We are very excited to announce the continuation of the Texas Individualized Child Care Instruction Project (a.k.a. Assessment Pilot) between TXAEYC and Teaching Strategies® by the Texas Workforce Commission benefiting your program and the children and families you serve! Today more than ever, providers need to know that the children in their care are progressing toward kindergarten readiness. Providers must also ensure that their teachers have the knowledge and tools they need to promote children’s development and learning and to build strong partnerships with families. With funding provided by the Texas Workforce Commission, TXAEYC is partnering with Teaching Strategies to offer a valid and reliable, developmentally appropriate assessment system to eligible providers. The system, which is Teaching Strategies GOLD® with the enhanced instructional features of GOLDplus™, can be used to assess the development and learning of children from birth through kindergarten.
Benefits of the pilot project include free access to
- a widely used, observation-based system for assessing young children’s knowledge, skills, and behaviors;
- bilingual tools for accurately documenting and measuring children’s development and learning;
- engaging bilingual learning experiences that help teachers use assessment information to individualize care and instruction for each child;
- professional development for your staff;
- ongoing implementation support provided by trained Teaching Strategies experts; and
- bilingual tools to help teachers communicate with families.
Providers are eligible for participation if they
- meet the State’s minimum licensing standards,
- have a contract with the Texas Workforce Commission to serve subsidized children (CCS), and
- are in good standing with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Teaching Strategies will train your staff to use the online assessment system reliably; report assessment findings; use assessment data to inform planning and individualize instruction; and communicate information about children’s development and learning to family members, program administrators, and other stakeholders as appropriate. The system’s new enhancements strengthen the link between assessment and instruction and include easily individualized activities for use in programs and children’s homes. The communication features will help teachers build stronger partnerships with families.
Inclusion in the pilot program will be limited, so we urge you to respond right away if you are interested in participating. We will need 2 items to determine eligibility of your program:
- Your current contract with your Local Workforce Board, allowing you to serve children receive subsidy
- Fill out the TXAEYC Individual Instruction Project Information Form
Please send those to us at carol@texasaeyc.org.
General information is available from Teachingstrategies.com/TexasGOLD. To learn more about this opportunity or to set up an informational call: please contact Kimberly Howard at 817-308-2199 or kimberly.h@teachingstrategiespd.net or Carol Bell at 512-215-8142 ext 8 or carol@texasaeyc.org .
We look forward to partnering with you!