The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) adopts amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 228, Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs: §§228.2, Definitions; 228.10, Approval Process; and 228.30, Educator Preparation Curriculum without change. The proposed amendments were published in the June 27, 2003 issue of the Texas Register (28 TexReg 4809). The adopted amendments will align SBEC's regulation of alternative certification programs and the beginning teachers participating in them with the requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title I, as reauthorized and amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB Act) (Public Law 107-110). The amendments to chapter 228 are adopted in conjunction with amendments to 19 TAC chapter 232, relating to types and classes of certificates, proposed elsewhere in this issue. The amendments to both chapters are based on recommendations made by representatives of alternative and traditional university-based certification programs as well as a teacher's professional organization. SBEC received no comments regarding the proposed amendments to chapter 228.

To implement the NCLB Act, the United States Department of Education (USDE) has issued new regulations at 34 C.F.R. §200.56 setting standards for alternative route to certification programs that provide beginning teachers to public school programs supported with federal education funds intended to improve academic achievement of the disadvantaged under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The adopted rules will conform SBEC's regulation of alternative certification programs (ACPs) to federal standards for alternative route to certification programs.

Title I provides the state and districts funds to improve the academic achievement of the disadvantaged. Under NCLB, public schools, including charter schools, must ensure that any teacher hired after the first day of the 2002-2003 school year and who teaches a core academic subject in Title I-supported programs is "highly qualified." By the end of the 2005-2006 school year, all teachers of core academic subjects must be "highly qualified," regardless of whether they are teaching in a program supported with Title I funds or not. USDE Rule specifies the core academic subjects as English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts (fine arts), history, and geography.

The new federal regulations define a "highly qualified" teacher to include those participating in alternative route to certification programs that meet certain standards. The adopted rules will conform SBEC's regulation of alternative certification programs (ACPs) to federal standards and would enable holders of SBEC's probationary certificate, which is issued to ACP participants serving as the teacher of record, to be considered "highly qualified" under the NCLB Act and USDE's implementing regulations.

The rules are adopted under the statutory authority of the following sections of the Education Code: §21.031(a), which vests SBEC with the authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of the certification, continuing education, and standards of conduct of public school educators; §21.041(b)(1), Education Code, which requires SBEC to adopt rules that provide for the regulation of educators and the general administration of Chapter 21, Subchapter B, in a manner consistent with that subchapter; §21.041(b)(2), which requires SBEC to specify the classes of certificates to be issued; §21.041(b)(3), which requires SBEC to specify the period for which each class of educator certificate is valid; §21.041(b)(4), which requires SBEC to specify the requirements for the issuance and renewal of an educator certificate; §21.042, which requires SBEC to submit proposed rules to the State Board of Education for review prior to adoption; §21.044, which requires SBEC to propose rules establishing the training requirements a person must accomplish to obtain a certificate, enter an internship, or enter an induction-year program; §21.045(a), which requires SBEC to propose rules establishing standards to govern the approval and continuing accountability of all educator preparation programs; §21.049, which requires SBEC to propose rules providing for educator certification programs as an alternative to traditional educator preparation programs; §21.050, which requires SBEC to provide for a minimum number of semester credit hours of internship to be included in the hours needed for certification; and §21.051, which requires SBEC to propose rules providing flexible options for persons for any field experience or internship required for certification. The rules are also adopted under the authority of 20 U.S.C. §7801(23), relating to the definition of "highly qualified teacher," and 34 C.F.R. §200.56, adopted under the authority of §7801(23) and which requires the State to ensure federal standards for alternative routes to certification programs and their participants are met through its certification process.

No other statutes, articles, or codes are affected by the adopted amendments.