March 2 SBEC Board Meeting Highlights
Part 1 of 2
Under a “Three Strikes and You’re Out” State Law
Board Puts Principal Preparation Program
On a Fast Track Toward Mandatory Revocation
SBEC’s board unanimously voted to give the Dallas-based 21st Century Leadership Principal Preparation Program a 2016-17 Accredited-Probation accountability rating. The program was also previously rated Accredited-Probation for the two prior years (2014-15 and 2015-16).
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Resources:
Agenda / handout
Webcast (click Item 14)
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Because the program has now been given SBEC’s lowest accountability rating of Accredited-Probation for three consecutive years, the program is in imminent danger of having its authority to operate revoked.
“Shall” be Revoked
State law requires that ed-prep programs “shall” be revoked if they are rated Accredited-Probation for three consecutive years. 21st Century is the first ed-prep program to face revocation under this law.
21st Century received Accredited-Warned ratings — which is one step higher than an Accredited-Probation rating — for 2012-13 and 2013-14.
The ratings are assigned based on percentages of a programs’ ed-prep students that meet minimum certification test passing standards, both overall and by designated subgroups. For 2016-17, 68 percent of 21st Century’s candidates passed their required certification tests, while an 80 percent passing rate was needed for an Accredited rating.
The program offers classes in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio and (according to its website) has had more than 887 graduates since its founding in 2002.
Two representatives of the program appeared before the board to argue that the passing rates for the current and prior y
TEA/SBEC staff responded that state law and SBEC rules were followed consistently — just as they are for all programs — in assigning the program Accredited-Probation ratings for three consecutive periods —and that a monitor was only assigned because the program did not heed the advice of the TEA in making improvements to their program.
The Next Step
The next step, should the program choose to avail itself of it, is for 21st Century to seek an informal administrative review with TEA staff of the pending revocation, and if unsuccessful, to seek a favorable ruling in a hearing before a State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) judge.
If 21st Century fails to win a favorable ruling at the administrative level, applicable state law requires SBEC’s board to revoke the program, staff said.
A vote to revoke then would likely occur at the board’s next meeting on May 18, staff said.
Staff said that if a program is revoked, it can no longer admit any new students, but can continue with their current students in seeking to gain certification. Or, the TEA and the monitor can assist the program’s students to transfer to other programs if they want to, staff said.
After a two-year wait-out period, a revoked ed-prep entity can reapply to SBEC — and undergo a rigorous review process — in a quest to be approved as a new program, staff added.