001the prep residency pre-ervice program webinar. Today we're going to dive deeply into the prep preservice residency program um and hopefully answer some of your questions though I know you will have more uh than we can possibly answer in this hour period today. Um my name is Melissa Yoder and I'm the director of quality preparation here at TEA. With me I have my colleague Dr. Jody Moody who is the director of teacher apprenticeship and we also have two other colleagues on the call today. We have um Dr. Josh Jones uh who is our director of EP field support and operations and we have my other colleague Kylie Harmo who is our director of teacher mentorship. So we've got a lot of great support here on the call today and for your reference we have our tea
002teacher residency at tea.ex.gov email address here on the screen which we'll share with you later for any questions pertaining to program. All righty. So for our time together today um our agenda is as follows. We're going to engage in a very brief overview of lasso cycle 4 um the application and timeline and process. We're going to dive deep into the prep residency pre-ervice program. Um and we'll wrap up with just some logistical next steps. Um, just as a note here, um, please submit questions during the webinar using the Zoom Q&A. Do not hesitate. We are going to collect all those questions and provide answers to you, um, in an an upcoming FAQ that will be submitted and shared. Um, all slides and the recording will be posted to the Lasso 4 cycle website um, after
003all webinars have been completed. And then, um, you may email the Lasso team at the web address you can see here. um with any follow-up questions regarding the lasso process. We're going to very briefly walk through what is lasso cycle 4. Um so the learning acceleration support opportunities lasso is a single consolidated application that provides the opportunity to combine grants aotments and all in kind supports um aimed at supporting um uh student learning acceleration gains. Um you can see by the numbers here um the LASO application aims to provide over or close to $500 million in student service supports this year um across 15 initiatives and all in one consolidated application. So it's a tremendous opportunity um for that coordinated application. Um, lasso cycle 4 is anchored in four key learning acceleration strategies um centered
004on curriculum and instruction, education and training, more time and uh innovative school models. Um for our purposes today, the lasso um cycle 4 prep aotment for residency pres-ervice program um centers on education and training um for that talent pipeline to support teachers. You will hear me say this many times today um and throughout any other follow-up sessions, but um it the lasso prep program aotment is an aotment. It is an entitlement. It is different than a grant. Um in lasso there are some grants, quite a few grants um in which schools for which schools are selected based on um priority points um in a c competitive application process. Um the lasso prep program aotment is an entitlement. So all school systems who meet the eligibility criteria and commit to the statutoily based requirements will be
005approved for participation. Um and once approved those schools uh school systems do not need to continuously reapply and this will be a steady sustained stream of funding um that is sustainable for those school systems and the partners that they work with. Um of course those school systems will be subject to um periodic review um to ensure that they are implementing um the program with fidelity but again it is an entitlement. uh it is not a competitive application. Um this is very tiny print here you can see but you can see that um the prep program aotment falls under the education and training category for that strategy. Um there is also a Texas strategic staffing for residencies grant which is um which is a support um grant uh pertaining to the prepalma which I'll talk talk
006about a bit today. Um but this is this the TSS grant is a competitive grant um and it is um only a few number or a limited number of um districts or school systems will um be eligible to receive that. And with that I am going to take us into the prep pre-ervice residency pre-ervice deep dive part of our series which is the primary um content for today's learning. Um I'm going to briefly kick us off here with some background context on um on how we got here, why we are focusing on a prep residency preservice program. Um just to back us up with a little bit of data here, we know data tells us um that different preparation routes lead to different outcomes for students and teachers. Um you can see here that higher
007quality preparation routes improve teacher retention rates. Um so you can see that teachers prepared in traditional undergraduate versus some other routes um have a higher likelihood of being retained 5 years into the profession. Early evidence also points to in particular um some strong indicators that residencies have a positive impact on student achievement and teacher retention. This is out of a study based in Texas um surrounding um Texas teacher candidates. Um and in this study, the study found that firstear teachers who had completed a paid residency performed comparably to other firstear teachers in math but much more effectively uh in reading. um to the extent which um first year teachers who were who were in a residency model um were as effective as fifth year teachers in reading which is pretty incredible. Um and then it
008also pointed to some pretty strong retention rates noting that we would need approximately 3600 fewer first year teachers um if um if they had if all teachers had been prepared as a resident. Um, so that's pretty compelling when it comes to um some of the retention and um teacher effectiveness data we're seeing out of residency programs. Um, but the reality is that most teacher candidates enter the classroom without any significant training before they begin teaching. Many of you have already seen this uh piece of data before um it being in our annual report. Um but the percent of new teachers who are new to teachers who were hired in 2025 2024 2025 um 55% of those were uncertified um which is which is the majority um of new to teaching new hires in the profession.
009So and and we know that during this time period um student achievement results statewide have stagnated despite significant positive reform elsewhere. So this really just highlights the critical nature of um the quality of the teachers preparation. Um so given that teacher retention challenges across our state have are not new. Um, in response to current teacher retention challenges, uh, the teacher vacancy task force, uh, which back in 2022 was actually led by my colleague on this call, Kyla Hario, recommended and heard feedback from the field, um, and had a set of like key comprehensive recommendations. Um fortunately we have seen the outcome um with um the 89th legislative session responding um to um retention and pipeline prep teacher preparation pipeline needs um um and this and for this u we know is deeply connected to the
010HB2 prep aotment. So, we're going to click over here. Um, clicking into that area of training and support. Um, we see the following, um, recommendations here to expand high quality grow pathways and establish and fund a teacher residency pathway and expand educator prepity to produce teacher residents through technical assistance. And so HB2 certainly establishes um a teacher residency preparation route and consistent funding to sustain and scale those teacher residencies which we'll be taking a look at in just a moment. Um with that I'm going to take us into the prep residency program components. Um overall the prep program aotment has five programs aimed at strengthening the teacher talent pipeline supporting districts to address recruitment preparation and mentorship really in service of supporting one coherent strategy um versus trying to do a lot of different things
011in separate capacities. Um I know we have many districts and educator preparation programs program partners who have been working to build this coherence um for a long time within their systems. So I'm really excited to see that there is this sustainable source of funding um flowing within these law a lotment programs to back up and support that work that's already well underway in the field. Um and with that um those five programs are as follows. the prep grow your own program, the three prep pre-ervice programs which include residency, traditional and alternative certification, uh pres-ervice alternative certification, excuse me, and then the prep mentorship program. Um since we know that quality preparation is linked to stronger outcomes for students and teachers, um we know that teacher preparation relies on some key practices um to support that
012quality preparation. So when we talk about requirements for the residency program today, you'll see evidence of these things um when we talk about those requirements um and those things are as follows. um dedication to classroom practice for those teacher candidates, ensuring that candidates have the opportunity to develop content knowledge um and content pedigogy knowledge related to said content. Um and then finally that they receive mentoring and coaching during their first and second year as a teacher. But we also know the importance that they of receiving that same mentor that same coaching um during their preparation. And when pathways vary in um their implementation of these key practices that leads to varied outcomes in the teacher retention and in um in overall student outcomes. So you'll see those those factors prioritized in the program requirements. Um
013as a component of the new prep prep funded pathways um EBPS will have to be approved to offer those um prep funded pathways um in order to participate. So you can see here um in this visual we have in the on the gray table we have our current preparation structure which includes the residency pathway and our traditional undergraduate alternative certification and uncertified options. Um in this new structure there will be three funded routes for residency um tra um the traditional prep traditional we've been calling it um and then the prep pre-ervice alternative certification route. In addition to those three funded routes, two non-funded routes will exist for alternative certification and late hires. But those three routes um will exist and will be funded through this prep aotment and therefore educator preparation programs will have to
014meet certain requirements um to offer these routes and they will must be approved. Um good news um due to rule making and approval timelines. You're probably thinking, well, how are all these programs going to get approved to offer these routes ahead of um launching this aotment in 2627? Um, so the good news is that in statute, provision 21.904E allows for the residency partnership program to begin prior to implementation of new route requirements, um, which will be required in the 2728 school year. So that means that all programs who currently offer a residency program who have been approved by the ESP to offer that residency program um are viable partners for the 2627 school year implementation of the prep residency program. This is very good news. Um the next year in 27-28 um the prep traditional
015and the prep pres-ervice alternative certification programs may be may begin alongside the prep residency program and all programs will have to meet all requirements of the routes at of uh at that time but for this upcoming year currently approved programs um are acceptable partners. All righty. So with that um we'll get into the prep residency pre-ervice program um requirements and overview section the best part. Um so here we have four highlevel requirements for the prep preservice program and all of these put together really drive towards ensuring that um the partnership puts in place a highquality year-long residency program for their teacher candidates. Um the factors the key factors are as follows. The first one centers on practice-based preparation in a year-long residency program. Um, this singular requirement really encompasses all of the requirements that currently
016exist for teacher residency programs enroll approved role. Um so in this in this requirement the teacher candidate the resident will receive that extended pre-ervice practice for an entire school year under the supervision of the cooperating which I'll from this point forward call a host teacher um for the entire school year prior to becoming the teacher of record. We're going to dig in in the next slide into some of those additional requirements related to the practice-based preparation of your long residency. Um the second bullet here which is not a requirement for this upcoming year but for will be a requirement for 2728 will be that candidates are prepared using the state developed content um in their preparation program. So um the educator preparation program would have to ensure that those candidates are prepared to to use
017the are are prepared with high quality training content including reading and mathmies um for um certain subject areas um and then other um state developed content areas as specified through commissioner rulemaking. The third component here pertains to formal partnerships and emphasizes the importance of having a written agreement between the district and the EP. Um and the EBP and the district will create that formal uh partnership agreement um to make sure that one the program meets the requirements described um in statute as well as in forthcoming commissioner of education rule um as a proposed commissioner of education rule um and also making sure truly that candidate is prepared um to meet the needs of the school um and that school system um with aligned um training and coaching um to that district's uh perspective and approach.
018Um I'll name here and I'll provide more information about this shortly. Um when it comes to the partnership agreement, it's important to note that this is this is pertaining to the prep residency program. So it is in addition to the current standing um memorandum of understanding orou that a district and an EBP likely hold um just to implement their current partnership. So it's an additional layer of a of um formal partnership. So we'll provide more information on that shortly. Um and the final piece here is that the program provides for success and needs-based funding. And we're going to actually walk step by step through this in just a moment. But when the candidate achieves the enhanced standard certificate um there is a set of um success and needsbased funding that flows directly to the district.
019And then once the candidate achieves both the enhanced standard certificate and um completes the uh their first year teaching in a Texas classroom um there would be success and needsbased funding that would flow directly to the EVP. So, we'll walk through this momentarily as well. All righty. Um, taking a step further and looking at the core components of practice-based preparation in a year-long residency. Um, the practice-based preparation will include the following things. And again, many of these pieces here you see reflected you would see reflected already in our chapter 228 um educator preparation program requirements for teacher residencies. Um so the candidate must be placed in a pre-K12 setting and of course their preparation must incur must must occur in person. um in that setting um designated and within each setting the candidate would be
020designated and assigned to a host teacher who meets the qu uh qualifications already in chapter 228 EP requirements um and is also trained to mentor and support the resident. Those training and um mentor training and support requirements are also included um in chapter 228. Um when it comes to the program itself, the residency must span the full academic year and that includes the first and last day um with a total of 750 hours of clinical teaching experience which amounts to a minimum of 21 hours per week. Um this still provides for flexibility for um districts and EVPs who are perhaps already engaging in strategic staffing efforts to support funding that paid teacher resident allowing for flexibility um during that time in which the candidate is not engaged in that um clinical teaching experience where they
021are under the direct supervision of the um the host teacher in that sheltered practice and with gradual release of responsibility um as the candidate builds their skill um in um the co-eing experience. Um the fourth component you see here is that the resident is required to be hired as an at will employee of the school system. um the the the resident should be will be paid. Um and um currently um there is a new code in the PES um system for districts to designate a teacher resident as a resident which is likely tremendously helpful for tracking and monitoring. Um this will be helpful um to support districts to track and monitor um resident progression as well. Um the fifth item here you you can see residency candidates must engage in co-eing and lead instruction for
022a minimum of 400 hours um during that um sheltered practice experience with their host teacher. And then finally, school systems must facilitate opportunities for residents to gradually assume greater instructional responsibilities. as I noted a moment ago. Um, and their progress should be documented and measured with structured performance ben benchmarks um with the support of the educator preparation program. Again, this is a requirement of within chapter 228. All righty. And if you do not currently have um a teacher residency uh partner with an educator preparation program, you can find the list of ESPEC approved partners on our website. Um there is a QR code here that you can scan. Um and we'll also put the link in the chat of the web page that includes the list of approved teacher residency programs. but we have over
02340 approved programs across the state. All righty. Um just taking a moment before we get to our discussion of funding which I think folks are very interested in hearing more about. Um just wanted to recap this component around the prep residency pres-ervice partnership requirements. Um, again, for the prep residency pres-ervice program to happen, there must be an eligible school system partner as well as an EVP who that has an ASPEC approved teacher Texas teacher residency preparation route. That's the non-negotiable. Um, they must have already been approved for to offer those routes. Um within that partnership agreement, partners should consider the following to clearly articulate in their agreement. Um they need to describe how they will engage in shared governance where they have a process by which they'll review candidate data and make informed decisions about
024implementation of their residency program. They need to identify clear roles and responsibilities um for both the EVP and the district in supporting candidates um as well as additional supports. They also must indicate in that partnership agreement how they will meet requirements outlined by um Texas administrative code whether it's the requirements that are in chapter 228 for the teacher residency route as well as um for the prep aotment itself which will also um those those requirements are under proposal um in consideration currently um and uh partnerships will be required to review those and describe how they will meet those requirements as well. And again emphasizing here that shared governance requirements are included in those. And then um the final piece here will be making sure and we'll provide I'll provide more information on this in an
025additional slide that when when required um that cooperating host teachers complete the Texas mentorship training and again in 2627 this is being highly encouraged but it will be required in 2728 but I will recap that in an upcoming slide as well. All righty. So, let's talk about the funding. For those of you who joined us on the first um prep overview series, I know we had a lot of funding information compressed into one singular slide, which was probably not the easiest to follow. So, here we have it broken out a little more uh piece by piece to to walk through it. and we'll also follow up with a couple examples. Um so the funding snapshot for the prep residency pre-ervice program um is as follows and this is targeted towards again remember 40 residents per
026year may be funded at the rate I'm about to describe. So in order to generate for each candidate to generate an aotment of between 24 to $39.5,000 um the following will happen. The initial funding is the amount of $12,000. That amount flows directly to the school system from the foundational school program based on annual projections. So if I am a school system and I say I'm going to fund 40 residents that would be the amount that that that would flow. All righty. So taking that set of funding per resident um the following are required when it comes to payment. So 10 of that 12,000 10,000 of that um initial set of funding must be used to pay towards the candidates's pay. Um the school system must must also match a minimum of $10,000 um to
027support and make sure that that candidate is paid a minimum of $20,000. the district and their EP P may decide we want to pay more and that's fine. Um but um it has to be a minimum of $20,000. Your remaining $2,000 coming out of that initial set of funding would be used for the cooperating host teacher. Um and that's the amount of $2,000. Again, that is a minimum amount. the district may opt to pay that um that cooperating teacher more out of other sources of funds. All righty. And so that candidate begins the teacher residency program on the first day of school, meets all residency program requirements, attains their enhanced standard certificate. Now we're coming up on success-based funding for the school system. And so the school system may that candidate may generate up to
028$16,000 um based on several factors. So, there will be a $2,000 base plus anywhere from 0 to $12,000 for the rural and high needs multiplier, which I'll go into in a second, and then an additional $2,000 if that candidate is being prepared um in special education or bilingual. This fund, these funds, once again, will flow directly to the district and they flow through the foundational school program. All right, let's take a look at that. Let's unpack that a little further. So you can see here um for the successbased funding formula, there's that $2,000 base and then the high needs rural factor between zero and four which is which is determined upon a set of conditions within um the campus so exc with the um student socioeconomic status um times 3,000. So we're taking that we're
029multiplying it by $3,000. Um, and then if that candidate again is seeking certification in special ed or bilingual, there'd be an additional $2,000 on top of that. We'll take a look at a scenario to look at how that math kind of shakes out in a second. Um, when it comes to funding, success based funding that flows directly to the educator preparation program once the resident earns the enhanced standard certificate and completes the first year teaching in a Texas school system. And it does not have to be the same school system in which they did their residency. I want to put that on record. It is a Texas school system. um that candidate may generate in direct to EP funding um $10,000 as a base and an additional 1.5K if they completed the reading and mathmies.
030Um funding that flows to the EP must be spent to offset tuition fees and administrative costs and IEGs must allocate at least 85% of funding to the the program. um that way it's going back in to support the program. Um one thing I'll name here is this this is discretionary right so it is about supporting the program. Um when we look at the district funds that we just took a gander at previously, those successbased funds, um those are also discretionary and may be used to again support the program, whether it's funding for um the the match for the teacher resident, um more funding for a mentor, for scheduled release time. Um the list of possibilities is is pretty long in how they that fun those funds could be used to support the program. All righty.
031So, let's take a look at a couple examples of the funding. So, in example A, we place five residents at one elementary campus with one of the residents who is being prepared in special education. Um, the campus has a high needs girl factor of two. All residents successfully complete the residency, earn their enhanced standard certificates, and they complete their first year of teaching. So all the success-based funding will flow in this model. So when we look at the funding breakdown, when we're looking at the initial funding that goes to the LEA, we have five residents by 12,000, giving us $60,000. When we look at success base funding, we see that all five generate that $2,000 base. And then we see that all five generate that high needs rural factor funding. So that's 2 by3,000 um
032times 5. And then finally that one additional resident generates that additional $2,000 um on top of the sum leading to $42,000 total in the successbased funding for the LEA. When it comes to the EP successbased funding, that EVP um will get the 10,000 base for each of the five residents and they were all elementary certified candidates um likely EC6. Um so they will also generate the 1,500 in reading and mathmies totaling with a grand total of $159,500 generated for those five residents. Um, example B provides for 10 residents at a high school campus. The campus has a rural and needs factors of a one factor of a one. Only eight out of 10 successfully complete the enhanced standard certificate and of those eight all eight do in fact complete their first year of teaching. Um,
033so similarly you can see that initial funding that's been generated. um as well as a success based funding for the LEA. They didn't have any um special education or bilingual um candidates. So, they do not generate that extra $2,000. And you can see here that the calculation has changed from the total 10 down to eight for that success-based funding. And the same goes for the EP success-based funding. Um and none of those residents were getting certified in the reading and mathmies. All righty. The final the final thing I'll note here on um residency funding is that under section 48.157G there is a provision provision that a school system can qualify for an additional 40 residents but fund them at the traditional funding level. So the thing to note here um is that all of the
034funding flows in the same manner and all of the requirements are the same. So that candidate is still required to be paid at the $20,000 minimum rate and that cooperating teacher still requires a $2,000 minimum um stipend, but the funds the amount of funds available to provide for that will not be as high. So the district if they are opting opting into funding additional residents at this lower rate um they will need to find additional sources to match that funding as you can see here. And then similarly successbased funding will still be generated but it will um it won't generate um as much funds um for for the um district or for the EP. but it still provides the option to fund additional candidates. And so again, um in total, a district could fund 80
035um residents, but just knowing that 40 of those would be funded at a lesser rate um generating 10 to $21.5,000 instead. All righty. So that is the funding overview. We're going to walk into eligibility re review asurances um and some of the um application components. Um once again the prep residency program is a non competitive entitlement. This means all applicants that meet the eligible criteria commit to the program requirements will be funded. Um and when it comes to eligible eligibility criteria for um school systems, school systems include districts and eligible charter schools um and those are those charter schools are defined in the bullets below. So please please review um those there. But each applicant um is subject to the prep program aotment statutoily based funding caps described in each of the programs guidelines. All
036righty. Um 1882 operating partners are eligible to apply. Um, when it comes to funding, AT82 operating partners are subject to the statutoily based funding caps described in each of the prep programs guidelines. So, they may apply for those funds. Um when it comes to applications, we have we will be able to distribute unique links for 1882 operating partners as the application is just a little bit different looking based on um that applicant being not being just a standalone district. Um so there is a form here um that will also be made available for those operating partners who are seeking to apply. I think like the final thing I would note here when it comes to written agreements um since FSP flows to a partner district um the operating partner should include we should have an
037additional layer of um written agreement with the partner district to document how those funds generated through the partnership program will be spent. So just that's a consideration and we'll be able to provide more support and guidance for um those operating partners who do apply and um are are awarded not awarded but um provided with the aotment. Um adult charter schools are ineligible to participate in the prep residency pre-ervice program. Um just just um as a note here, this is because section 21.902 of Texas Education Code says that prep pres-ervice programs um have to place teacher candidates in pre kindergarten through grade grade 12 classrooms. So adult charter schools remain ineligible. All righty, click over to the asurances. Um, so prior to applying, applicants should review relevant sections of Texas Education Code below aligned to their
038program of interest. Um, so we've listed here, I'll give you all a moment to take a look and you'll be able to click into this deck to grab these and they're also laid out perfectly in the actual application and program guidelines itself. Um but we are asking applicants to review the definitions, the pre-ervice program overall requirements in section 902. Um the residency pre-ervice program and then the the requirements for the program standards and performance goals as well as the funding requirements in 48.157. Um, as a note, TEA is anticipating posting rules for the prep P prep program aotment um for public comments during the 2526 school year um likely coming up very soon. Um that will be effective ahead of the 26 27th school year. Um so we'll be able to share further dates on
039um when folks can lean into public comment etc regarding these. But again, um you'll be asked to deeply read all of these sections of Texas Educational Code um upon your application. Um a couple other assurances that are important. It's critical that a school system and EP representative rep engage in all required prepotment in prep pre-ervice residency communication. We would not want um either side not to have a clear clear vision into like what what the expectations are for the program or the process is. Um we'll also want to make sure that all cooperating teachers or host teachers um complete the Texas mentorship training um in 2728 um and it will be strongly encouraged in 2627. So mentorship training will be strongly encouraged in 2627 um and then required in 2728. So we will be providing
040um further communication too just to make sure that folks um do not um get confused on those dates and timelines. Um and then finally as I noted before the importance of having that written agreement with an ed prep program. um you will not have to submit this written agreement with your application. You will be asked to submit that um at a later date up when you are in the process of accepting um the participation in the aotment. Um so for the sake of reporting and program monitoring um and to also make sure that we can adequately calculate um a lotment allotments to each district um there will be a minimum annual requirement to submit the following things um to TEA and that way again we're able to assure that districts are getting the aotment um
041they are entitled to. So um these include the following. They need to identify you'll need to identify um prep program participants. So your residents within the ecosystem. Um you'll need to um ensure in that same system that you've indicated um campus placements. We'll be asking for a report on spending. And then there will also be pending requirements related to completion of perception survey etc. um related to the program implementation. So more on that to come but much of this is really just making sure there's clear documentation in our data systems. All righty. And back to the written agreement component. Again, this is a different agreement than the standardou that pro each um program and district already has in place. And thatou has been foundational in making sure that your partnership can run and occur and
042happen um at a at a um in a in a strong manner, right? Um this partnership agreement again will support you and your dis school system and district partners um or sorry and EP partners to make sure that you are implementing um the requirements of statute of um proposed commissioner of education rule of um TAC requirements for educator preparation in chapter 228. for example, during the course of the program. Um, we will also be providing support for districts and their partners to complete these written agreements um with the goal of providing you this spring with a template as well as several examples of how this could look um so that you have that support on hand. And when it comes to time commitment, um I think I'm probably preaching to the choir um of folks
043who have led really high quality residency programs um that it is a time commitment, but um if we were able to just simplify simplify it here for the sake of the prep program aotment. Um we've named that this will require um engagement from the campus supervisor administrator um to support with assignment of um to to ensure that there's like assignment with the can uh between the candidate um and um their host teacher. And then also making sure that um there is someone who is um consistently working with their educator preparation program partners in that governance structure. And then finally um the host teacher will have a large responsibility um when it comes to the implementation of that year-long teacher residency program. supporting that teacher resident um throughout that co-eing experience, providing um on the spot
044coaching and training and support. All righty. And we're just going to talk through very rapidly on some scoring criteria. Um all eligible applicants that meet eligibility requirements and agree to the program asurances will be funded um per the funding formula in 48.157 of the prep aotment. So um again it's an entitlement um it is not competitive and funding formulas um will be delivered um in accordance with statute and there are no interviews in the process. All right. And I'm going to spend the next few minutes talking about two services um that provide related training and support. All righty. So, Texas strategic staffing and Texas me in the Texas mentorship trainings are some key supports for a strong prep residency pres-ervice program. So, um on the left here you can see the Texas strategic staffing supports
045uh service. Um many of you on the call have already engaged with providers from your education service centers um who have supported partnerships to design and implement a paid teacher residency program uh that is sustainably funded by reallocating district resources meant to compensate teacher residents who are in turn taking on add additional instructional responsibilities while completing a year-long teacher residency. Let me give you an example of how this could work. So, um the district and the um educator preparation program are working together to figure out how to pay a teacher resident. That resident will be spending three days a week um co-eing in the sheltered practice alongside their men, their host teacher. Um for one day a week, that uh teacher resident will be serving in a substitute teaching capacity on on uh for that
046grade level where they are teaching um providing support Um, in doing this, the district is able to reallocate funds from their substitute teaching budget to support that stipen for that teacher candidate. The district has also recognized that over the years um with their residency program, they've been able to reinvest um some previously allocated funds for teacher induction into training and into supporting uh teacher resident um pay um given less turnover in staff. So that's just one example. Um there's many permutations of how that that could play out. Um but um substitute teaching is a common model as would be um tutoring using leveraging residents for release time etc. The second service you see here is the Texas mentorship training um which has an overarching goal to ensure that every beginning teacher re receives the guidance
047and support needed to thrive um and leads to increased teacher effectiveness, higher retention and lasting impact on student success. So the idea here is with a state statewide training that prioritizes key principles and teacher uh training and um and development. Um if we have that training for teacher mentors who are working with those first and second year teachers, we can also leverage that training and support for host teachers um cooperating teachers supporting teachers who are um are uh teacher candidates before they become inservice teachers as well. Um, so we'll take a look at both of these services. All righty. Okay. Um, so I already noted at the top of the hour that the Texas strategic staffing grant um is part of the lasso cycle and it um provides that support to really think to support
048districts to think about how can I scale my pres-ervice residency program. how can I actually pay for um for these residents to to have that uh stipen they need and and support with finding funds for this match right in this scenario. But I want to acknowledge here that um districts DPS have already been implementing these programs this program for a long time. You've been working together side by side um without this higher level of state funding um to build sustainably funded teacher residencies. So um currently in lasso there are 50 awards available for the Texas strategic staffing for residency grant. Sorry it's a mouthful. Um and selection will be based on tiers of approval. Um we have been conducting um Texas strategic staffing webinars and we'll have them posted shortly and we have one later
049this week again as well um if you would like to join. Um, so let's take a look at one example of how uh Texas Strategic Staffing can support that scale for a pro for a partnership to um pay for the salaries of their teacher residents. All righty. I'm just going to bring these animations to the front. Um so in this scenario um we have a school system who has hit their 40 resident cap. Um so while they're generating um residency preserves a lotment funds um they're also looking to pay let's just say those five additional residents and we know that they need to generate more local funding to pay those five residents. So they they're getting a small amount up front. Um but they need to find $17,000 to support those uh residents uh to
050be fully funded. So the school system in this scenario could work with their ESC technical assistance provider uh to design and implement the strategic staffing model that meets their local needs. So those residents, any of these residents here could serve as tutors, they could serve as in supporting release time, etc. Um and through this process, um the district would reallocate and reinvest funds to pay for those additional residents. And with that, knowing that I have just five minutes to wrap us up here, I did want to um also take a moment to preview the Texas mentorship training. um it long-term in 2728 the Texas uh mentorship training will be provided for the residency program in 2627 it is strongly encouraged um and I think there's a couple reasons here one it is already going to
051be required for mentors so it makes sense to think that um you know if there's an opportunity for that continuity of training across the board um it has also been um an area where we've heard often from the field that there's been a challenge with bandwidth um to be able to support implementation of mentor training um in the beginning of the year and throughout the year to ensure that continuous support. So um really I see this as an opportunity um the state is providing a lowcost training um that is available for the 2627 school year. So training will be available. Take a look at that slide in a second on the timelines for availability of training. But um would strongly encourage while it's not required for 2627 that folks consider um building that continuity um
052heading into the 2728 school year. Um the other piece I would name here um districts if if districts are participating in other key TA initiatives such as the Lyft program um this training is aligned um to those priorities as well. Um and it is delivered by Texas mentorship training providers across all 20 ESC's. So easily accessed highquality and aligned training. Um again the aim of the training is to support all mentoring educator roles and that includes cooperating and host teachers. So you can see here um pathway one has mentoring educator training and there is aim to support the pre and early uh service um teachers. The other thing I'll note here um is pathway 2's training for district and campus leaders. Um and that allows for um districts to be well-versed and for leadership to
053be well verssed in supporting the implementation of the program on their campus and making sure there's that continuity between um ESCled training and the support that those mentors need on the ground. All righty. And just a snapshot here. Um, and a reminder that the priorities and the competencies are rooted in policy requirements and new educator standards. A second to look here at those key priorities. All right. And I promise for some days and timelines. So, for those of you who are considering host teacher training for summer of for the 2627 school year, that training begins in summer of 2026 with the over with the intro to training lasting about 12 hours um moving into a second session in fall of 26, a third in the winter um and in spring of 2027 um for the
054remaining time. And as you can see here, and this will be posted as well, there are priority topics that span across those training periods. Again, the training is provided by all um all 20 ESC's as well as a set of other approved providers. Um and your next steps for signing up are to visit the Texas mentorship training website at tmt.ta.t texas.gov. back up. Um, and just a reminder that if you are contracting with any providers, they must meet all of these equal treatment of all persons requirements that you see here on this page and this will be available. And so to wrap us up here at 259, we've got um a few remaining trainings. As I noted, we've got our um prep, grow your own trainings happening tomorrow and Thursday, October 21st and 23rd. Um
055and one final strategic staffing training on the 23rd. If you have missed anything um and are concerned, never fear. These will all be posted um with the aligned materials. Um and one more time, since the prep program is not a grant, um there are some differences to the steps and timelines after the application submission. So, I'll just briefly show you here. I think this is probably just the easiest way to look at it. Um, so we are here in the application window and engaging in program webinars, it being October. Um, we are aiming to have the FAQ published in early November with all of your wonderful questions. Um, and office hours are heading in heading into next week. Um during December and January um the team will go through review of applications with the intended
056announcement date of February 2nd. There is no egrants process for prep. So we will be conducting prep program verification of participation and submission of those written agreements um between April and May. And we'll be announcing those dates um shortly. All righty. And since we are at time, um I will just note here quickly. I just mentioned that there will be a verification of part of participation form um that follows announce preliminary award announcement in February. Um and at that time we will communicate your timeline and runway for submitting your verification of participation and submitting that writ those written partnership agreements um dur in the parter in the verification of participation form um school systems can decline participation it's not forced they can decline it um and then they will also at that time report numbers
057of prep prep participants um as well as um taking the opportunity to review um the prep program aotment uh sections related sections in Texas administrative code. Um as I referenced earlier that we are undergoing the process of rulemaking and with that I think we are just about at the end. Um school systems must submit their lastore uh application by December 3rd at 5:00 pm. Again, um there is the unique link for um each school system um superintendent or S uh SB182 operating partner. And then um the PDF just for just for your eyes to be able to see on like one spot that for the LA lasso cycle 4 application um is posted to the website. And as a reminder, all applications must be signed by the superintendent or 1882 operating partner to be accepted.
058Um, please check out the TAA website web page for the September um, TA for the prep program aotment. And as a reminder, we have um, office hours coming up on October 27th. couple dates and times here which we can put in the chat um before we log off today. And with that, that is all and thank you all for joining today. Um you I'll leave this slide up here on the screen for you to take a look at as you leave the uh webinar today. Um but we will close our recording and um please submit those FAQs as we would love to get your clients answered. Thank you for your time today.