La Joya ISD district staff presented an update on pre-K assessment and early learning implementation, reporting progress in early literacy and math measured with the Circle progress monitoring assessment and the district’s Creative Curriculum.

Myra Ramos, who leads early learning, outlined the district’s use of the Circle assessment for pre-K 3 and pre-K 4 students. The district assesses five domains (rapid vocabulary naming, rapid letter naming, early writing, mathematics and social-emotional/health and wellness) three times per year (beginning, middle and end). Teachers use the assessment data to plan small-group instruction, learning centers and other classroom activities tied to the Creative Curriculum.

District presenters reported a roughly 20-point increase from beginning to middle of year on rapid letter naming for some grade cohorts and more than 20 points of growth in math for pre-K3. For rapid vocabulary, staff reported a 16-point growth for pre-K3 (noting that actual percentages remain below proficiency for many students and there is room to grow), while pre-K4 showed less growth in rapid vocabulary compared with pre-K3. Dr. Little and Ms. Ramos explained one likely contributing factor: children in two-way dual-language classrooms spend substantial instructional time in Spanish at this stage and are assessed in both languages; the district said many dual-language students are assessed in both Spanish and English to inform instruction, which can initially depress single-language vocabulary measures but often leads to stronger bilingual growth over time.

The district linked pre-K outcomes to its broader literacy work, saying foundational skills developed in pre-K support later K–2 reading outcomes. Officials said registration and recruitment began April 1 and encouraged families to enroll; they also listed instructional supports including coaching, professional learning, and planned classroom allocations for dual-language and English-only options.

No formal board action was taken on the pre-K update; staff opened the floor to board questions about testing language and comparative results across monolingual and dual-language classrooms.