New: Title II Reporting – Thank You! 
A big THANK YOU!!! to our EPP partners for completing your Title II IPRC. All EPPs in Texas have now completed and certified this required reporting. Thank you for your effort in providing this data, your patience in waiting for the portal to open, and your work with the new federal vendor (RTI) to address technical issues. As a reminder, this reporting is typically completed with a deadline of April 30, so be on the lookout for it next year a little earlier. Thanks again for your effort! 

Updated: Deadline for Secondary ELAR Professional Learning Series Extended through July 18, 2022  
The deadline has been extended for the professional learning series that will begin in September 2022. Led by Teaching Works, the virtual professional learning series for teacher educators in Texas promotes the following goals:   

• Support participants to continue building their own content knowledge for teaching English Language Arts with a focus on the new Texas Research Based Instructional Practices;  
• Support participants to continue building their understanding of and skill with teaching high-leverage teaching practices that are required to teach English Language Arts to children; and  
• Support participants in building their ability to help teacher candidates develop curriculum literacy, or capability with analyzing and adapting published curriculum materials to meet the needs of students, contexts, and purposes. 

Please see the program overview for more information and apply here if interested in participating. This is an incredible opportunity to learn and develop with the support of the nationally recognized Teaching Works out of the University of Michigan. Teaching Works has already supported the training and development of teacher educators at several EPPs in Texas.  As a reminder, all accepted applicants will receive a course release stipend; please see the above application (i.e., ‘apply here’) for details. Given that folks may be off this week, we will accept applications through July 18, 2022. Please email Ebony.Love@TEA.Texas.gov and Melissa.Yoder@tea.texas.gov if you have questions about the program or need support with the application. 

Updated: Principal and Teacher Survey Roster Reviews 
The Principal and Teacher Surveys closed for responses as of June 15. As we have done in prior years, TEA has provided rosters of respondents to EPPs for your optional review, to confirm that the respondents were associated with your EPP. TEA has cleaned these data and compared the rosters to ECOS and to the K-12 data but based on EPP request in prior years, we also provide for this optional review by EPPs. EPPs have now been provided access to these rosters via email. Any RFE forms for these surveys are due by August 1. 

State Board of Education (SBOE) Update 
At the June SBOE meeting, the Board took no action on the adoption of 19 TAC Ch. 231 regarding public school personnel assignments and 19 TAC Ch. 250 regarding the petition procedures for rulemaking. Changes in these chapters will go into effect on July 21, 2022.  

The SBOE took action on (i.e., rejected) the adoption of 19 TAC Ch. 230, which resulted in no changes to Ch. 230. One change that was proposed in Ch. 230 was the adoption of edTPA to replace the PPR as Texas’s pedagogical assessment for standard certification. An additional change would have established a one-year timeline between exam launch and the last day candidates may use passing scores on the expired exam for certification.  

NOTES: (1) For the 2022-23 academic year, the edTPA will remain an optional pedagogical exam for standard certification alongside the PPR. EPPs may continue to support their candidates to complete the edTPA during the 2022-23 academic year. (2) The last day that a certificate may be recommended by the EPP using the ELAR 4-8 (117) exam results remains October 30, 2022. If you have any questions, please contact DeMarco Pitre: demarco.pitre@tea.texas.gov. 

Q: We have a candidate who was a Finisher in Math 4-8 and is having difficulty passing the TExES Math 4-8 exam. The candidate believes they will be more successful on the Social Studies 7-12 exam. Can we change the candidate’s Finisher status to Other Enrolled for Social Studies 7-12 and/or provide Social Studies 7-12 exam approval? 
A: The exam approval the EPP provides to the finisher candidate is directly related to the certificate category in which the candidate completed coursework and training. If the candidate completed program requirements for Math 4-8 certification, the EPP would provide Math 4-8 exam approval. A candidate’s Finisher status should not be revised to other enrolled unless the candidate did not complete all program requirements to be deemed a Finisher. If the candidate is a Finisher, the EPP provides exam approval per 19 TAC §228.40(d) and 19 TAC §230.21(b). 

Q: Can our EPP standard certify Superintendent candidates certifying through the PB route prior to the doctoral degree conferred? Sometimes the dissertation process takes longer than expected and delays the candidate from obtaining standard certification. The candidate already holds a Master’s degree but has not obtained the doctoral degree yet. A: No, a certificate issued through the post-baccalaureate (PB) route requires the candidate to complete the graduate degree concurrently with certification requirements. This means the doctoral degree must be conferred before the candidate can be recommended for the standard certificate. PB Superintendent candidates seeking a doctoral degree must have a conferred doctoral degree before their standard certificate can be recommended and issued because the certificate is tied to the degree. EPPs that would like to provide their Superintendent candidates with the opportunity to be certified before completing their doctoral degree can admit the candidate in the alternative certification (ALT) route for the Superintendent class. This would allow candidates who have completed all the requirements for certification to get standard certified before receiving their conferred doctoral degree.  

If your EPP is not approved for the Superintendent certification class in the ALT route and is approved for it in the PB route, you can contact your TEA assigned Education Specialist to discuss the process for approval to prepare and recommend candidates for certification in the ALT route.