Long-term strategic planning was the focus of the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) during its all-day work session Thursday. Topics covered included discussion of long-term goals for the Texas Education Agency (TEA), including educator standards redesign, certification exam redesign, revisions to the Effective Preparation Framework (EPF) and Continuing Approval Review (CAR) process for Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs), and implementation of the newly approved repeal and replacement of 19 TAC Chapter 228, which contains the requirements for Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs). Additional topics included a progress report on the pedagogy standards redesign, an update on progress toward the design of a Texas-specific Teacher Performance Assessment (TxTPA) to replace the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) exam, and a potential redesign of the ways in which SBEC engages stakeholders.

Staff advised SBEC on how implementation of three key pieces of legislation—House Bill (HB) 1605 by Chairman Brad Buckley (R–Salado), HB 159 by Rep. Mary Gonzalez (D–El Paso), and Senate Bill (SB) 226 by Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney)––has been central in development of new teacher pedagogy standards. The redesign takes two sections of TAC code—Chapter 149, which is commissioner rules concerning educator standards, and Chapter 235, which includes grade-banded pedagogy standards—and combines them into one set of unbanded pedagogy standards. Staff emphasized a focus on High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM), particularly on the Open Education Resource (OER) materials currently in development; on inclusive practices; on digital literacy; and on best practices for pedagogy and classroom management. It is the hope of TEA to have the new standards approved by SBEC by the end of the year and to bring them to the State Board of Education for final approval in January. ATPE has consistently provided feedback to SBEC concerning the rewrite of the new standards, reminding them that HQIM under HB 1605 are meant to be optional for districts, and advocating for the continued inclusion of and focus on lesson design in the pedagogy standards. TEA staff had previously deleted lesson design from the standards and replaced it with lesson internalization, a change they said came as part of implementing HB 1605.

SBEC also received an update on the design of a Texas-specific Teacher Performance Assessment, or TxTPA. Over the past several months, following a failed RFP process in which the agency awarded no contract to the lone bidder, TEA came up with two options for moving forward with development of a TxTPA. Option one would be to have EPPs and multinational testing vendor and owner of EdTPA, Pearson, work together to develop a TxTPA. The second option would be to reissue an expanded RFP with guidelines that would open participation to more potential vendors. Despite no clear decision on SBEC’s preferred option, TEA appears to be moving forward with option one. TEA shared with staff that the agency intends to launch a grant program for up to five EPPs to help with EPP staffing costs involved in taking on the TxTPA project. Additionally, the TEA staff shared how both EPPs and Pearson will contribute to the project—EPPs by developing rubrics and content for the exam, and Pearson by developing tools for administration of the exam. TEA plans to launch TxTPA in the 2027-28 school year.

TEA also shared with SBEC that following the approval of 19 TAC Chapter 228 last spring by the SBOE, EPPs are beginning to develop residency programs with the enhanced residency certificate. The new rules will become effective in the 2025-26 school year, with the first residency completions occurring that year as well. SBEC members discussed ways to incentivize participation in residency programs for educator candidates, including an enhanced pay structure for residents. Dr. Scott Muri, superintendent of Ector County ISD and SBEC vice chair of SBEC, shared that his district has already approved this enhanced pay for residents.

The board discussed improvements to the Effective Preparation Framework for Educator Preparation Programs, as well as the Continuous Approval Review process. These processes are in place to ensure high-quality teacher preparation from EPPs and provide guidelines for improvement for programs that fail to meet quality standards. The board is working on a pilot program of the Continuous Approval Review framework, with full launch of the program in the 2026-27 school year.

Finally, the board discussed ways to improve the communication and feedback between SBEC, TEA staff, and the Educator Preparation Stakeholder Group (EPSG), of which ATPE is a member. Recently, TEA staff gave EPSG members a survey on how communication and membership could be improved. The feedback shows that EPSG members would like greater processing time before meetings in order to provide better feedback to TEA staff, as well as a clear framework for EPSG membership and meeting structure and expansion of the group to include more stakeholders. After looking at the survey feedback, the board suggested changing the name of EPSG, expanding the membership to include more specialized groups such as TCASE and the Texas Music Educators Association, and improving transparency and communication with the stakeholder group by allowing its members to communicate directly with SBEC, providing more processing and comment time at meetings, and creating a more focused purpose for the group.