The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) adopts amendments §§228.2, 228.35, and 228.40, the repeal of §228.17, and new §228.17 and §228.33, concerning requirements for educator preparation programs. The amendments to §§228.2, 228.35, and 228.40, the repeal of §228.17, and new §228.33 are adopted without changes to the proposed text as published in the May 31, 2019 issue of the Texas Register (44 TexReg 2658) and will not be republished. New §228.17 is adopted with changes to the proposed text as published in the May 31, 2019 issue of the Texas Register (44 TexReg 2658) and will be republished. The adopted revisions establish requirements for intensive pre-service, for educator preparation program (EPP) name changes, and for a candidate seeking certification in two categories to have clinical teaching in both.

REASONED JUSTIFICATION: The SBEC rules in 19 TAC Chapter 228, Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs, establish the requirements for EPPs. The adopted revisions add intensive pre-service as an optional preparation and certification pathway, define and establish the requirements of intensive pre-service, and establish an implementation date for the intensive pre-service option.

The adopted revisions address a need to provide guidance in rule for instances where EPPs desire a name change following a change in ownership and also require a candidate who has a second certification category to have clinical teaching in both certification categories. Current rules do not address these issues.

Some of the changes correspond to amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 230, Professional Educator Preparation and Certification, which are published in the Adopted Rules section of this issue, and to amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 227, Provisions for Educator Preparation Programs, which were published in the Proposed Rules section of the August 23, 2019 issue of the Texas Register.

The following describes the adopted revisions.

§228.2. Definitions.

The adopted amendment in §228.2(7) adds the phrase, "may contain one or more certification categories," and deletes the phrase, "also known as a certification field," from the definition of certification class to clarify that a class of certificate may contain one or more categories within a certification. For example, the certificate classes include superintendent, principal, classroom teacher, reading specialist, master teacher, school librarian, school counselor, and educational diagnostician, as specified in 19 TAC §230.33. As indicated in 19 TAC Chapter 233, certificates in the classroom teacher class have various categories such as English Language Arts and Reading, Social Studies, Special Education, and Health. This adopted amendment better distinguishes between a class and a category since a category is a subgroup of a class.

The adopted amendment in §228.2(20) defines intensive pre-service as an educator assignment supervised through an EPP that may lead to an intern and probationary certification and subsequently, the completion of a standard certificate. Intensive pre-service provides a candidate the opportunity to practice content pedagogy and pedagogy skills in a classroom setting with support before serving in the role as the classroom teacher of record.

§228.17. Change of Ownership and Name Change.

Adopted new §228.17 includes a new subsection title, Change of Ownership and Name Change (currently Change of Ownership ) that encompasses the new rule that allows EPPs to change their names when they change ownership, but not otherwise. This change is necessary to account for instances where programs change ownership, and the new owners desire a different name. The adopted new rule does not allow a program to change its name unless it has both a recent change in ownership that has been reported to Texas Education Agency (TEA) staff within 10 days of the change and a current accreditation status of "Accredited" or "Accredited-Not Rated." These changes will better preserve the integrity of the accreditation system and prevent programs from confusing the public with frequent name changes. To enforce this and ensure EPP compliance, the adopted new rule allows for TEA staff to recommend an accreditation status of "Accredited-Probation" immediately when a program fails to inform TEA staff regarding its name change. Further, under 19 TAC §229.4, Determination of Accreditation Status, an EPP's accreditation can be revoked after it has been on "Accredited-Probation" status for one year. Current §228.17 has been adopted for repeal as a result of adopted new §228.17.

Since published as proposed, the SBEC approved a change to §228.17(d) to accurately reflect the status of "Accredited-Probation." This change is a technical edit necessary to align these rules with the accreditation statuses listed in TEC, §21.0451(a)(1), and 19 TAC §229.4, Determination of Accreditation Status.

§228.33. Intensive Pre-Service.

Pre-service experience is important to student success, and the adopted new rule encourages EPPs to offer pre-service training and bring the benefit of clinical teaching to alternative certification and post-baccalaureate candidates. The adopted new rule allows a candidate with an intern certificate or probationary certificate to move into a role as teacher of record by passing the subject-matter only examination and successfully completing the intensive pre-service training requirements. A candidate does not need to take the content pedagogy examination for issuance of the intern certificate.

The adopted new rule does not mandate that EPPs offer intensive pre-service; it is an option for programs to apply to use this route. A candidate taking this route is still held to the same testing requirements after issuance of their intern certificate and is encouraged to take the performance assessment to pair practice-based preparation with a practice-based assessment. The requirement for issuance of a standard certificate includes the completion of all required assessments as defined in Figure: 19 TAC §230.21(e).

Adopted new §228.33(a) establishes the programmatic requirements of intensive pre-service prior to issuance of an intern certificate, including an intensive program with a minimum of four consecutive weeks, a minimum of 12 instructional days with one hour of supervised instruction per day, and a minimum of four face-to-face observation/feedback coaching sessions provided by a qualified coach that include observations of at least 15 minutes and coaching meetings that are a minimum of 30 minutes.

Adopted new §228.33(b) specifies the requirements a candidate coach must have to offer the observation and feedback sessions described in adopted new §228.33(a).

Adopted new §228.33(c) specifies the eligibility criteria for a candidate seeking the intern certificate via intensive pre-service. Adopted subsection (c)(1) provides a cross reference to the requirements of concurrently adopted new §230.36(f) that further describes requirements for obtaining the intern certificate for intensive pre-service. Section 228.33(c)(3) provides a cross reference to commissioner's rule in 19 TAC §150.1002 that governs teacher appraisals and specifies the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) Rubric and includes the dimensions of T-TESS and performance measures that a candidate needs to meet as further criteria for obtaining the intern certificate via intensive pre-service. This applies to all certification categories except for Special Education EC-12 (candidates are required to pass the Special Education Supplemental) and bilingual (candidates are required to pass the Bilingual Target Language Proficiency or related language proficiency exam).

Adopted new §228.33(d) specifies the criteria by which an intensive pre-service candidate could be eligible for a probationary certificate, as indicated in concurrently adopted new §230.37(f).

Adopted new §228.33(e) sets the implementation date of the intensive pre-service training to on or after January 1, 2020.

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§228.35. Preparation Program Coursework and/or Training.

The adopted amendment to §228.35(e)(2)(A) adds language to specify clinical teaching requirements for a candidate seeking initial certification in only one subject area or in more than one subject area. This parallels the experience requirements for an intern teacher seeking certification in more than one certification category so that a candidate would have clinical teaching in both certification categories. Under the current rule, a candidate for certification in two categories can complete his or her clinical teaching in just one of the two categories, leaving no practical classroom experience in the other certification category. This allows a candidate to become fully certified in both categories without clinical teaching experience in both categories. Under the adopted language, candidates need to have a primary assignment that is not less than an average of four hours each day in the subject area and grade level of certification sought, and the EPP needs to be approved to offer preparation in the certification category required for the additional assignment, to provide ongoing support for each assignment as prescribed in §228.35(g), and to provide coursework and training for each assignment to adequately prepare the candidate to be effective in the classroom. In addition, the campus administrator will need to agree to assign a qualified cooperating teacher appropriate to each assignment. The adopted revisions also include conforming technical edits.

The adopted amendment in §228.35(e)(8)(C) adds a reference to the intern certificate rule in §230.36. The current reference only refers to the probationary certificate.

Adopted new §228.35(g)(7) adds language for an all-level clinical teaching assignment requirement for a candidate seeking certification in an additional area to include an assignment that involves certification in more than one certification category that cannot be taught concurrently during the same period of the school day. This addresses instances where a candidate cannot be observed for both areas during the same observation. For example, science and physical education cannot be observed concurrently and will require separate observations for each area.

The adopted amendment in §228.35(e)(2)(B)(viii) includes a conforming technical edit.

§228.40. Assessment and Evaluation of Candidates for Certification and Program Improvement.

The adopted amendment in §228.40(b) aligns the certification requirements with changes to the examinations that candidates take for admission to an EPP that distinguish subject-matter-only content certification examinations from content pedagogy examinations required for standard certification. The adopted amendment deletes the phrase, "unless a candidate passes the appropriate content certification examination(s) as a requirement for admission to an EPP" to clarify that the EPP is responsible for ensuring that each candidate is adequately prepared to pass the appropriate content pedagogy examination(s) required for certification, unless that content pedagogy test can be used for admission purposes for the low-incidence language tests such as Portuguese, Russian, etc.

SUMMARY OF COMMENTS AND RESPONSES: The public comment period on the proposal began May 31, 2019, and ended July 1, 2019. The SBEC also provided an opportunity for registered oral and written comments on the proposal at the July 26, 2019 meeting in accordance with the SBEC board operating policies and procedures. The following is a summary of the public comments received on the proposal and the responses.

Comment: A member of a Texas EPP expressed concern about needing two semesters for clinical teaching assignments when seeking an additional area of certification.

Response: The SBEC disagrees. The proposed text allows for an additional assignment to be less than four hours each day during the 14 weeks provided the primary assignment is not less than an average of four hours each day in the subject area and grade level of certification sought.

Comment: A member of a Texas EPP expressed concern about the proposed language that would not allow the program to have two seven-week placements.

Response: The SBEC disagrees. The proposed text does not preclude the use of two seven-week placements to fulfill the clinical teaching requirement.

Comment: One Texas EPP member commented that the proposed amendments do not meet the legislative requirement found in TEC, §21.0441.

Response: The SBEC disagrees. TEC, §21.0441, states that a content certification examination may be administered by a vendor approved by the commissioner for purposes of administering such an examination for the year for which the person is applying for admission to the program. The proposed definition of content certification examination complies with the statute as an examination used for the purposes of candidate admission.

Comment: One Texas EPP member suggested that the Praxis II series be used for purposes of the content certification examination.

Response: The SBEC disagrees. The Praxis II assessments do not match the number and scope of current Texas certifications. After reviewing the list of Praxis II assessments, 20 of the 51 initial certification fields do not have a corresponding Praxis II assessment. In addition, it is unclear if the assessments that do correspond have the adequate alignment to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

Comment: A member of a Texas EPP expressed concern requiring coaches (educators who provide guidance and feedback to teacher candidates) to hold certificates in the same grades and content areas in which they will serve as coaches.

Response: The SBEC disagrees. There is confusion between definitions of classes of certificates (principal, teacher, school counselor, etc.) and categories of certificates (the teacher category of certifications includes English language arts and reading, mathematics, science, etc.). Coaches must be certified in the same certificate class (in this case for teachers) as the candidates they are observing.

Comment: Two members of educational nonprofit organizations and one member of a Texas EPP expressed support for intensive pre-service to produce high quality, effective teachers.

Response: The SBEC agrees. Intensive pre-service is a proven method to ensure a teaching candidate is ready on day one to plan and deliver quality instruction in the classroom.

Comment: A member of a Texas EPP expressed concern over the additional testing that is required for standard certification.

Response: The SBEC disagrees. This requirement is not mandated, and the Pre-Admission Content Test (PACT) route is an option that programs may choose for admission purposes. The current PACT assessment that requires a demonstration of pedagogy is not fair for candidates who are just starting their program.

The SBOE took no action on the review of amendments to §§228.2, 228.35, and 228.40, the repeal of §228.17, and new §228.17 and §228.33 at the September 13, 2019 SBOE meeting.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY. The repeal is adopted under the Texas Education Code (TEC), TEC, §21.031, which authorizes the SBEC to regulate and oversee all aspects of the certification, continuing education, and standards of conduct of public school educators, and states that in proposing rules under the TEC, Chapter 21, Subchapter B, the SBEC shall ensure that all candidates for certification or renewal of certification demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to improve the performance of the diverse student population of this state; TEC, §21.041(b)(1), which requires the SBEC to propose rules that provide for the regulation of educators and the general administration of the TEC, Chapter 21, Subchapter B, in a manner consistent with the TEC, Chapter 21, Subchapter B; TEC, §21.041(b)(2), which requires the SBEC to propose rules that specify the classes of educator certificates to be issued, including emergency certificates; TEC, §21.044, as amended by SBs 7, 1839, and 1963, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, which requires the SBEC to propose rules establishing training requirements a person must accomplish to obtain a certificate, enter an internship, or enter an induction-year program; TEC, §21.0442(c), as added by House Bill (HB) 3349, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, which requires the SBEC to ensure that an educator preparation program EPP requires at least 80 hours of instruction for a candidate seeking a Trade and Industrial Workforce Training certificate; TEC, §21.0443, which requires the SBEC to establish rules for the approval and renewal of EPPs; TEC, §21.0453, which states that the SBEC may propose rules as necessary to ensure that all EPPs provide the SBEC with accurate information; TEC, §21.0454, which requires the SBEC to develop a set of risk factors to assess the overall risk level of each EPP and use the set of risk factors to guide the TEA in conducting monitoring, inspections, and evaluations of EPPs; TEC, §21.0455, which requires the SBEC to propose rules necessary to establish a process for complaints to be directed against an EPP; TEC, §21.046(b), which states that the qualifications for certification as a principal must be sufficiently flexible so that an outstanding teacher may qualify by substituting approved experience and professional training for part of the educational requirements; TEC, §21.0485, which states the issuance requirements for certification to teach students with visual impairments; TEC, §21.0487(c), which states that because an effective principal is essential to school improvement, the SBEC shall ensure that each candidate for certification as a principal is of the highest caliber and that multi-level screening processes, validated comprehensive assessment programs, and flexible internships with successful mentors exist to determine whether a candidate for certification as a principal possesses the essential knowledge, skills, and leadership capabilities necessary for success; TEC, §21.0489(c), as added by Senate Bill (SB) 1839 and HB 2039, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, which states the eligibility for an Early Childhood: Prekindergarten-Grade 3 certificate; TEC, §21.049(a), which authorizes the SBEC to adopt rules providing for educator certification programs as an alternative to traditional EPPs; TEC, §21.0491, as added by HB 3349, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, which requires the SBEC to create a probationary and standard trade and industrial workforce training certificate; TEC, §21.050(a), which states that a person who applies for a teaching certificate for which board rules require a bachelor's degree must possess a bachelor's degree received with an academic major or interdisciplinary academic major, including reading, other than education, that is related to the curriculum as prescribed under Subchapter A, Chapter 28; TEC, §21.050(b), which states that the SBEC may not require more than 18 semester credit hours of education courses at the baccalaureate level for the granting of a teaching certificate; TEC, §21.050(c), which states that a person who receives a bachelor's degree required for a teaching certificate on the basis of higher education coursework completed while receiving an exemption from tuition and fees under the TEC, §54.363, may not be required to participate in any field experience or internship consisting of student teaching to receive a teaching certificate; TEC, §21.051, as amended by SB 1839, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, which provides a requirement that before a school may employ a certification candidate as a teacher of record, the candidate must have completed at least 15 hours of field-based experience in which the candidate was actively engaged at an approved school in instructional or educational activities under supervision; and Texas Occupations Code, §55.007, which provides that verified military service, training, and education be credited toward licensing requirements.

CROSS REFERENCE TO STATUTE. The repeal implements the Texas Education Code (TEC), §§21.031; 21.041(b)(1) and (2); 21.044, as amended by Senate Bills (SBs) 7, 1839, and 1963, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; 21.0442(c), as added by House Bill (HB) 3349, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; 21.0443; 21.0453; 21.0454; 21.0455; 21.046(b); 21.0485; 21.0487(c); 21.0489(c), as added by SB 1839 and HB 2039, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; 21.049(a); 21.0491, as added by HB 3349, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; 21.050; 21.051, as amended by SB 1839, 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2017; and the Texas Occupations Code, §55.007.