At their first meeting of the year, the certification board discussed rule changes to implement recently passed legislation, enact numerous technical updates, and approve new supplemental certifications in special education and bilingual education.

On Friday, February 21, 2020, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) met for the first time this year and for the first time under the leadership of new Chairperson Dr. Arturo Cavazos (Superintendent of Harlingen CISD). The board discussed several agenda items, including allowing high school students to obtain the educational aide certificate, changes to contract abandonment rules, and educator preparation program (EPP) commendations.

Master Teachers

ATPE Lobbyist Andrea Chevalier testified before SBEC on Feb. 21, 2020.

On Friday, SBEC adopted the standard, four-year rule review of 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 239, Student Services Certificates, voting to continue the existence of the chapter without changes. Chapter 239 specifies rules pertaining to the school counselor, school librarian, educational diagnostician, and reading specialist certificates. This chapter formerly housed the rules for the Master Teacher certificates, which were repealed by House Bill (HB) 3 of the 86th Legislature (2019). Master Teacher certificate holders will now find a "legacy" designation on their certificates and an expiration date five years from their last renewal. Unfortunately, these "legacy" certificates are non-renewable, which will leave some teachers unable to maintain their current teaching assignments.

ATPE Lobbyist Andrea Chevalier provided written and oral testimony today urging SBEC to exercise its authority to remedy this situation, specifically through the creation of new certificates that Master Teachers can transition into without having to pay additional fees. (See Andrea's testimony here at 1:07:00 into the video.) ATPE previously submitted written testimony to the board on this topic at the October 2019 SBEC meeting, written and oral testimony at the December 2019 SBEC meeting, and submitted public comment to SBEC on the rule review earlier this month.

Rep. Dan Huberty addressed the Texas House during final passage of his House Bill 3 in May 2019.

Ahead of today's meeting, Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Kingwood), who chairs the House Public Education Committee and authored HB 3, also sent a letter to SBEC members at ATPE's request to clarify legislative intent behind the bill's elimination of the Master Teacher certification statutes. Chairman Huberty wrote, "Our intent was never to abandon the expertise of these highly trained educators.... Holders of legacy master teacher certificates should be entitled to maintain their existing assignments without interruption, additional cost, or the need to seek additional certifications."

Ultimately, the board agreed to allow TEA to present them with options to address the Master Teacher issue at the next SBEC meeting in May.

Other action items on the agenda:

The SBEC board adopted several changes to professional educator preparation and certification rules in 19 TAC Chapter 230. The rules will implement several bills by making changes such as removing master teacher certificates from the list of active certifications, reducing the time for certification test retakes from 45 to 30 days, and specifying that the Early Childhood: Prekindergarten-Grade 3 certificate cannot be obtained via certification by exam. Other changes will require candidates taking the intensive pre-service route to take the English as a Second Language Supplemental assessment before being issued an intern certificate and require requests for certificate corrections to be submitted within six weeks of the original date of issuance.

ATPE is pleased with a change in this chapter to allow the Educational Aide I certificate to be issued to high school students who have completed certain courses within the Education and Training career and technical education cluster. See the public comment ATPE previously submitted in support of this change here. TEA staff made some last minute changes to this item, including a delay on the implementation of testing changes to comply with HB 3 regarding the requirement to take the science of teaching reading exam. Staff said they will propose entirely new certificate names, such as "EC-3 Core Subjects with Science of Teaching Reading".

SBEC also adopted revisions to general certification provisions and professional development rules in 19 TAC Chapter 232 to implement several bills passed by the 86th Legislature in 2019. These include continuing professional education instruction regarding mental health and substance abuse training (HB 18 and SB 11); training requirements for superintendents regarding sexual abuse and human trafficking (HB 403); and the removal of student loan default as grounds to deny the renewal of a certificate (SB 37). Edits will also be made to the National Criminal History Record process to update the rule with current technology and TEA practice. The chapter will also be simplified and reorganized as suggested by ATPE and other stakeholders.

The board took several actions relating to educator preparation programs (EPPs), including the approval of accreditation statuses under the 2018-19 Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs (ASEP). Sixty percent of EPPs have an accredited status, 20% are accredited-warned, and 20% are on an accredited-probation status. SBEC also approved proposed 2018–19 commendations for EPPs, which complement the ASEP system by highlighting high-performing EPPs in three categories with indicators such as teacher retention and percentage of prepared teachers in shortage areas. Prairie View A&M University, Texas A&M International University, Baylor University, Austin Community College, and McClennan Community College all appear in the commendations multiple times, among others. The board voted to create a committee to review and evaluate EPP applications for a fourth category relating to innovative educator preparation, to be chaired by SBEC member Jose Rodriguez and include members Laurie Bricker, Shareefah Mason, and John Kelly. Lastly, the board approved an agreed order to close Intern Teacher ACP Alternative Certification Program, which decided to voluntarily close after lack of compliance with administrative rules.

SBEC also voted to formalize an already informal policy that non-voting members of the board may not make or second motions and may not serve as officers. The non-voting members of the board are an employee of TEA, and employee of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, a dean of a college of education, and a person representing an alternative certification program.

Discussion only agenda items (no action taken):

At the July, October, and December 2019 SBEC meetings, the board discussed potential changes to contract abandonment rules for educators. After disagreements surfaced between stakeholders and board members, the board voted to split contract abandonment off from other rules being revised, saving it for future discussion after stakeholder meetings (in which ATPE was involved). Today, the board discussed proposed revisions that would add "change to a position that requires a new class of educator certification" (such as moving from teacher to counselor) to the definition of good cause for contract abandonment. Additionally, the changes would cross-reference the mitigating factors that the SBEC considers when evaluating a contract abandonment case. After several witnesses from both the teacher and administrator perspective shared their feedback on the proposed language, the board seemed to reach a near-consensus that the contract abandonment rules did not need to be altered.

The board also discussed proposed revisions to requirements for EPPs (19 TAC Chapter 228). The changes would simplify a table of requirements in the chapter; implement portions of HB 18 passed by the Legislature in 2019; authorize teaching sites outside of Texas under certain situations such as military assignment; provide admittance policy guidance to EPPs that are closing or consolidating; restrict a summer-only practicum unless it is part of a year-round school or extended year program; add language for a dismissal policy for candidates who violate the code of ethics; provide concise reasons that an EPP would no longer support a candidate in an internship; and clarify the number (three) and spacing of formal observations conducted during a practicum.

SBEC also discussed changes to certificate standards (19 TAC Chapter 235), including a TEA-recommended split certification for special education, with separate certificates for grades EC-6 and 6-12. TEA staff also presented information on two sets of supplemental certificate standards: one for bilingual Spanish, grades EC-12, that focuses on bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism; and another for "DeafBlind" grades EC-12. The proposals reflect input from stakeholders in the bilingual and special education communities and from an April 2019 SBEC work group meeting.

TEA also updated the board on the EdTPA performance assessment pilot. Thirty-five applications have been submitted for Year Two of the pilot, including 16 from alternative certification programs. Two programs participating in Year One have submitted portfolios already and the rest of programs will submit theirs in the spring. Dr. Christina Ellis of Sam Houston State University gave an update on the T-TESS-based alternative pilot to the EdTPA pilot, stating that 13 EPPs are participating. Additionally, TEA staff updated SBEC on certification test development, stating that development of new health and physical education tests is delayed due to the State Board of Education's (SBOE) work on revamping the standards.

In a final item, the board discussed proposed amendments to the criteria for personnel assignments (19 TAC Chapter 231) to add the word “legacy” to all master teacher certificate references and include new courses approved by the SBOE such as African-American studies.

Future meetings:

The upcoming SBEC meeting dates for 2020 are:

• May 1, 2020
• July 24, 2020
• Oct. 9, 2020
• Dec. 11, 2020