001This informational webinar is one in a series of webinars designed to unpack requirements in 19 TAC chapter 228 effective September 1, 2024. The goal is to uncover what is new in the 228 revisions, what is not new and was existing in the version of chapter 228 that was effective August 31st, 2024, and where to locate all of the rules in the reorganized chapter. Some things to note for the whole series of webinars on 228 updates is that we will refer to the version of 228 that was effective August 31st, 2024 as legacy 228 and the version that was effective as chapter 228 or current 228. Additionally, I may miss some of the finer nuances of updates, but I will try to cover those that I feel will be most helpful to EPS to feel confident
002moving forward with understanding and navigating this new and improved version of chapter 228. Today we will focus on the rules and requirements around records retention and also unpack the related evidence figure which is not new but is improved. I am Vanessa Alba and I will be your presenter today. This presentation is being recorded and will be published on the EP training events and materials section of the programs provider resources page on the TEA website. To assist you during the presentation, it will be helpful for you to download a copy of the evidence figure found in 19 tax section 228.13F and use it as a reference during the presentation. I will give you a few moments to download it so that you can have it handy. This slide was presented in the 228 debut webinar. It
003shows that chapter 228 has been reorganized into subchapters to make it easier for readers to find relevant rules and requirements. The arrows point to the subchapters that include the requirements that we will cover today, including records retention and the evidence to be retained. Please note that due to the reorganization of the chapter, the citations of the individual rules have all changed, which I think is obvious to most of us. It is important to remember that because rules that carried over from legacy 228 may appear to be different rules because they bear new citations or are organized around new neighbors. Keep in mind that I've tried to highlight for you those rules that are new and those rules that carried over from legacy 228. Subchapters B and D. The topics of records retention and evidence are
004found in more than one place in the chapter 228. In subchapter B, TAC identifies records retention as evidence that the EP retains to demonstrate the EP is compliant with all requirements. This is applicable both to entities attempting spec approval as a new EP and to support the renewal of existing EPS at TEA. This impacts the evidence we look for and the new EP applicant process and in the five-year continuing approval reviews for existing EPS. In subchapter D, TAC additionally identifies that records retention is an obligation that EPS have to all of their candidates. If there is a question about whether a candidate has met requirements for a certificate, it will be important that the EP records retained locally and in ECOS are complete and accurate. The evidence figure embedded in 19 tax section 228.13 provides
005guidance to EPS on what needs to be retained in EP records. Specifically, this slide identifies what is identified in current chapter 228 related to records retention. The first bullet is paraphrased from 19 tax section 228.13H and says the EP must retain evidence of compliance described in the figure 228.13F for a period of 5 years. The EP shall retain documents that evidence a candidates's eligibility for admission to the EP and all evidence of a candidates's completion of all EP requirements for a period of 5 years after a candidate completes, withdraws from, or is discharged or released from the EP. The EP is responsible for making sure documents and records are secure. The second bullet is paraphrased from 19 tax section 228.31i and says, "An EP shall retain documents that evidence a candidates's eligibility for admission to
006the program and evidence of completion of all program requirements for a period of 5 years after a candidate completes, withdraws from, or is discharged or released from the program. These were also similarly worded and legacy 228. If you have maintained a copy of legacy TAC, then the citations are here for your reference and or comparison as you wish. Subchapter B key updates pertaining to the evidence figure. There was an evidence figure in legacy 228, but that figure was updated in the current chapter 228. The current figure was shortened and streamlined over the previous figure in an attempt to provide increased clarity and increased flexibility for EPS to understand and streamline recordkeeping. As suggested on a previous slide, the evidence figure is directly related to the records retention requirement because the figure identifies acceptable records to
007be retained. If an EP is asked for records, such as during a 5-year review or during investigation of a complaint or for any other reason, then the EP should be able to produce adequate records based on the advisement in the evidence figure Here is a screenshot of part of the evidence figure. The figure is organized by 10 components. Notice that it is also organized into two columns. They are column one that says if the TAC requirement includes and column two that says acceptable evidence of compliance is as we go through the remainder of the presentation start thinking practically about how when and where you can repurpose evidence that you collect for one component for use in another. For example, evidence of a conferred degree is found on an official transcript, whether it is collected at
008admission or after finishing a degree in an undergraduate, postback or residency program. So for an alternative certification program, the transcript that reflects a conferred bachelor's degree that your EP collects at admission is also evidence of a conferred degree which is a certification requirement. The EP would not need to collect another transcript prior to certification because that same piece of evidence can be used for two purposes. qualification for admission and qualification for certification. Now is a good time to talk about or and in the evidence figure where evidence of compliance includes the word and that means multiple pieces of evidence are needed to meet the requirement. where evidence of compliance includes the word or. You have options to meet the requirement. From this point on, I will break down the evidence figure to help you start
009thinking practically about TAC requirements and what the evidence looks like when TAC is operationalized. Component one, governance. Thinking practically about evidence of required meetings. How does the EP demonstrate that the meeting happened and that the required participants actually attended? Minutes and sign-in sheets are concrete evidence because they show the meeting happened and who actually attended. Note that an agenda and comp committee participant list are not concrete evidence because they reflect what is intended but not what actually happened. In terms of governance, meetings of the advisory committee or other partnership meetings such as those for residency programs can be evidenced by minutes and signin sheets. The second requirement is about the qualifications of individuals associated with the EP form and function such as instructional staff and curriculum developers. The evidence figure provides guidance on evidence that
010can be collected that reflects the qualifications of these individuals. For example, to be initially approved as an EP or to later add new certificate classes and categories as an approved EP, the entity must provide evidence that the proposed program has the staff knowledge and expertise to support individuals in each certification class and category being requested. A resumeé or signed reference letter could be two sources of evidence of qualifications. Additionally, a valid educator certificate, official service records, and K through2 campus or district report card combined could be a source of that evidence. All of these documents are options that could point to educator certification, experience as an educator, and accomplishment as an educator. Note, you will see that these types of evidence are repeated in component four relative to evidence of qualifications of field supervisors, cooperating
011teachers, host teachers, mentors, and site supervisors because these roles have similar qualification requirements that must be met as well. Component two, admission and required notifications. For evidence that candidates have met admission requirements, the EP can get a lot of information from the official university transcripts submitted by the applicant, including enrollment in the university for undergrads, postbacks, and residency candidates, degree conferred such as for alsert and postback candidates, admission GPA, content hours, and GPA 12 or 15 semester hours and basic skills. A conferred bachelor's degree or completed college level coursework are demonstration of basic skills. The SAT, ACT, and GRE scores are included here because A, they can be used as demonstration of basic skills, and B, university EPS are required to report these scores if the university collects them to meet requirements for university admission.
012As mentioned earlier, the transcripts are also evidence of a bachelor's degree for certification purposes, which will be referenced again later in the presentation relative to evidence that candidates met certification requirements. There are a series of notifications that are required to be provided to applicants and candidates. So we include evidence of that usually in the admission component. How does the EP provide evidence that they have notified applicants and candidates of information about the potential impact of a criminal history on certification or have notified applicants and candidates of the EP performance over time or the variety of other notifications required such as the exit policy of the EP. The method of notification could be different for an applicant than a c than for a candidate. For example, you may provide notifications on the admission application which is
013accessed by applicants who will also be future candidates. But you may not but you may put information for a candidate in a candidate handbook or in a candidate portal which would not be accessed by an applicant. or you may locate information for all transparently on the EP website. Some rules such as for the complaints process require the EP to publish on the EP website. Practically speaking, your evidence will be something like a screenshot or a website link or even the admission application. Whichever mode captures the published notifications component three, curriculum. Curriculum is another area where we can think practically about evidence of the requirements met. Let's consider that your EP all of a sudden sees candidates struggling to be successful on specific certification exams and their feedback on preparedness is not positive. You now need
014to run a diagnostic on the elements of coursework and training provided to candidates in that struggling certifi certificate area or program. What types of evidence will you look for to show what is being taught to those candidates and how? You might circulate some standards alignment charts among the instructional staff to get the big picture idea of where the standards for the certificate are taught and uncover any gaps where one or more standards are not being taught. You also may review the syllabi for the courses in the struggling certificate area to understand the course requirements. If the syllabi have bibliographies of the research base for the instruction in that course, you can also understand if the instructor is integrating most the most current researchbased best practices. Additionally, samples of coursework materials, including standardsbased performance assessments and
015aligned rubrics, will provide insight into the topics being taught in a course, including the skills that candidates are taught and how competency is measured for the candidates in that course. All of these are identified in the evidence figure because they are practically what would be reviewed for evidence of implementation of curriculum rate related requirements. Component four program design and delivery. Component four is about the required coursework and training educator candidate clinical experiences and support for candidates during the clinical experiences. There is a lot happening here in terms of candidate and EP requirements to be met and thus capturing and retaining evidence of those activities is varied. Examples are completion of the required number of coursework hours, early field-based experiences, candidate demonstration of competency or proficiency and implementation of knowledge and skills. Successful completion of clinical
016experiences including clinical teaching, residency, internship or practicum and candidate support through formal and informal observations. The evidence figure provide provides a variety of options for retaining evidence that these requirements have been met. To practically apply the evidence chart to this area, we need to think about common pieces of evidence. For example, to track and verify that a candidate has completed 50 FBE hours or 490 clinical teaching hours or 750 residency hours or 160 practicum hours. A log is a clear key clear key piece of evidence of completion of any of these requirements because the log can be structured to capture hours and also engagement with the standards during those hours. The signature of the campus personnel who can vouch and verify that the hours were completed as stated on the log substantiates that the requirement
017is met. Another example for the EP to capture evidence that a candidate demonstrated proficiency in a skill, a rubric would be needed since that would be a performance assessment. We see this requirement both in pre-ervice coursework and training and also in the supervised clinical experience. A rubric aligned with standards being performed would be evidence for pre-ervice coursework and training as well as for implementation of skills in the clinical experience. The rubrics may look different based on what is being measured, but they are rubrics nonetheless. Looking more closely at the required clinical experience, the observation instrument used by field supervisors to formally observe candidates and clinical experience is a rubric. The candidate must demonstrate proficiency to qualify for certification. So the observation instrument would be designed to capture the level of proficiency demonstrated by the candidate
018for various standards. As such, the final recommendation provided by the field supervisor should align with the progression of proficiency recorded across all observations. Both the completed rubrics and the written final recommendations are retained in the candidates record. Component five, evaluation of program and candidate. TAC requires that candidate progress be benchmarked and that candidate readiness be assessed. Additionally, the rules require that EPS evaluate their program components for the purposes of continuous improvement of the programs. These requirements which have not changed in word have changed in location within the chapter. They were all together in one section in legacy 228 but are now more appropriately divided up into the governance section and into the minimum EP obligations to all candidate section. Thinking practically and efficiently about records retention around candidate benchmarking and readiness. Can a rubric used
019to capture proficiency and standards during pre-ervice coursework and training also be evidence of a candidate's progress? Can the score report from the candidates's practice exam that shows readiness test readiness to test also be a benchmark document that tracks the candidates's progress toward the next step in the certification process? The answer to both of those questions is yes if the program uses documents as such. Thinking practically about program evaluation. What does your EP use to determine the effectiveness of various programs within your EP? Do you collect candidate data via end of course surveys or do you collect data via an end of EP survey for finishers? Do you survey the campus personnel who support your candidates during FBE and clinical experiences? Do you have other diagnostics that you use based on published data? Do you have
020a long-term plan of continuous improvement that is supported by your findings or do you share your findings with your advisory committee for input and guidance? Evidence of any or all of these can be acceptable evidence of ongoing program evaluation. As we discussed earlier, minutes from an advisory committee meeting are evidence that you have an active advisory committee as required, but those same minutes can also be evidence that you are evaluating your program. Thus, one piece of evidence can support more than one TAC requirement. This will be unique to each EP. Component six, professional conduct. When the EP is securing evidence that the candidate understands and is committed to adherence to the educator code of ethics, there are a variety of ways that the EP can capture this evidence. No one way is the most correct.
021The important thing to remember about this attestation is to make sure that the wording is clear and that the candidate signs it. Some EPS secure this commitment through the candidate handbook where the candidate signs a general attestation of receiving understanding and abiding by all requirements in the handbook. Some EPS require the written attestation to be completed through their course where ethics are addressed. Other EPS place the ethics attestation on the admission application and require either initials on the specific attestation or a signature on the entire application. Whatever method is used by the programs in your EP is acceptable. just retain the signed document for efficiency in records retention. Note that the EP can capture candidate acknowledgements and attestations for multiple requirements through a signed handbook page or through an application that contains multiple notifications. Using
022this method, the EP would only have one document to retain as evidence of multiple requirements met. Component seven, complaints process. Subchapter G requires the EP to have a complaints process and to have it published for access by a variety of individuals. This requirement has not changed and evidence is self-explanatory. The process is on the website, is posted in your physical office, and is on a handout to be used as needed. TEA receives complaints from candidates who claim the EP does not have a complaints process for them to follow. The first thing we do is hop on the EP website and search for the complaints process that is required to be published. Sometimes it is not there, sometimes it is there but not transparent. Sometimes it is there transparently published for the whole world to see.
023Our next step is to communi is to communicate with your candidate about how to access the process or we will look up your process that we have on file and communicate that. You can contact your education specialist assigned if you are not sure about what complaints policy the EP has on file with TEA and we will assist you with submitted submitting an updated one if needed. Component eight, certification procedures. When thinking about evidence that your candidates have met requirements for certification, consider what is needed for a candidate to receive an intern, probationary, and standard certificate. As we identified in the admissions component, an official university transcript is evidence of a degree conferred, which is a requirement for certification. Remember that the alternative certification program would not need to collect an additional transcript after admission since
024the degree required for the certificate will be submitted at admission because the altert route is not a degree granting route. Your benchmarking documents previously discussed can be evidence of requirements complete. For university programs, official transcripts collected after completion of the EP can also be evidence of requirements complete. When a candidate is required to have a license such as for career and technical education or CTE, the license or certificate and a statement of qualifications or SOQ are the evidence. Since this is required for admission into the EP, the EP should already have this documentation available for review prior to recommending the certificate. When the requirement calls for evidence of certification as an educator and classroom teaching experience, the valid ESPEC issued certificate and the official service records from the district noting the required experience as applicable
025are evidence respectively. Component nine, integrity of data submission. In terms of verifying the accuracy and completeness of the data submitted to the TEA each year, such as during a continuing approval review or during the investigation of a formal complaint, TEA will use the data gleaned from the evidence previously identified and compare it with the data entered into ECOS. For example, the GPA and subject specific content hours that are required for teacher candidates can be verified using the official transcripts if you have retained them in your admission records. That admission transcript can also be used to verify the degree you uploaded when you recommended the intern, probationary, and maybe standard certificates. And another example, the data captured on your formal observation instruments which you retain as evidence of clinical experience requirements met can also be used
026to verify the integrity of observation and clinical experience data reported. Component 10, instruction and proactive planning techniques and inclusive practices. Component 10 is a statutory requirement that must be met for initial approval of an EP or for renewal of an approved EP. As such, adherence to this requirement is verified during the 5-year continuing approval review since that process is involved in renewal of the EP. This training must be evident in coursework and the candidate must demonstrate competency in the clinical experience. As such, the evidence previously discussed for coursework and clinical experience will apply here. Evidence of topics taught in coursework can include syllabi for the related courses and or instructional materials including performance assessments ass and aligned rubrics for evidence of competency in the clinical experience. We mostly see that included on the observation instrument
027used by field supervisors to formally observe candidates. Some programs have projects completed during the clinical experience where candidates demonstrate competency in this and other requirements. Whatever the programs within your EP used to meet the component 10 requirements are save that evidence and note this requirement is applicable to all programs in your EP. Thank you for viewing this presentation. If you have questions about the new evidence figure, its correlation to records retention, or how your records may need to be used by the TEA, please contact your assigned education specialist, and we are happy to work with you so that we can capture your feedback. Please scan the QR code to complete this brief survey. Thank you and have a nice day.