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Texas Implementation of Even Start
PALS PreK Assessment
Data Collection Instructions

The United States Department of Education now requires states to report the Alphabet Knowledge section of the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS PreK). Texas implemented the screening on a limited basis during the 2005-06 year.

"All Even Start programs in Texas are required to report scores for Section II of PALS PreK beginning in the 2006-07 program year. Individual programs may choose to administer the remaining sections; however, they are not required to do so for the purposes of this study.

Texas LEARNS has purchased at least one PALS PreK kit for every program. The kits are expected to be delivered to local programs no later than September 22, 2006. Additional PALS PreK kits are available from the University of Virginia, http://pals.virginia.edu/PALS-Instruments/PALS-PreK.asp. The kits are approximately $75 for enough materials to screen 20 children twice. A training video is available for approximately $15. The PALS PreK kit contains three data collection forms, the Fall/Spring Child Summary Sheet, the PreK Fall Class Summary Sheet and the PreK Spring Class Summary Sheet.

The Texas PALS Pre-K Statewide Data Collection for 2006-2007 will be accomplished via electronic data entry. The Texas Family Literacy Resource Center (TFLRC) will post the data collection form on its website at http://www.tei.education.txstate.edu/famlit no later than September 30, 2006. TFLRC will post an announcement on the TCALL Family Literacy Listserv when the form is available with instructions for use.

• Once pre-test administration is complete, record the information from the Fall/Spring Child Summary Sheets on the electronic Texas PALS PreK Fall Summary on the TFLRC website. You will code each site and enter data for all children who were pretested.

• Record post-test results for individual students on the electronic Texas PALS PreK Spring Summary on the TFLRC website. Again, you will code each site and enter data for all children who were posttested.

The Texas PALS PreK Fall Summary of the October administration is due to Beth Thompson at Texas LEARNS via email no later than November 15, 2006.

The Texas PALS PreK Spring Summary of the May administration are due to Beth no later than May 31, 2007.

TIMELINE
September-October 2006	Programs receive PALS PreK kits and instructions. Programs will review materials, participate in the training provided by the Texas Family Literacy Resource Center or use the training video included in the kit and devise an assessment schedule.
October 31, 2006	Programs complete assessment of all Even Start children who were four by September 1, 2006, regardless of which partner provides direct early childhood instruction. Assess every four-year old in your Even Start families, even if they are receiving early childhood education in district PreK, Head Start or from some other Even Start collaborator. Even Start programs are only required to administer Section II, Alphabet Knowledge Section of PALS PreK.
November 15, 2006	Submit the Texas Class Summary Sheets electronically by this date to Beth Thompson at Texas LEARNS (ethompson@hcde-texas.org )
May 1-15, 2007	Programs conduct a second administration of PALS PreK Section II Alphabet Knowledge section to all children who were pre-tested and remain enrolled in Even Start.
May 31, 2007	Submit Class Summary Sheets by this date to Beth Thompson at Texas LEARNS, Fax # (713) 696-0797

NOTE: Texas LEARNS is working with the Texas Family Literacy Resource Center (TFLRC) to develop a shared database. The creation of the database could impact the way local programs submit data. If this occurs, programs will be notified no later than October 31, 2006.

Directions for the form on the web will be similar to the directions below (except for the name changes as above).

Directions for Completing the Class Summary Sheet

Directions for completing the Class Summary Sheet are stated in the PALS PreK Teacher’s Manual on pages 11 and 12; however, the directions were developed with Virginia programs in mind. Some adjustment will be needed for Texas. Directions adapted for Texas are stated below.

1. The Class Summary Sheet is used to record PALS PreK scores for an entire class.

• Texas defines “class” to mean all four year-olds in an individual Even Start program. A four-year-old is an Even Start participant that was enrolled before October 15 of the program year and was four years old on September 1 of the school year.
• Enter all background information about each child in your program, including the child’s first and last name, date of birth, gender, ethnicity and special needs. See Figure 2.2 on page 11 of the PALS PreK Teacher Manual for an example of a Class Summary Sheet.
• Enter the name of the teacher who conducted the PALS screening.
• Enter the date when the child was assessed.
• The term “school” is defined as the name of the Even Start site where the student receives instruction. This may or may not be an actual school. Even Start programs that have multiple sites for early childhood instruction of four-year-olds complete a separate Class Summary Sheet for each site.
• The term “district” is defined as the Even Start grantee. This may or may not be a school district. Use the name of the Even Start grantee as it is printed on your Notice of Grant Award.
• Ethnicity and special needs codes are listed in Table 2.1 and Table 2.2 below and on page 12 of the PALS PreK Teacher Manual.
• Program and curriculum codes for Texas are listed in Table 2.3 and Table 2.4 of this document. Program codes identify the Even Start partners that provide direct instruction to four year-old children.

Curriculum codes identify the most common curricula used in Even Start. If there is no curriculum code that describes your program, please contact the Texas Family Literacy Resource Center at (512) 245-9600 so a code can be assigned.

2. Use the PreK Fall Class Summary Sheet for pretest data. Type the scores from each Child Summary Sheet onto the Class Summary Sheet. Do not send hand-written data.

3. Use the PreK Spring Class Summary Sheet for posttest data. Do not send hand-written data.

4. Note that listed beneath each task are Spring developmental ranges associated with early reading success. These ranges are for Spring of the four-year-old PreK year only. Developmental ranges are provided for individual tasks only. Because this instrument is designed to be a curriculum guide, not just a screening tool, there is no summed score (see Chapter Five of the PALS PreK Teacher Manual for more information about developmental ranges).

Texas Administration of PALS PreK
Code Table Adaptations

Table 2.1 Ethnicity Codes
AA	African American
AP	Asian and Pacific Islander Group
C	Caucasian, Non-Hispanic
H	Hispanic
NA	Native American
O	Other (Specify)

 

Table 2.2 Special Needs
N	None
SP	Speech and Language
LD	Learning Disability
DD	Developmental Delay
MR	Mental Retardation
O	Other (Specify)

Table 2.3 Program Codes Select the option that best describes the majority of instruction offered to the child.
ES	Even Start
ES/HS	Even Start/Non-School District Head Start Partnership
ES/SD-HS	Even Start School District Head Start Partnership
ES/SD-ESL	Even Start/School District ESL Pre-K Program
ESL/SD-BiL PreK	Even Start/School District Bilingual Pre-K Program
O	Other (Specify)

Table 2.4 Curriculum Codes Select the curriculum used for the majority of instruction offered to the child.
LP	Letter People
LG	Partners for Literacy ECE
HG SCP	High Scope
M	Montessori
CR	Creative Curriculum
DLM	DLM Early Childhood Program
HISD	HISD Clear/Scholastic
LEAP	Language Enrichment Activities Program
RGBY	Rigby Early Childhood Curriculum
N	None
O	Other (Please Specify)