Beginning

7.2

4.4

2.8

6.5

4.3

2.2

1-5 Years

34.4

28.3

6.1

34.4

25.5

8.9

6-10 Years

20.4

22.0

1.6

21.0

19.9

1.1

11-20 Years

20.8

27.4

6.6

21.1

29.7

8.6

Over 20 Years

17.2

17.9

0.6

17.0

20.6

3.6

0.13

0.05

0.19

0.14

0.07

0.20

0.13

0.47

0.19

0.60

0.41

0.49

0.61

0.12

0.16

0.04

0.31

0.27

0.10

0.32

0.22

0.36

0.05

0.64

0.59

0.13

0.59

0.46

0.48

0.12

0.64

0.52

0.38

0.54

0.16

0.58

0.15

0.74

0.59

0.50

0.91

0.41

1.12

1.18

0.85

-0.33

1.72

0.91

-0.81

0.45

0.12

0.21

0.09

0.63

0.27

-0.36

0.60

0.13

1.05

0.92

0.45

0.96

0.51

0.32

0.06

0.45

0.39

0.32

0.46

0.14

0.38

0.08

0.60

0.52

0.42

0.49

0.07

0.98

0.16

1.19

1.03

1.70

1.33

-0.37

Collect and report data on teacher certification, hiring retention, service, counts, demographics, test passing rates, highly qualified status, and gaps in highly qualified status.

The State Board for Educator Certification provides a variety of data collections and reporting on hiring, retention, certification, and service. On-line generated reports specific to “who is teaching in Texas” type data are available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5033. Studies and formal reports related teacher to turnover, out-of-field teaching, teacher demand, demographics and shortages also are available online at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5033.

2. The Texas PK-16 Education Information Resource web site also offers reports related to teacher certification, counts, demographics, and test passing rate at http://www.texaseducationinfo.org/tea.tpeir.web.

3. The Texas Education Agency collects highly qualified teacher and waiver/permit data at the campus level from LEAs in the state. Statewide, Region, and District aggregate, low-poverty, and high-poverty reports are available on line at http://burleson.tea.state.tx.us/ReportInterface/ReportListPage.aspx, beginning with the 2004- 05 school year. Campus-level summary reports also are available.

Validate the accuracy of highly qualified teacher data reported by campuses/districts.

1. The Agency will request the highly qualified teacher documentation for a number of teachers on each selected campus. Agency staff will verify the highly qualified teacher determinations of the LEA and require any amendments to the data as deemed necessary.

Continue Student Loan Forgiveness and Cancellation Opportunities for Teachers.

Teachers with certain types of student loans may qualify for partial loan forgiveness, deferment, or cancellation benefits. Eligibility for these benefits depends on the type of loan the teacher has, the date of his/her first loan, and whether the teacher serves in a designated low-income school or subject-matter teacher shortage area.

Designated low-income schools are those with greater than 30% of enrolled students from low-income families, in districts that are eligible for Title I funds. The Texas Education Agency is required to inform the chief administrative officers at all elementary and secondary schools in the state of the teaching shortage area designations. The following are the Texas designated subject-matter teacher shortage areas for the 2011-2012 school year:

• Bilingual Education
• Mathematics (secondary)
• Science (secondary)
• Spanish as a foreign language
• Special Education (primary and secondary)

Additional information is available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/loan.aspx.

Continue to expand and support high-quality alternative route programs.

1. The Teacher Advancement Program is focused on attracting, retaining, developing and motivating talented people to the teaching profession. TAP’s goal is to draw more talented people to the teaching profession—and keep them there—by making it more attractive and rewarding to be a teacher. TAP provides the opportunity for good teachers to earn higher salaries and advance professionally, just as in other careers, without leaving the classroom. At the same time, TAP helps teachers become the best they can be, by giving them opportunities to learn better teaching strategies and holding them accountable for their performance.

This program is implemented by staff at Education Service Center Region 18. Additional information is available at http://thebestteachintexas.com/index.php.

2. Teach for America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools, and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. Their mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting some of our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort.

3. Rule 232.4 of the Texas Administrative Code governing the State Board of Educator Certification requires, effective July 1, 2006, that any teacher candidate recommended for a probationary certificate by an Alternative Certification Program demonstrate mastery of each subject area to be taught (highly qualified) prior to being recommended for certification.

4. In an effort to improve the quality of instruction, the state has initiated a project to develop systems to support SB 174/TEC 21.045 (a)(3) that document gains in student academic achievement or improvement through an educator effectiveness metric. The project will focus on developing an assessment tool that will increase the capacity for principals to serve as school leaders and to identify and retain highly effective teachers. The project will also provide professional development to local educational agencies and educator preparation programs on the implementation of statewide educator effectiveness metrics.

Proposed

Continue Student Loan Forgiveness and Cancellation Opportunities for Teachers.

Teachers with certain types of student loans may qualify for partial loan forgiveness, deferment, or cancellation benefits. Eligibility for these benefits depends on the type of loan the teacher has, the date of his/her first loan, and whether the teacher serves in a designated low-income school or subject-matter teacher shortage area.

Designated low-income schools are those with greater than 30% of enrolled students from low-income families, in districts that are eligible for Title I funds. The Texas Education Agency is required to inform the chief administrative officers at all elementary and secondary schools in the state of the teaching shortage area designations. The following are the Texas designated subject-matter teacher shortage areas for the 2011-2012 school year:

• Bilingual Education
• Mathematics (secondary)
• Science (secondary)
• Spanish as a foreign language
• Special Education (primary and secondary)

Additional information is available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/loan.aspx.

Special Education
Mathematics
Science
Foreign Languages
High-poverty schools

Discourage the hiring of out-of-field teachers in high-poverty, low- performing schools.

Technical assistance providers will notify school districts with campuses in Title I School Improvement, strongly discouraging the hiring of out-of-field teachers and emphasizing the compliance requirement that all new (to the district) teachers hired on Title I campuses must be highly qualified when hired.

Continue to expand alternative route programs to allow individuals with relevant training in hardto- fill subjects to enter the profession.

1. The Teacher Advancement Program is focused on attracting, retaining, developing and motivating talented people to the teaching profession. TAP's goal is to draw more talented people to the teaching profession—and keep them there—by making it more attractive and rewarding to be a teacher. TAP provides the opportunity for good teachers to earn higher salaries and advance professionally, just as in other careers, without leaving the classroom. At the same time, TAP helps teachers become the best they can be, by giving them opportunities to learn better teaching strategies and holding them accountable for their performance.

2. Teach for America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools, and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. Their mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting some of our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort.

Continue to implement the Memorandum of Understanding between TEA, SBEC, and Spain’s Ministry of Education and Science that enables districts to recruit and hire qualified international teachers.

The partnership between the Texas Education Agency and the Ministry of Education of Spain began in 1987 with the implementation of the Summer Institutes program, and was validated further with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 1997.

Products of this cooperation include a Resource Center for teachers at the University of Houston, summer institutes for Texas teachers held at universities in Spain, a teacher exchange program, a visiting Spanish consultant in Texas, and a number of other educational programs designed to improve and expand the teaching of the Spanish language and culture in Texas, as well as the teaching of the English language and culture in Spain. Hundreds of Spanish and Texas teachers have benefited every year from the richness and quality of these exchange programs. The Texas/Spain Visiting Teacher Program has brought hundreds of teachers to Texas school districts since 1998.

This program is implemented by staff at Education Service Center Region 13 since 2010-2011.

Disseminate information about other federal, state, or local initiatives intended to reduce outof- field teaching in hardto- staff schools.

Texas Troops to Teachers (TTT) is a federally funded program designed to assist retiring and separating military veterans to become teachers in their next careers. Texas leads the nation in the number of veterans who have become teachers, with over 2,400 hired since 1996.

TTT has become a significant asset for public education as it taps a pool of highly effective, dedicated, mature, and experienced individuals to lead and teach public school students. Additional information is available at http://www.texastroopstoteachers.org.

Continue targeted intensive professional development to out-offield teachers in high- need schools.

The Texas Teacher Quality Grant Program projects are comprised of an intensive summer component (2-4 weeks) focusing primarily on content and an academic year component blending content and discipline related pedagogy. By statute, project partnerships must include a faculty member from an Arts and Science department or college, a faculty member from an education department or college and a high-needs school district. The LEA must meet the poverty threshold established through census data and also have a high percentage of teachers teaching out of field. Specifically, the Teacher Quality Grants Program provides assistance to help teachers and other staff gain access to professional development, in core academic subjects, that:

• is sufficiently sustained, intensive, and of high quality to have a lasting and positive effect on the teachers’ classroom performance;
• is tied to challenging state content standards and challenging state student performance standards;
• is integrated into the systemic reform efforts of states, school districts, and individual schools;
• reflects recent scientifically based research on teaching and learning;
• includes strong academic content and content-specific pedagogical elements;
• incorporates activities and effective strategies for serving historically underserved and underrepresented populations to promote learning and career advancements; and
• is part of the everyday life of the school and creates an orientation toward continuous improvement throughout the school.

This program is implemented by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Continue to offer programs to allow LEAs to rehire retired teachers specifically to work in high-need schools.

In an effort to assist districts in their recruiting and staffing efforts, §824.602 of the Government Code allows retired educators to return to full employment with Teacher Retirement System (TRS) covered employers without experiencing restrictions to, or loss of, benefits as long as certain conditions are met.

A key component concerning individuals who retired after January 1, 2001, relates to areas of acute teacher shortage, currently defined as mathematics, science, special education, languages other than English (Foreign Languages), Bilingual/English as a Second Language, and Technology Applications.

Mathematics
Science
Special Education
Foreign Languages
Bilingual/ESL

Continue to offer programs to support new teachers and increase teacher retention.

As an initiative of the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), Texas Beginning Educator Support System (TxBESS) is a comprehensive induction program that has proven to be highly effective in retaining Texas teachers.  TxBESS began in 1999, and since that time has served approximately 10,000 beginning teachers in over three-hundred school districts.

Beginning teachers, teachers new to a district and/or assignment, mentor teachers, principals, district administrators, the Community, and students all benefit from the systemic initiative to support beginning teachers. The standards-based trainings, including mentoring, professional development, and formative assessment are included in a complete kit of training materials for trainers, mentors, principals, district administrators, school board members, campus and district mentor coordinators, and beginning teachers.

The research-based program complies with federal requirements in NCLB and focuses on instruction and improving student achievement. It is extremely flexible and can be adapted to meet local needs, including assisting teachers in improving content knowledge and skills.

This program is implemented by staff at the 20 Education Service Centers. State funding is not available for this program.

Improve the quality of instruction to increase teacher retention

1. In an effort to improve the quality of instruction, the state has initiated a project to revise the appraisal instrument used for classroom teachers across Texas. The project will involve expert guidance, stakeholder involvement, training, and orientation for teachers and evaluators.
   

2. In an effort to improve the quality of instruction, the state has initiated a project to develop systems to support SB 174/TEC 21.045 (a)(3) that document gains in student academic achievement or improvement through an educator effectiveness metric. The project will focus on developing an assessment tool that will increase the capacity for principals to serve as school leaders and to identify and retain highly effective teachers. The project will also provide professional development to local educational agencies and educator
   preparation programs on the implementation of statewide educator
   effectiveness metrics.

Continue targeted intensive professional development to under prepared teachers.

The Texas Teacher Quality Grant Program projects are comprised of an intensive summer component (2-4 weeks) focusing primarily on content and an academic year component blending content and discipline-related pedagogy. By statute, project partnerships must include a faculty member from an Arts and Science department or college, a faculty member from an education department or college and a high-needs school district. The LEA must meet the poverty threshold established through census data and also have a high percentage of teachers teaching out of field. Specifically, the Teacher Quality Grants Program provides assistance to help teachers and other staff gain access to professional development, in core academic subjects, that:

• is sufficiently sustained, intensive, and of high quality to have a lasting and positive effect on the teachers’ classroom performance;
• is tied to challenging state content standards and challenging state student performance standards;
• is integrated into the systemic reform efforts of states, school districts, and individual
  schools;
• reflects recent scientifically based research on teaching and learning;
• includes strong academic content and content-specific pedagogical elements;
• incorporates activities and effective strategies for serving historically underserved and underrepresented populations to promote learning and career advancements; and
• is part of the everyday life of the school and creates an orientation toward continuous improvement throughout the schools.

This program is implemented by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Continue professional development in the content areas and pedagogical components for teachers in high-poverty schools.

Regional ESCs will offer training in content area knowledge and skills as well as pedagogy in the core academic subject areas, focusing on teachers in high-poverty and high-need schools.

Continue to offer programs to allow LEAs to rehire retired teachers specifically to work in high-need schools.

1. Beginning in the 2006-07 school year, campuses entering Stage 1 of Title I School Improvement, as mandated by No Child Left Behind, will participate in the Campus Administrator Mentoring Program.
   Campus principals are required to participate in the Campus Administrator Mentor Program (CAMP) and will receive on-site visits and follow-up contacts from administrative mentors as a component of leadership development. The mentors will work closely with the principal to build a relationship of trust, to encourage individual capacity for leadership, and to target school improvement.

High-poverty schools SIP Schools

2. Campuses in Stage 2 School Improvement or above are required to contract with a state-approved external technical assistance provider (TAP) who serves as a hands-on consultant working with campus administration and faculty to guide the school through the improvement process. The TAP works to create a collaborative and positive school environment by developing increased leadership capacity in administrators, and by building content knowledge in teachers to establish a teaching-learning community. The TAP uses a broad knowledge of scientific or evidence based resources and materials to address the range of administrative, curricular, or instructional needs that might be present on the campus.

High-poverty schools SIP Schools

Continue to monitor equitable distribution to ensure that poor or minority children are not taught by inexperienced, unqualified, or out- of-field teachers at higher rates than are other children.

1. TEA will incorporate indicators related to equitable distribution of teachers into the Initial Compliance Review desk audit that is used for determining NCLB compliance and interventions in the PBM system. The indicators will annually review the data reported in the Highly Qualified Teacher Compliance Report comparing high-/low-poverty campuses and high-/low-minority campuses.
   

High-poverty schools High-Minority schools

2. TEA will implement Section 2141 interventions as described in the state’s LEAsRevised Plan for Meeting the Highly Qualified Teacher Goal.

All LEAs

3. TEA will implement the Continuous Improvement Planning Process for highly qualified teachers as described in the state’s Revised Plan for Meeting the Highly Qualified Teacher Goal.

All LEAs

Ensure monitoring of LEA equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers.

TEA will incorporate indicators related to equitable distribution of teachers into the Initial Compliance Review desk audit that is used for determining NCLB compliance and interventions. The indicators will annually review the data reported in the Highly Qualified Teacher Compliance Report comparing high-/low-poverty campuses and high-/low-minority campuses.

High-Poverty Schools
High-Minority Schools
Inexperienced
Teachers

For LEAs identified as not meeting the equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers, two processes will be required in the Continuous Improvement Planning process.

1. Focused Data Analysis--The purpose of the focused data analysis (FDA) is to work with stakeholders to gather, disaggregate, and analyze the LEA’s highly qualified teacher data to determine possible causes for areas of concern and address identified issues in the Continuous Improvement Plan. The focused data analysis, as it pertains to highly qualified teachers data, will require the LEA to analyze the district’s highly qualified teacher data to identify inequities between high- and low-poverty campuses and high- and low-minority campuses. The FDA will also identify priority subject areas and groups of teachers on the campuses that are not meeting highly qualified teacher requirements.
2. Continuous Improvement Plan--The purpose of this activity is to develop and implement a continuous improvement plan (CIP) which has integrated the LEA’s decisions based on the results and findings of all required intervention activities. Districts will be required to address the highly qualified teacher needs identified in the focused data analysis, including any inequities and how the district will target subject areas and groups of teachers.

Continue implementation of highly qualified reporting on web site.

Division of Educator Initiatives, TEA

Web Site Posting

September

Continue to increase percentages of classes taught by highly qualified teachers.

Division of Educator Initiatives, TEA

Web Site Posting

September

Continue to decrease the gap in the percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers between low-/high-poverty campuses and low-minority/high-minority campuses.

Division of Educator Initiatives, TEA

Web Site Posting

September

Continue to decrease the gap in percentages of beginning and inexperienced teachers.

Division of Educator Initiatives, TEA

Web Site Posting

September