Overview
The Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC) provided technical assistance, professional development, and support services to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) under grant number S283B050020 from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for 7 years. TXCC's work with TEA focused on educator quality and effectiveness; statewide systems of support; English language learners and other diverse students; literacy, mathematics, and science initiatives; early-warning data systems; college- and career-ready standards and aligned assessments; and support to facilitate implementation of and compliance with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
School Support Team Training Material
ESEA Public Law 107-110 requires states to establish a statewide system of support that includes school support teams (SSTs) for Title I schools, with priority service to low-performing schools. In order to provide consistency in terms of services, procedures, and training, TEA requested that the TXCC revise the SST training manual. In 2010–2011, the TXCC further revised the manual to align the state's support procedures with TEA's NCLB Program Series, which was developed by Education Service Center (ESC) Region 20.
After reviewing the ESC Region 20 materials, the TXCC staff mapped the NCLB program procedures to those in the SST training manual. Text of the training manual was rewritten so that information relevant to SSTs in the NCLB Program Series was incorporated into the existing SST training sessions.
Work in 2010–2011
The revisions of the School Support Team training materials were completed March 2011. At TEA's invitation, TXCC staff co-conducted a session during the TEA/ESC Coordinated NCLB Meeting on March 28, 2011. During this session, the TXCC staff provided ESC representatives with the new materials and gave an overview of the changes that had been made. The revised materials were also posted on the TXCC website for access by ESCs. Sessions were held at various ESCs across the state to train ESC staff in using the revised manual.
Work in 2011–2012
At TEA's request, the TXCC is adapting the SST training materials into an online training course. The course will consist of five lessons, each consisting of from one to five segments. It is being designed in such a way that any new member of an SST will learn the requirements for being a team member and learn how to guide school leaders through the school improvement process. Once the online course is finalized, reviewed, and approved by TEA, the TXCC will conduct a one-day session to turn over the completed course to TEA. It will be hosted on Project Share, TEA's document-sharing web site.
Previous Work Updates
June 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011