Section 228.13 - Continuing Educator Preparation Program Approval(a) An educator preparation program (EPP) under this chapter shall be reviewed at least once every five years; however, a review may be conducted at any time at the discretion of TEA staff. Beginning with the 2026-2027 academic year, continuing approval reviews will evaluate implementation of the requirements of this chapter, including implementation during the 2025-2026 academic year.(b) To conduct the five-year review, TEA staff may conduct either:(1) an onsite visit, in which TEA staff go in person to an EPP's physical location to review the EPP's evidence of compliance; or(2) a desk review, in which TEA staff review the EPP's evidence of compliance remotely.(c) To efficiently administer and implement the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC)'s purpose under this chapter and the Texas Education Code (TEC), TEA staff must use the following risk factors to determine the need for discretionary reviews and the type of five-year reviews:(1) a history of the EPP's compliance with state law and SBEC rules, standards, and procedures, with consideration given to: (A) the seriousness of any violation of a rule, standard, or procedure;(B) whether the violation resulted in an action being taken against the program;(C) whether the violation was promptly remedied by the program;(D) the number of alleged violations; and(E) any other matter considered to be appropriate in evaluating the EPP's compliance history;(2) whether the EPP meets the accountability standards under TEC, § 21.045; and(3) whether the EPP is accredited by other organizations.(d) When an EPP consolidates with another EPP as described in §228.21 of this title (relating to Program Consolidation or Closure), TEA staff shall conduct a review of the resulting program within one year after the effective date for the consolidation.(e) The EPP under review must pay the fee for the continuing approval review, as set out in § 229.9 of this title (relating to Fees for Educator Preparation Program Approval and Accountability), prior to the start date of the review.(f) At the time of the review, the EPP shall submit to TEA staff a status report regarding its compliance with existing standards and requirements for EPPs and documentary evidence of its compliance. To determine whether the EPP's evidence of compliance is sufficient, the EPP shall be scored on a rubric developed and published by TEA staff. Eighty percent of the records reviewed must be compliant with applicable requirements in the Texas Administrative Code and TEC. Evidence of compliance is described in the figure provided in this subsection. Attached Graphic
(g) An EPP's participation in a continuing approval review pilot may serve as the EPP's required five-year review as prescribed in subsection (a) of this section.(h) An EPP is responsible for establishing procedures and practices to ensure the security of information against unauthorized or accidental access, disclosure, modification, destruction, or misuse prior to the expiration of the retention period. Unless specified otherwise, the EPP must retain evidence of compliance described in the figure provided in subsection (f) of this section for a period of five years. The EPP shall retain documents that evidence a candidate's eligibility for admission to the EPP and all evidence of a candidate's completion of all EPP requirements for a period of five years after a candidate completes, withdraws from, or is discharged or released from the EPP.19 Tex. Admin. Code § 228.13
Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 49, Number 20, May 17, 2024, TexReg 3544, eff. 9/1/2024