The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) held its first meeting of 2024 on Feb. 16. Among other agenda items, the board gave final approval to repeal and replacement of rules concerning “Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs” in 19 TAC Chapter 228 and final adoption of revisions to Chapter 230 rules regarding “Educator Preparation and Certification.” This was the culmination of a year of work on Chapters 228 and 230 with stakeholders, including educator preparation programs (EPPs), ATPE, and other educator organizations. See the full February SBEC agenda here.

Chapter 228 is the section of the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) containing requirements for EPPs, including rules for how teacher candidates are prepared and trained, how many observation and training hours they must complete, and how many feedback conferences EPPs must give their candidates. The chapter also includes rules regarding teacher residencies and enhanced educator certification. During public testimony, EPP representatives raised concerns about increased financial and personnel burdens on their programs from the increase in required field service hours and observation hours; additional financial burdens on educator candidates due to increased days taken outside of the classroom to complete certification requirements; and requirements for field supervisors that would potentially harm their ability to build trust with candidates due to all written comments from coaching conferences being shared with mentor teachers and campus administrators. The Texas Coalition for Educator Preparation (TCEP), which includes ATPE, provided written testimony in support of the rule changes based on stakeholder feedback and requested continued guidance from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and SBEC regarding implementation of the new rules in the field.

Chapter 230 contains rules for educator certification and preparation, including rules governing which exams are required of educator candidates. TCEP testified against the omission of a pedagogy exam—the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) under current rule—for teachers earning an enhanced certificate, which is a certificate option for teacher residents. TCEP reiterated our stance that a performance assessment, such as edTPA, is inadequate as a certification exam and should instead be used in curriculum, and we restated concerns about TEA’s last-minute disclosure that the agency did not award an RFP contract for the development of a Texas TPA exam while also operationalizing the edTPA exam. This led to concerns about whether edTPA will be a requirement or simply an option for EPPs. Because this information was only disclosed the day of the meeting, TCEP noted that stakeholders did not have adequate time for study and feedback to the board. There was lengthy discussion from the board regarding TCEP’s testimony, as well as issues brought up with the RFP timeline and transparency regarding the process, but the board ultimately approved the rule changes to Chapter 230.

Additionally, SBEC approved changes to 19 TAC Chapter 233, which include adding five new teacher certifications into rule, and the board approved changes to 19 TAC 239, which were necessitated by recent legislation—SB 798 by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston)—removing the requirement that counselors have two years of classroom teaching experience.

The board also discussed rule changes to 19 TAC Chapter 231 regarding special education certification and what types of certificates are required to ensure students have access to grade-level curriculum while receiving special education services. the need to maintain flexibility for current educators, concerns about restricting the teacher pipeline and making it less desirable to teach special education, the need to differentiate the rubric for teachers because new teachers may have different needs than experienced teachers, and ensuring teachers have enough time to comply with the new requirements. TEA plans to meet with stakeholders before presenting draft rule changes to the board in April for further consideration.

SBEC’s next meeting will be April 26.