Senate Committee on Higher Education discusses teacher preparation and certification

Date Posted: 7/24/2014
The Senate Committee on Higher Education met Tuesday, July 22, to discuss two interim committee charges. ATPE submitted written testimony regarding the following charge: Examine and make recommendations regarding improvements in teacher preparation and certification programs to address any misalignment with school district shortages and problems with retaining new teachers. The committee invited two panels of participants to testify on the above charge. The first panel consisted of Commissioner of Education Michael Williams and Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes. Both provided the committee with a status report of educator preparation and certification in Texas. Parades pointed to research that highlighted international comparisons and successes among countries’ educator preparation and certification programs. Based on that data, he highlighted common themes among countries with the highest performing students. Those themes included:
- High and consistent standards for educator preparation programs.
- A focus on attracting the highest achieving candidates to enter the field.
- Strong teacher support.
- Meaningful clinical training.
- Adequate compensation.
- And robust professional development.
- 44 percent were certified through a traditional program, and this route resulted in the highest five-year retention rate of 77 percent.
- Those certified through alternative certification routes were 41 percent of the pool (retention rate not provided).
- University post-baccalaureate programs accounted for about 4 percent of certifications (retention rate not provided).
- 11 percent of new teachers came from out of state, and this route has a five-year retention rate of 61 percent.
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