The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) met in Austin on April 25. After a year of hefty agendas filled with rulemaking on a variety of topics affecting the teaching profession, this was a comparatively light that laid a foundation for the work to come..
The meeting began with a presentation update on the status of the teacher workforce. While attrition is down somewhat, Texas is still seeing increasing rates of new hires (now ~55%) who do not hold a teacher certification. On its face, this is alarming, but this report also shows a strong correlation between higher rates of uncertified teachers and lower state accountability scores, higher rates of disciplinary infractions, and lower rates of dyslexia and other special needs identification.
It cannot be said often enough that training and preparation matter tremendously, and we will continue to fight for policies and processes that lead to an appropriately certified teacher in every Texas classroom. Unfortunately, excellent bills that would help to address this issue, such as House Bill 362 by Rep. Jon Rosenthal, have not even received a hearing this session.
The primary item of concern on this agenda is the development of the Texas Test of Educator Proficiency (T-TEP). This is the proposed performance assessment that the Texas Education Agency is developing in place of the edTPA. The development contract has yet to be awarded, but when it is, the intent is that this certification exam will align with the work the SBEC has done on educator curricula and pedagogy standards.
We expect an update on this topic and several others when the board reconvenes in Austin in July for its annual work session immediately followed by a regular meeting.
Governor Abbott announced three new appointments to the SBEC this week along with reappointing Chair Jean Streepy for another term. These new appointments are from the charter and private school sectors.