| (a) Eligibility for participation. The commissioner
of education shall determine a school district's or open-enrollment
charter school's eligibility to participate in the Reading Excellence
Team Pilot Program based on the following:
(1) a school district's or open-enrollment charter
school's performance on a reading instrument administered in accordance
with the Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.006(c); or
(2) a school district's performance on a Grade 3 reading
assessment instrument administered under the TEC, §39.023(a),
relative to other districts in the district's region.
(b) Selection of districts.
(1) Education service centers (ESCs) selected to administer
the pilot program by the commissioner shall establish an application
deadline for school districts and open-enrollment charter schools
to request assignment of a reading excellence team.
(2) The ESCs shall prioritize the assignment of reading
excellence teams to the lowest performing school districts and open-enrollment
charter schools that apply for assistance, as measured by the reading
instruments referenced in subsection (a)(1) and (2) of this section.
(3) After assignment of reading excellence teams under
the initial application, if any capacity to assign reading excellence
teams remains, the ESCs may accept additional applications and provide
reading excellence team support to additional school district and
open-enrollment charter school applicants based on the lowest performing
school districts or open-enrollment charter schools, as measured by
the reading instruments referenced in subsection (a)(1) and (2) of
this section.
(c) Qualifications for reading instruction specialist.
A reading instruction specialist must have:
(1) significant expertise in reading instruction with
a minimum of three years of classroom teaching experience;
(2) experience in providing instruction directly related
to the curriculum in Chapter 110 of this title (relating to Texas
Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading),
specifically in kindergarten-Grade 3; and
(3) knowledge of developmentally appropriate and research-based
strategies for students in kindergarten-Grade 3.
(d) Assignment of reading excellence teams. ESCs shall
assign reading excellence teams upon prioritization of the applications
and in accordance with this section and the TEC, §28.0061.
(e) Requests for student achievement data. Participating
school districts and open-enrollment charter schools will comply with
requests for student achievement data made by reading excellence teams
or their sponsoring ESC that will assist in monitoring the implementation
as well as the effectiveness of the overall pilot program. The sponsoring
ESC shall adopt procedures to ensure compliance with applicable state
and federal privacy laws. The sponsoring ESC shall comply with requests
for student achievement data made by the Texas Education Agency.
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