets for all adult education performance measures
Retention and intensity of participation in adult education increased to 215 hours per adult participant
Increases in the enrollment of Even Start children in bilingual or dual language instruction in PK and K could negatively impact student outcomes on PPVT and PALS PreK. A focus on expansion of English language vocabulary and alphabet knowledge is needed.

Synopsis of Recommendations Made in 2009 Final Evaluations

The submittal date for evaluations was Sept. 30; however, several have not yet been submitted. Beth Thompson will categorize recommendations from the evaluations and report a summary to evaluators. The purpose of summarizing the recommendations is to identify any particular category or categories in which multiple programs have challenges. Texas LEARNS will work with Texas Family Literacy Resource Center to address any such categories.

IPQs – Second Revision

Effective 7/1/2010
Review all indicators, with special attention to IPQ 7, Alphabet Knowledge. The Texas Education Agency desires continuity in all prekindergarten measures. The Texas Revised PreK Guidelines, III.C.2, states an End of Prekindergarten Year Outcome of identification of 20 upper case and 20 lower case letters. IPQ 7 reflects that.
Local programs will have to emphasize the alphabet knowledge in all components in order for Even Start children to meet the goal for alphabet recognition.
Training – There was discussion of various approaches to providing training for the Revised Indicators. Items discussed included TETNs, face-to-face training, web conference, narrated PhotoStory, and recording of training that can be used to train future staff members.

Evaluation Format

The Program-Specific Data and Program Self-Assessment sections will be combined and re-named for the 2010 evaluation
The second Retention Performance Measure for adult education will remain under Element #11.
Documents will be updated on the web site.

Conference Calls (Evaluator-Coordinator-TXL)

Pilot Conference Calls with one or two programs. Evaluator-Coordinator-Texas LEARNS will conference to discuss recommendation that were made in the final evaluation and program performance and the program’s plans to address those recommendations this year.

Upcoming Events