No Sanction for KIPP Charter’s Co-Founder
HB3-Required K-6 Certification Rules Okayed
SBEC’s board during its regular (virtual) meeting on July 24 adopted five rules that will become final unless the State Board of Education votes to reject them on Sept. 11.
- Note: See TEN, Aug. 17, for info on a pandemic-related rule approved by SBEC’s board during a July 31 special meeting.
The adopted rules on this topic, among other things, will provide for four replacement certificates for these current certificates: 1) Core Subjects: Early Childhood-Grade 6, 2) Core Subjects: Grades 4-8, 3) English Language Arts and Reading: Grades 4-8, and 4) English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies: Grades 4-8.
Each of the certificates is being revised to add “Science of Teaching Reading” to their certification names, as reflected below:
A part of one (agenda Item 11) of the adopted “science of teaching reading” rules would specify the new standards for the specialized Special Education and Bilingual Spanish certifications, as well as the DeafBlind supplemental certification.
The fifth SBEC rule (agenda Item 8) that was approved implements various requirements for educator preparation programs.
Proposed SBEC Rules
The board tentatively adopted, for public comment, several proposed rules — including two rules (listed here) correcting what has been widely interpreted to be an unintended consequence of HB3 by giving “grandfather” status to the approximately 5,000 holders of Master Teacher Certificates. The certificate is now to be known as the Legacy Master Certificate, and holders of the certificate won’t have to ever renew them.
The SBEC, per HB3, stopped issuing and renewing Master Teacher Certificates as of Sept. 1, 2019 (more info here).
One of the proposed rules (the first one on this page) addressing Legacy Master Teachers also updates requirements for personnel assignments based on recent approvals of new courses by the State Board of Education.
Ed-Prep Accountability
Another much discussed rule tentatively approved (for public comment) makes changes to the Accountability System for Educator Preparation (ASEP).
The proposal calls for ed-prep programs for the 2019-20 school year (only) to receive an accreditation status of Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster, the same ratings label TEA is assigning ISDs and charters for 2019-20.
The proposed rule also provides for a phase-in of a requirement that will add, by Spring 2024 at the earliest, an ASEP indicator that will rate ed-prep entities on how well beginning classroom teachers who were trained by the ed-prep entity impacted the academic growth of their students, as measured by STAAR.
The proposed rules (officially posted here) approved by the board will return for final adoption in October.