Current through Reg. 49, No. 12; March 22, 2024
(a) New entity
approval. An entity seeking initial approval to deliver an educator preparation
program (EPP) shall submit an application and proposal with evidence indicating
the ability to comply with the provisions of this chapter, Chapter 227 of this
title (relating to Provisions for Educator Preparation Candidates), Chapter 229
of this title (relating to Accountability System for Educator Preparation
Programs), and Chapter 230 of this title (relating to Professional Educator
Preparation and Certification). The proposal will be reviewed by the Texas
Education Agency (TEA) staff and a pre-approval site visit will be conducted.
The TEA staff shall recommend to the State Board for Educator Certification
(SBEC) whether the entity should be approved. A post-approval site visit will
be conducted after the first year of the EPP's operation.
(1) The proposal shall include the following
program approval components:
(A) ownership and
governance of the EPP;
(B) criteria
for admission to the EPP;
(C) EPP
curriculum;
(D) EPP coursework
and/or training, including ongoing support during clinical teaching,
internship, and practicum experiences;
(E) certification procedures;
(F) assessment and evaluation of candidates
for certification and EPP improvement;
(G) professional conduct of EPP staff and
candidates;
(H) EPP complaint
procedures;
(I) required
submissions of information, surveys, and other accountability data;
and
(J) as required under Texas
Education Code (TEC), §21.0443(b)(1) and (2), proactive instructional
planning techniques throughout the course work for candidates and across
content areas and inclusive practices for all students, including students with
disabilities, throughout coursework and clinical experience for
candidates.
(2) The
proposal shall also include identification of the classes and categories of
certificates proposed to be offered by the entity.
(b) Continuing entity approval. An entity
approved by the SBEC under this chapter shall be reviewed at least once every
five years; however, a review may be conducted at any time at the discretion of
the TEA staff.
(1) At the time of the review,
the entity shall submit to the TEA staff a status report regarding its
compliance with existing standards and requirements for EPPs. An EPP is
responsible for establishing procedures and practices sufficient to ensure the
security of information against unauthorized or accidental access, disclosure,
modification, destruction, or misuse prior to the expiration of the retention
period. Evidence of compliance is described in the figure provided in this
paragraph.
Attached
Graphic
(2)
Unless specified otherwise, the entity must retain evidence of compliance
described in the figure in paragraph (1) of this subsection for a period of
five years.
(3) TEA staff shall, at
the minimum, use the following risk factors to determine the need for
discretionary reviews and the type of five-year reviews:
(A) a history of the program's compliance
with state law and board rules, standards, and procedures, with consideration
given to:
(i) the seriousness of any violation
of a rule, standard, or procedure;
(ii) whether the violation resulted in an
action being taken against the program;
(iii) whether the violation was promptly
remedied by the program;
(iv) the
number of alleged violations; and
(v) any other matter considered to be
appropriate in evaluating the program's compliance history;
(B) whether the program meets the
accountability standards under TEC, §
21.045;
and
(C) whether a program is
accredited by other organizations.
(c) Approval of clinical teaching for an
alternative certification program. An alternative certification program seeking
approval to implement a clinical teaching component shall submit a description
of the following elements of the program for approval by the TEA staff on an
application in a form developed by the TEA staff that shall include, at a
minimum:
(1) general clinical teaching program
description, including conditions under which clinical teaching may be
implemented;
(2) selection criteria
for clinical teachers;
(3)
selection criteria for cooperating teachers;
(4) description of support and communication
between candidates, cooperating teachers, and the alternative certification
program;
(5) description of program
supervision; and
(6) description of
how candidates are evaluated.
(d) Addition of certificate categories and
classes.
(1) An EPP that is rated
"accredited," as provided in §
229.4
of this title (relating to Determination of Accreditation Status), may request
additional certificate categories be approved by TEA staff, by submitting an
application in a form developed by the TEA staff that shall include, at a
minimum, the curriculum matrix; a description of how the standards for Texas
educators are incorporated into the EPP; and documentation showing that the
program has the staff knowledge and expertise to support individuals
participating in each certification category being requested. The curriculum
matrix must include the standards, framework competencies, applicable Texas
Essential Knowledge and Skills, course and/or module names, and the benchmarks
or assessments used to measure successful program progress.
(2) An EPP rated "accredited" and currently
approved to offer a certificate for which the SBEC is changing the grade level
of the certificate may request to offer the preapproved category at different
grade levels by submitting an application in a form developed by the TEA staff
that shall include, at a minimum, a modified curriculum matrix that includes
the standards, course and/or module names, and the benchmarks or assessments
used to measure successful program progress. The requested additional
certificate categories must be within the classes of certificates for which the
EPP has been previously approved by the SBEC.
(3) An EPP that is not rated "accredited" may
not apply to offer additional certificate categories or classes of
certificates.
(4) An EPP that is
rated "accredited" may request the addition of a certificate class that has not
been previously approved by the SBEC, but must present a full proposal on an
application in a form developed by the TEA staff for consideration and approval
by the SBEC.
(e) Addition
of program locations. An EPP that is rated "accredited," may open additional
locations, provided the program informs the SBEC of any additional locations at
which the program is providing educator preparation 60 days prior to providing
educator preparation at the location. Additional program locations must operate
in accordance with the program components under which the program has been
approved to operate.
(f)
Contingency of approval. Approval of an EPP by the SBEC, including each
specific certificate class and category, is contingent upon approval by other
lawfully established governing bodies such as the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, boards of regents, or school district boards of trustees.
Continuing EPP approval is contingent upon compliance with superseding state
and federal law.
(g)
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, a program that is
approved to offer certificates that the SBEC has replaced with new
certificates, which require a science of teaching reading assessment, may be
approved to offer the certificates by submitting on or before December 1, 2020,
a request to offer the new certificates in a form developed by the TEA staff.
This request must include at a minimum an attestation signed by the program's
legal authority of the program's intent to modify its curriculum by January 1,
2021, as necessary to prepare candidates for the new certificate. Programs may
be approved to offer the new certificates only for the route(s) for which they
are approved to offer the existing certificates. A program that does not file a
request for approval to offer the new certificates on or before December 1,
2020, may apply for authorization using the process described in subsection (d)
of this section. The eligible certificates are as follows:
(1) a program approved to offer Core
Subjects: Early Childhood-6 may request to offer Core Subjects with Science of
Teaching Reading: Early Childhood-6;
(2) a program approved to offer Core
Subjects: Grades 4-8 may request to offer Core Subjects with Science of
Teaching Reading: Grades 4-8;
(3) a
program approved to offer English Language Arts and Reading: Grades 4-8 may
request to offer English Language Arts and Reading with Science of Teaching
Reading: Grades 4-8; and
(4) a
program approved to offer English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies:
Grades 4-8 may request to offer English Language Arts and Reading/Social
Studies with Science of Teaching Reading: Grades 4-8.