TSR Comprehensive
TSR Comprehensive is the research validated, three-year professional development program that provides high-intensity support to early education teachers in communities that are most in need of quality resources and individualized technical assistance.
TSR Comprehensive is made possible by collaboration and partnership at state, regional, and local levels. TSR is delivered through several models across the state, varying in intensity of the support offered and direct contact with stakeholders. TSR Comprehensive is our most intensive service delivery model, offering comprehensive support for early childhood programs serving the most at-risk communities and children.
TSR Comprehensive is implemented in classrooms across the state through local Lead Agents, community organizations that serve as the hub for TSR Comprehensive in their local communities. Lead Agents partner with early childhood programs in their local communities to provide TSR Comprehensive services, including training, materials, and coaching. Teachers enrolled in TSR Comprehensive participate in a comprehensive teacher training program designed to help children be more prepared for kindergarten and beyond. Teachers participate in TSR Comprehensive through one of two models: Face-to-Face or Remote.
Overview
TSR Comprehensive aims to provide an effective, research-supported, early childhood classroom model that prepares at-risk children to enter kindergarten at or above grade level. Throughout the school year, educators enrolled in TSR Comprehensive are provided tools to help them learn more about the specific instructional needs of the children in their classrooms and how to support children using engaging lessons and activities. Through TSR Comprehensive, educators improve their teaching skills by getting feedback from dedicated TSR coaches using video recordings of lessons, activities, and coaching. The new skills and techniques educators learn through TSR Comprehensive positively affect children’s learning environment and educational experience.
Since its inception in 2003, TSR Comprehensive has served over 550,000 children across the state of Texas, with close to 1,500 educators participating each year. What was learned through pre-K program intervention has been adapted for service delivery to infant and toddler educators based on developmental research and best practices.
Although previously focused solely on pre-K classrooms, TSR Comprehensive is a birth-to-five model that offers opportunities for Lead Agents to provide services to early childhood partners serving preschoolers and infants and toddlers based on the community’s needs. Some early childhood partners, particularly those in high-need, at-risk communities, may benefit from coordinated, site-wide TSR Comprehensive service delivery to support high-quality caregiving across age groups. This coordinated approach better prepares partners for participation in quality improvement programs, including participating child care partners’ application into Texas Rising Star.
When delivered together, TSR Comprehensive is proven to have a positive impact on the instructional practices of early childhood educators and the school readiness of the children in their classrooms:
- Professional development
- Coaching
- Child progress monitoring
- Classroom curriculum and materials
Children in TSR Comprehensive classrooms demonstrate significant gains on key predictors of early literacy. Success in early literacy is indicative and predictive of later literacy achievement; in other words, what children learn early in their education makes school success possible. A preponderance of research suggests that children who perform well in the following literacy domains continue to do well into high school: phonological awareness, vocabulary development, and letter knowledge. TSR Comprehensive emphasizes developmentally appropriate assessments and ongoing child progress monitoring in these domains and has found that thousands of disadvantaged children across the state have demonstrated substantial strides towards the goal of school readiness. Analysis of child progress monitoring data from TSR Comprehensive classrooms consistently shows gains among at-risk children in the key school readiness areas of math, phonological awareness, letter naming, and vocabulary.
Lead Agents
Learn more about the Lead Agent application process and the biennial request for applications, the process CLI uses to solicit applications from prospective organizations interested in delivering TSR Comprehensive.
- Public School Districts (see below for specific information if you are a school district applying)
- Open enrollment Charter Schools (see below for specific information if you are a charter school applying)
- Head Start Programs
- Child Care Programs (for profit/nonprofit, faith and community based)
- Local Government
- Community Based Organizations (CBO)
- Colleges/Universities
- Education Service Centers (ESC)
- Local Workforce Development Boards (LWDB)
Participating Program Eligibility
Early childhood programs are eligible to participate in TSR Comprehensive if they meet certain requirements: all child care programs must be in good standing with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Programs must be serving at least 50% at-risk children meeting eligibility requirements for state-funded prekindergarten and/or at least 50% children eligible to receive Child Care Management System (CCMS) funding. All Head Start programs are eligible, as are public school pre-K programs if they are partnered with a child care or Head Start program. As part of TSR Comprehensive, licensed home-based child care providers in good standing are also eligible to receive some professional development services through the program.
