001All right, it is 9:31, so we will go ahead and be respectful of your time and begin recording. It is October 21st, 2025 at 9:31. Thank you again for joining us here today to learn more about prep GYO program as part of the HB2 prep aotment. uh to introduce myself, my name is Ruth Yet and I'm the manager of teacher apprenticeship. I will be presenting today and Thursday on this prep gio program. A few other staff to mention for this uh particular webinar include Melissa Yoder, division director of educator quality and Dr. Jodi Moody, the director of apprenticeship. Similar to many other lasso webinars, if you have been joining, we will start with a quick overview of the lasso cycle 4 process, then dive deeper into the prep gio program and close out with the
002next steps and path forward. As a note, please submit any questions that you have through the Zoom Q&A. Please do not hesitate to add those questions. We will respond to them through a posted FAQ. Uh webinar slides and recordings will also be posted on the lasso cycle 4 website once all of them have been completed. And any follow-up questions that you have, please feel free to direct to the lasso team. All right. So these next few slides are common among lasso webinars. So I'm going to go very briefly through them. Uh starting off with lasso or learning acceleration support opportunities is a single consolidated application and really provides this tremendous opportunity of combined grants, aotments and inind supports. Um aims to provide close to $500 million um across these 15 initiatives all in one wrapped
003up application. So very nice and streamlined. Uh you may have heard this a couple of different times in various webinars um or in just outside this context as well that the uh lasso prep allotment um is an entitlement which differs from a grant. So for allotments all school systems are selected for funding um for those that meet the eligibility criteria and can commit to the statutoily based requirements. Uh so school systems do not need to reapply. It is this steady stream of funding. Um and of course uh school systems will be subject to periodic review ensuring that uh fidelity of program implementation. Um but it is not a competitive application uh as you often see with grants. uh lasso is anchored in as you see here the four learning acceleration strategies. For the purposes of
004today we are going to be focusing in on this education and training uh looking at the support of talent pipelines uh supporting teachers as named the prep aotment falls under this education and training category. So you see here uh the several different programs. Um additionally I want to name there is that Texas strategic staffing for residencies grant uh which pertains to the prep aotment um is a competitive grant. Um so only a limited number of school systems uh for that particular grant. All right. Now getting into the meat of today. So the prep GIO program um many of you may actually be familiar with and have engaged or currently engaging in aspects of implementing GIO programs. So thinking about even past grant cycles which have been around since 2018. Um quick reminder that grants do
005work differently from aotments. So, we uh highly urge that you consider these requirements specific uh to the PREP GYO program as there will likely be differences. If you've been attending other prep program aotment webinars, you'll likely recognize this slide and a few others that we have. Um we have just this historic investment um in supporting efforts around teacher recruitment, the preparation and certification as well as mentoring and providing that reliable funding stream to be able to support the educators to then have this potential to reach our over 5 million students across Texas. So, what an exciting opportunity and to ground ourselves a little bit in the purpose of prep um or preparing and retaining educators through partnership. Uh we're looking at aiming to strengthen the quality as mentioned of teacher recruitment, preparation, and mentorship. And
006we have here the three different partnership programs, residency, grow your own, and mentorship with the opportunity to be supported by the Texas Texas Texas strategic staffing for residencies grant. Um, so PREP really provides this uh funding opportunity for partnerships with this intention of increased educator effectiveness and retention. So, we're really excited to see this opportunity as we continue supporting uh ongoing work that really has been happening out in the field uh with folks. Uh something to note for this current lasso cycle 4 application process uh I've already kind of peaked a little bit that there are the three prep programs uh available. We've got GIO for recruitment, residency, pre-ervice for preparation, and then mentorship. Um, each of them have their own unique application sections. So, school systems must fill out each one separately. So, keep
007that in mind. Um, within preparation, you will also see that the prep aotment has the opportunity to support um some other pre-ervice programs. So traditional and alternative certification both of these will become available starting in lasso cycle 5 to be implemented starting in school year 2728. So please stay tuned for more information there. Um, now kind of branching off from the previous slide, an important consideration for applicants, uh, when you apply for the prep GIO program, uh, school systems must also apply for and be approved for the PREP pre-ervice residency program. And this is kind of coming from statute where school systems may only participate in prep GIO if they have been approved to participate in a pre-ervice program. And since for this particular cycle, the only availability of in terms of a pre-ervice program
008is residency, then prep GYO needs to be applied um in tandem with prep residency as well. Um and then I mentioned earlier lasso cycle 5 will expand to include those traditional and altsert uh pre-ervice programs. Um the application is already set to uh force applicants to apply for both. So just giving this uh heads up for folks. So, as you saw in the previous visuals, prep Gio is really that first step thinking about getting folks through the door, ensuring that they are set up for success on that path to becoming degreed certified teachers. The two possible types of participants that uh we're looking at for PREPGO uh include the employees who do not have a bachelor's degree already and then high school students. Um, and I'll be getting into both of those uh sort of
009implementation areas um in more depth as we walk through the different components. But you see here kind of the four main components when we think of prep GIO and the related requirements put together really helping to drive towards ensuring partnerships have that high quality programming when it comes to prep GIO. So, kicking us off with this first component, um, earning the bachelor's degree and thinking of that participating employee who does not already have a degree. School systems must partner with an institution of higher education, an educator preparation program, as well as provide scheduled release time for that coursework and advising. really thinking about providing that support to the employee as they're completing their bachelors um and then enrolling in an accredited EPB EP within 3 years. And expanding a little bit further on specifically the
010written uh agreement. Um when it comes to partnering with the affformentioned IICH EP, school systems must also establish uh this written partnership agreement uh for GYO program implement uh prep GYO program implementation uh for the 2627 school year. So really thinking about articulating in that agreement u requirements as it's related uh to sections of statute as well as um the proposed commissioner of education rules um and ensuring that those requirements are being agreed to understood um and will be implemented as part of the partnership. Uh we will be providing guidance regarding the submission of the written agreement. So that will include a template as well as some examples. So please know that that information is forthcoming as to what the written agreement uh would look like. Uh as a reminder too of what exists um
011in statute, the employee uh must earn their bachelor's degree within 3 years of starting that prep GIO program and at least enroll in an EP. So with that in mind, we really thought it important to stamp here as a implementation consideration that with this three-year time frame, uh partnerships um are encouraged to consider prioritizing employees who already have a certain number of uh credit hours, potentially 30 or more of the previous uh credits to really ensure that they have ample time to uh meet that requirement within the three years. Um, of course, school systems can still use the allotment funds to support employees who are even earlier in that progression, um, or to support the high school pathway. So, this is not exclusive to just these employees, but something to consider for implementation purposes. In
012addition to supporting employees with the earning of the bachelor's degree, school systems will need to ensure that the employees provided with that early teacher training uh while in their current role. And so we can expand on that a little bit more um on this next visual. Thinking about the employee being paired with an effective teacher um and providing that authentic opportunity for practice within in an instructional setting, ensuring that they're really set up for success here um and get that uh exposure and early teacher training. Um, all of this occurring in alignment with the educator preparation uh standards and coursework. Uh, something that partnerships uh may want to consider uh for program implementation purposes. Uh the next component is diving into that other type of participant that I mentioned earlier, the high school student. Uh
013so in thinking of growing our future educators uh from within our own school systems, uh school systems participating in PREPGIO may wish to also implement or even continue implementing a high school education and training CTE pathway. Similarly providing that early teacher training and practice opportunities for those students to really get that practice, get that exposure and build their interest in the teaching profession. Going into a little more detail as what uh that may look like, the high school education and training program of course includes that coursework. So the ENT program of study in CTE which may potentially include dual credit although that is not a requirement. Another implementation consideration here is in supporting students with potentially earning an educational aid one certification further setting themselves up for success um in progressing to becoming a teacher
014and gaining that quality preparation and exposure. Uh and then like for the employees, uh the high school students must also receive opportunities for practice and that can be paid or unpaid. Oftentimes we've seen anecdotally that's that field sitebased experience through coursework, but school systems may also want to consider internships or even tutoring opportunities uh that will provide those opportunities uh for practice. Additionally, the school systems must provide uh the transition supports necessary for high school students as they're kind of starting to think about postsecary options. Uh still gearing towards teacher preparation and helping them to consider and explore what those options might look like. Uh the last piece here when thinking about prep GIO funding, it is important to note that there is an opportunity for success-based specific funding and that is dependent on what
015I previously mentioned up here at the top. the employee successfully completing the bachelor's degree and enrolling in an accredited EP within three years of starting the prep GIO program. And this particular funding can be used at the school systems discretion for program implementation such as the tuition costs for employees and high school students. So that's really at the discretion for when it comes to needs for implementing the prep gio. And we further get into the funding details on these next couple of slides. So to help us expand a little bit here, we have a snapshot for the prep gio program and it helps us to kind of break down piece by piece. As you can see, it allocates 8 to 12K per employee with a total of 40 uh potentially pair professionals per year. Although,
016as we note here in asterisk, this uh could include other employees. We just named here as a most common example and likely the one uh that school systems would prioritize are paraprofessionals. So the purpose of or for the purposes of this slide we will name um that is that cap of 40 per year all funds flow directly to the school system and that is broken out with the two buckets the initial funding and then the sa successbased funding. So 50% upfront 50% based on success. So minimally for the initial flow, school systems will receive 4K per employee who begins that GIO pathway based on the high needs rural factor. There could be an additional 0 to 2K per employee. Successbased funding is again after the employees have successfully earned their bachelor's degree and enrolled in
017an EP. So the school system will then remain uh receive the remaining balance uh after that successful completion. As I named on the previous slide, the PREPGO program really allows for that broad use of funds pertaining to PREPGO program implementation. So some potential uses that we named here uh I named tuition costs earlier. It could also include some wraparound services really providing that structured advising. So we kind of see uh these components uh highlighted in the icons here. Supports for release time so that the employees can complete their coursework. Supports for the high school pathway and any other related costs uh as it pertains to prep GIO. getting us into the nitty-gritty of the math behind the funding. We can break it down into these components here, the multiplier, the base uh multiplied by the
018number of employees. And to calculate that total allotment for the multiplier, there is I mentioned already the increased funding based on high needs and rural campuses. So each campus will have their own unique high needs rural factor and will impact that total amount generated. So that is something to note is uh the placement of the employee will have a direct impact on what that sort of multiplier will look like. For those who are familiar with the TIA aotment formula, this is a similar concept. So if you know how that works, that's a helpful starting point. When the multiplier is added to that base of 8K, the total will then be generated based on how many employees with the cap of 40 for each school system. So further emphasizing here, the allotment is generated based on
019the number of employees. So if a school system has zero participating employees, they will not generate an allotment. But if a school system has at least one employee, they will generate the aotment and that funding can be used in the ways that were mentioned earlier, including supports for the employee and supports for the high school programming. And then that generates the total aotment. As a reminder, 50% is that initial funding uh flow for the 26 27 school year. and then the remaining are 50% will be success-based. To help us kind of see a more simplified example of just how the funding can be broken down, we have here an example of one school system that has three campuses. And of course this is highly simplified so it will probably not look like this but uh
020the three campuses each have their own high needs rural factor. So in this particular example we see campus A with two, campus B with three, C with four. Again most likely the numbers will not shake out this way. uh but just for the purposes of today then the school system has the employees placed based on there's 20 at campus A 10 each at B and C and that gives us that total cap uh exactly of 40 employees per school system. Now once that is all calculated out with the factor multiplier the base and then the number of employees for each one we've got campus A has the 200K B 110 and C with 120. So as the school system total you see here 430K and of that 430K we break it out into the 50%
02150% initial flow 215 and successbased 215. So if the uh all the four if all of the 40 employees successfully earn their degree and enroll in an EP within the uh three years of beginning the program then the remaining half will flow. All right. So putting the pieces together to kind of help us better articulate exactly how prep GUIO might look in action. And we have a couple of slides to walk through on how it may look, how the participants may progress through the program, uh especially looking in at the participating employees and hopefully helping to address some questions that we've already been starting to see in the field. On this slide, we are referring to the employee participation and highlight the main programming components throughout the timeline. So you see that sort of spread
022uh starting with in the spring through summer prior to the allotment program begin date. The school system confirms the participating employees and where uh what campuses that they are uh placed at. So for this particular cycle, this is the equivalent of the upcoming spring summer 2025 in anticipation of the 2627 implementation. And then in that 2627 implementation, the fall of year 1 is where we see participating employees begin the prep gio uh program. So that's the start of that clock for the three-year timeline for when it comes to success-based funding. The so the school system, as previously mentioned, must provide a job assignment uh that is including instructional support for that employee. of completing that uh completing the program while still in that role. And then as you see in this next box here during
023that time the school system is providing the supports as already named scheduled release time practice in instructional setting on the job training and the length of time that it takes for that employee to receive the supports and complete uh program requirements may vary. of course up to the three-year uh as required. So it could actually take less than that um or it could take up to the three years and then by the end of year three the employee completes their degree and at least enrolls in an EP and the school system must provide transition supports for helping that particular employee satisfying teacher preparation requirements. So, we sort of see here capturing all of the different elements um and sort of the what the timeline might look like. With this prep GIO webinar, we have this
024unique opportunity to really tie together across all of the different uh prep aotment programs. We see here an intentional baton pass uh from one program to the next. starting off with prep Gio where the employee earns their bachelor's and enrolls in an EP and then once they earn the uh requisite number of college credit hours enrolling in their EP of choice they can then transition and baton pass from prep GIO to a pre-ervice partnership program uh which is where they would then complete the EP earn their teaching certificate and uh hopefully become a an employed um and they're now a degreed certified teacher and staying within that uh same school system. And then the prep mentorship component uh is where we see that novice teacher receiving support from a qualified mentor uh really bringing together
025that and closing out the final component of when we're uh of our aim here across the prep aotment programs. thinking of quality, recruitment, preparation, support, and ultimately the teachers retention. So, diving a little bit deeper, uh, providing a visual of what could happen with an employees progression and also kind of thinking about that paton pass piece. uh wanted to specifically highlight for prep GYO and then transitioning to a pre uh prep pre-ervice program such as residency. We have this scenario of a participating employee in the prep gio program. They are employed at a campus with a high needs rural factor of two. They stay at that same campus throughout the duration of their teacher residency program and are trying to earn their uh certification in special education. So that sets the scene a little bit.
026And prior to the prep GIO program, the employee previously worked uh as a paraprofessional and already has 30 credits from a local community college. uh kind of signaling us back to that slide earlier where we mentioned uh possibly prioritizing those who already have uh those college credits um and thinking about uh who's going to be the most set up for success to fulfill within the three-year timeline. So, as part of that initial flow, the employee begins the prep GIO program generating an aotment of 5K for the school year. Considering that high needs rural factor um as well as the other math we have highlighted on the previous slide during the first and second years of participation they earn their credits. So we see transitioning from year 1 to year two they get the additional 30
027credits and then year two to year three another 30 helping to progress towards completing their degree. At the beginning of their third year they also begin participation in the prep residency program and enroll in an EP. So with this particular scenario, we see here a an opportunity for the school system to stack the funding from both prep GYO and prep residency programs. So this green text you see here is really representing the prep residency component where that candidate now generates an additional 12K and then they I'm not sure why it started me over but get to see it again. going to slide on over year one to year two, year two to year three and then the employee is able to complete their credits by the end of year three. the candidate completes their degree
028and earns their teaching certificate having met the se the success criteria um or at least the criteria for success based funding for the remaining 5k for gio and 10k for residency. So you see here in blue GO green for residency and again this is one particular example but helps to kind of highlight further that sort of baton pass as it relates to prep GIO to a pre-ervice program. Now that we have seen how GIO can work uh we will dive a little bit more into the application itself. As mentioned in a lot of or in the other prep aotment webinars, I will reiterate that all school systems are eligible to apply for the prep programs and are subject to the statutoily based funding caps that are described in the programs guidelines. These bullet points here
029further detail how we would define a charter school under the school system definition. So for those that this information pertains to, definitely want to highlight that to uh take a moment to read that. And the next two slides will go into more specifics on operating partners and adult charter schools. So starting with 1882 operating partners, they're also eligible to apply and are subject to the same statutoily based funding caps based on the program's guidelines. Uh applications are distributed via unique links which is a little bit different uh from the sort of standalone uh school system. When it comes to the written agreements, the since FSP flows to the partner district, the operating partner should have this additional layer of a written agreement uh to document how those allotment funds are generated uh through the partnership
030and how it will be spent and more guidance is forth for forthcoming on that. Adult charter schools in particular are ineligible to participate in PREPGO. And kind of as that note here, we see uh this is because of section 21902 which requires prep preservice programs to place uh the teacher candidates in prek through grade 12 classrooms. Zooming back for prep aotment asurances. This is applying to all of the prep programs. Prior to applying, applicants really should take a moment to review these relevant sections of Texas education code as it pertains to uh the programs that they are interested in. Uh we are asking folks to be able to review the prep definitions, the pre-ervice programs. um for the case of this prep GIO uh webinar definitely the prep GIO one the program standards and performance
031goals and then all of the uh the funding specific information for prep program aotment in 48157 as a note tea anticipates posting rules for public comment during the 2526 school year so likely that is coming up pretty soon and will become effective prior to the 26 27th school year in anticipation of program implementation. In addition to those prep aotment asurances, applicants should also consider prep gio specific asurances. There's just a few here. So, we've already sort of tapped on this previously, but the sections of Texas Education and Texas Administrative Code U are the parts to note in terms of PREPG GYO program requirements. As mentioned, school systems must form a written agreement partnership with the uh clear expectations for when it comes to the program and processes and supports that are available for the participating
032employees and if applicable the high school students as well. And lastly, the school systems uh will need to be able to appoint a school system representative to ensure that they are engaging in all of the required prep aotment and prep GIO program communications. uh really ensuring that there is that point person to restamp this from earlier the prep gio and residency programs do have their own separate applications but uh as uh repeat from earlier school systems must apply and be approved for the prep residency in order to also uh participate in prep GIO and this is reflected from this particular uh portion of statute and since this particular cycle only includes the prep residency um that is the option available for this particular cycle. Now I sort of hinted to this earlier this concept of
033reporting program monitoring uh when it comes to aotments but for the sake of reporting and monitoring uh we want to ensure that we're able to accurately calculate those allotments for each school system. So at minimum uh tea will be requiring school systems to submit annually the following information that you see here. So capturing information such as the prep program participants in the case of GIO that will be the employees uh as well as submit the campus placements. We mentioned that high needs rural factor is really dependent on where the employees are being placed report on the spending and then we will have some requirements and that information is pending um or at least the specifics are pending in terms of the related perception surveys about program implementation. So helping us to kind of see into
034uh perceptions of those who are participating and all of this in summary to help ensure that there is clear documentation uh in our data systems. Uh this particular slide uh is actually mirroring some other webinars where it was more focused on time commitment. Uh but there wasn't really specifics that we could tie to numbers for this particular slide. So we thought best to sort of reframe it as a roles and responsibilities sort of who are the different uh players and or the key players that are involved when it comes to implementation. So we can really simplify into this chart ranging from school board all the way to the teachers ensuring that there is this across level understanding of what is required of the program and implementation. So this is really helpful to think through for
035partnerships when thinking about accountability, the fidelity of implementation and ensuring that there is that support across all of the different levels. Uh as a quick note here, uh when filling out the prep GYO program application, school systems will be asked if they would like to opt into these optional inind technical supports which are aimed to help strengthen the grow your own planning and implementation. So, if opting into these supports, then the points of contact for that school system will be receiving more information about joining a webinar that will talk a little bit more about what those supports exactly will look like and how school systems can engage in them. But this is just a nice optional again opportunity to really help uh school systems um especially if um just getting started with GIO programming or
036just wanting that additional uh support um in meeting requirements. All right, we've now reached the section where we're going to be closing out with next steps and the path forward. So, as a reminder, since prep uh the prep program aotment is not a grant, please note that there may be differences and what those differences are, especially as it pertains to awarding, verifying, and funding participation. As such, the timelines may have um the differences as well here. So, kind of noting the uh subtleties between lasso grants versus lasso prep aotment timeline. And to kind of give more of a snapshot here, we're currently in that application window, engaging with the webinars, and aiming to have the FAQ published in early November with the office hours happening next week. And we anticipate the award announcement February 2nd.
037Since this is an aotment, there is no egrants process and we will be conducting prep program verification of participation uh sometime around April to May and we'll be announcing those dates shortly. But that is a major component that is different to note. with the verification of participation. Uh this is following that preliminary award announcement in February. We will be communicating more about that timeline and runway as we get closer. Um and for submitting those written partnership agreements in the verification, the school systems can either accept or decline participation uh just depending on their needs and uh the ability to sort of meet those requirements. And that is also when they will need to report on the numbers of participants as well as review the relevant sections as named in Texas education code and uh Texas
038administrative code. Um especially considering for for TAC uh the I noted earlier that is undergoing the rule making process. Further stamping prep GIO has this in common with the prep residency that participating school systems will need to submit written partnership agreements to TEA by the dates requested. We are going to provide more guidance and examples at a future date, but these are really intended to help support your school system and partners ensuring that you're implementing the requirements outlined in statute and rule. And I mentioned this uh previously that school systems will need to verify the participation and submit their written agreements which TEA will be providing some more guidance on. Some other key reminders, school systems must submit their application uh by December 3rd. A unique link for each school system was emailed to superintendent
039and operating partners and there is a PDF copy available posted on the lasso cycle 4 website. Please note that applications must be signed by the superintendent or operating partner official in order to be accepted. This is just a quick note that uh there is this TAA uh web page and contains the correspondence as it relates to prep program aotment for those who are just curious to reference. And if you have any additional questions, good news, you have plenty of opportunities. Uh I mentioned earlier that there will be uh the option two of this webinar this Thursday. Uh there is also the office hours on October 28th next week. Um but if there is additional questions with application support, there are also those times available here. And uh we will be posting an FAQ hopefully early
040November. If you are not able to attend for any reason, we mentioned um that the webinars will have the recordings. Uh but there is also these inboxes here for any additional questions where we will be capturing especially to include for the FAQs. But if there's anything related to the application process or technical assistance with it, there's the lasso team and then prep gio. The inbox is gi texas.gov. Um, and please please uh go ahead and send all questions so that we can include into the FAQ. And this slide really closes us out with these are just the main highlights the main highlights that I just went over. I will leave this up on the screen to help kind of summarize and we will close out the recording. But the next couple of minutes