Our History

The Children’s Learning Institute was founded in 2003 and is part of the Department of Developmental Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston. CLI is a result of a merging of different UTHSC early childhood development programs into one comprehensive institute.

The programs that are now part of the Children’s Learning Institute date back to 1989, when the national Reach Out and Read program began in Boston. Reach Out and Read Texas was established in 1999.

Until coming together under the Children’s Learning Institute, CIRCLE and CARS worked together, but operated independently. CLI combines the substantial resources of both programs with the newly expanded Dan L. Duncan Children’s Neurodevelopmental Clinic in the Texas Medical
Center.

Established in 1996 at UTHSC-H, the Center for Academic and Reading Skills (CARS) conducts research on how reading and other academic skills develop in normal children, children who are underachievers and children who are academically disabled. The research conducted here created the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI), which is used in 96% of Texas schools to assess the reading levels of K-3 graders.

In 1999, then Governor G.W. Bush identified CIRCLE as the “state’s premier center for early childhood research and initiatives.”

In 2002, Governor Rick Perry designated CIRCLE as the State Center for Early Childhood Development.

Our Programs

Learn more about the individual programs that make up CLI by clicking on these links.

Dan L. Duncan Children's Neurodevelopmental Clinic
CIRCLE Professional Development
Play and Learning Strategies (PALS)
Reach Out and Read Texas (ROR-TX)
Research
Texas Head Start State Collaboration Office
Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI)
Texas Reading First Initiative
Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development and the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM)