| (a) Coursework and/or Training for Candidates Seeking
Initial Certification.
(1) An educator preparation program shall provide coursework
and/or training to ensure the educator is effective in the classroom.
(2) Professional development should be sustained, intensive,
and classroom focused.
(3) An educator preparation program shall provide each
candidate with a minimum of 300 clock-hours of coursework and/or training
that includes at least six clock-hours of explicit certification test
preparation that is not embedded in other curriculum elements. A candidate
who does not qualify as a late hire who is issued a probationary certificate
after September 1, 2012, may not be employed by a school district
as a teacher of record until the candidate completes a minimum of
15 clock-hours of field-based experience, student teaching, or clinical
teaching in which the candidate is actively engaged in instructional
or educational activities under supervision at a public school accredited
by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) or other school approved by the
TEA for this purpose, as provided in this section. Unless a candidate
qualifies as a late hire, a candidate shall complete the following
prior to any student teaching, clinical teaching, or internship:
(A) a minimum of 30 clock-hours of field-based experience.
Up to 15 clock-hours of this field-based experience may be provided
by use of electronic transmission, or other video or technology-based
method; and
(B) 80 clock-hours of coursework and/or training.
(4) An educator preparation program that is not an
alternative certification program must require, as part of the curriculum
for a bachelor's degree that is a prerequisite for educator certification,
that a candidate receive instruction in detection and education of
students with dyslexia. This instruction must:
(A) be developed by a panel of experts in the diagnosis
and treatment of dyslexia who are:
(i) employed by institutions of higher education; and
(ii) approved by the State Board for Educator Certification
(SBEC); and
(B) include information on:
(i) characteristics of dyslexia;
(ii) identification of dyslexia; and
(iii) effective, multisensory strategies for teaching
students with dyslexia.
(5) All coursework and/or training shall be completed
prior to educator preparation program completion and standard certification.
(6) With appropriate documentation such as certificate
of attendance, sign-in sheet, or other written school district verification,
50 clock-hours of training may be provided by a school district and/or
campus that is an approved TEA continuing professional education provider.
(7) Each educator preparation program must develop
and implement specific criteria and procedures that allow candidates
to substitute prior or ongoing experience and/or professional training
for part of the educator preparation requirements, provided that the
experience or training is not also counted as a part of the internship,
clinical teaching, student teaching, or practicum requirements, and
is directly related to the certificate being sought.
(b) Coursework and/or Training for Professional Certification
(i.e. superintendent, principal, school counselor, school librarian,
educational diagnostician, reading specialist, and/or master teacher).
An educator preparation program shall provide coursework and/or training
to ensure that the educator is effective in the professional assignment.
An educator preparation program shall provide a candidate with a minimum
of 200 clock-hours of coursework and/or training that is directly
aligned to the state standards for the applicable certification field.
(c) Late Hire Provisions. A late hire for a school
district teaching position may begin employment under a probationary
certificate before completing the pre-internship requirements of subsection
(a)(3) of this section and, if applicable, 15 clock-hours of active,
supervised experience, but shall complete these requirements within
90 school days of assignment.
(d) Educator Preparation Program Delivery. An educator
preparation program shall provide evidence of on-going and relevant
field-based experiences throughout the educator preparation program,
as determined by the advisory committee as specified in §228.20
of this title (relating to Governance of Educator Preparation Programs),
in a variety of educational settings with diverse student populations,
including observation, modeling, and demonstration of effective practices
to improve student learning.
(1) For initial certification, each educator preparation
program shall provide field-based experiences, as defined in §228.2
of this title (relating to Definitions), for a minimum of 30 clock-hours.
The field-based experiences must be completed prior to assignment
in an internship, student teaching, or clinical teaching. Up to 15
clock-hours of field-based experience may be provided by use of electronic
transmission, or other video or technology-based method.
(2) For initial certification, each educator preparation
program shall also provide one of the following:
(A) student teaching, as defined in §228.2 of
this title, for a minimum of 12 weeks;
(B) clinical teaching, as defined in §228.2 of
this title, for a minimum of 12 weeks; or
(C) internship, as defined in §228.2 of this title,
for a minimum of one academic year (or 180 school days) for the assignment
that matches the certification field for which the individual is accepted
into the educator preparation program. The individual would hold a
probationary certificate and be classified as a "teacher" as reported
on the campus Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS)
data. An educator preparation program may permit an internship of
up to 30 school days less than the minimum if due to maternity leave,
military leave, illness, or late hire date.
(i) An internship, student teaching, or clinical teaching
for an Early Childhood-Grade 4 and Early Childhood-Grade 6 candidate
may be completed at a Head Start Program with the following stipulations:
(I) a certified teacher is available as a trained mentor;
(II) the Head Start program is affiliated with the
federal Head Start program and approved by the TEA;
(III) the Head Start program teaches three and four-year-old
students; and
(IV) the state's pre-kindergarten curriculum guidelines
are being implemented.
(ii) An internship, student teaching, clinical teaching,
or practicum experience must take place in an actual school setting
rather than a distance learning lab or virtual school setting.
(3) For candidates seeking professional certification
as a superintendent, principal, school counselor, school librarian,
or an educational diagnostician, each educator preparation program
shall provide a practicum, as defined in §228.2 of this title,
for a minimum of 160 clock-hours.
(4) Subject to all the requirements of this section,
the TEA may approve a school that is not a public school accredited
by the TEA as a site for field-based experience, internship, student
teaching, clinical teaching, and/or practicum.
(A) All Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)
schools, wherever located, and all schools accredited by the Texas
Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC) are approved by the
TEA for purposes of field-based experience, internship, student teaching,
clinical teaching, and/or practicum.
(B) An educator preparation program may file an application
with the TEA for approval, subject to periodic review, of a public
school, a private school, or a school system located within any state
or territory of the United States, as a site for field-based experience,
or for video or other technology-based depiction of a school setting.
The application shall be in a form developed by the TEA staff and
shall include, at a minimum, evidence showing that the instructional
standards of the school or school system align with those of the applicable
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and SBEC certification
standards. To prevent unnecessary duplication of such applications,
the TEA shall maintain a list of the schools, school systems, videos,
and other technology-based transmissions that have been approved by
the TEA for field-based experience.
(C) An educator preparation program may file an application
with the TEA for approval, subject to periodic review, of a public
or private school located within any state or territory of the United
States, as a site for an internship, student teaching, clinical teaching,
and/or practicum required by this chapter. The application shall be
in a form developed by the TEA staff and shall include, at a minimum:
(i) the accreditation(s) held by the school;
(ii) a crosswalk comparison of the alignment of the
instructional standards of the school with those of the applicable
TEKS and SBEC certification standards;
(iii) the certification, credentials, and training
of the field supervisor(s) who will supervise candidates in the school;
and
(iv) the measures that will be taken by the educator
preparation program to ensure that the candidate's experience will
be equivalent to that of a candidate in a Texas public school accredited
by the TEA.
(D) An educator preparation program may file an application
with the SBEC for approval, subject to periodic review, of a public
or private school located outside the United States, as a site for
student teaching or clinical teaching required by this chapter. The
application shall be in a form developed by the TEA staff and shall
include, at a minimum, the same elements required in subparagraph
(C) of this paragraph for schools located within any state or territory
of the United States, with the addition of a description of the on-site
program personnel and program support that will be provided and a
description of the school's recognition by the U.S. State Department
Office of Overseas Schools.
(e) Campus Mentors and Cooperating Teachers. In order
to support a new educator and to increase teacher retention, an educator
preparation program shall collaborate with the campus administrator
to assign each candidate a campus mentor during his or her internship
or assign a cooperating teacher during the candidate's student teaching
or clinical teaching experience. The educator preparation program
is responsible for providing mentor and/or cooperating teacher training
that relies on scientifically-based research, but the program may
allow the training to be provided by a school district, if properly
documented.
(f) On-Going Educator Preparation Program Support.
Supervision of each candidate shall be conducted with the structured
guidance and regular ongoing support of an experienced educator who
has been trained as a field supervisor. The initial contact, which
may be made by telephone, email, or other electronic communication,
with the assigned candidate must occur within the first three weeks
of assignment. The field supervisor shall document instructional practices
observed, provide written feedback through an interactive conference
with the candidate, and provide a copy of the written feedback to
the candidate's campus administrator. Informal observations and coaching
shall be provided by the field supervisor as appropriate.
(1) Each observation must be at least 45 minutes in
duration and must be conducted by the field supervisor.
(2) An educator preparation program must provide the
first observation within the first six weeks of all assignments.
(3) For an internship, an educator preparation program
must provide a minimum of two formal observations during the first
semester and one formal observation during the second semester.
(4) For student teaching and clinical teaching, an
educator preparation program must provide a minimum of three observations
during the assignment, which is a minimum of 12 weeks.
(5) For a practicum, an educator preparation program
must provide a minimum of three observations during the term of the
practicum.
(g) Exemption. Under the Texas Education Code (TEC), §21.050(c),
a candidate who receives a baccalaureate degree required for a teaching
certificate on the basis of higher education coursework completed
while receiving an exemption from tuition and fees under the TEC, §54.214,
is exempt from the requirements of this chapter relating to field-based
experience or internship consisting of student teaching.
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