1. (a) The accreditation status of an educator preparation program (EPP) shall be determined at least annually, based on performance standards established in rule by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), with regard to the following EPP accountability performance indicators, disaggregated with respect to gender and ethnicity (according to the aggregate reporting categories for ethnicity established by the Higher Education Act), and other requirements of this chapter:

   1. (1) the pass rate performance standard of certification examinations of EPP candidates is 80% for the academic year;
   2. (2) the results of appraisals of beginning teachers by school administrators, based on an appraisal document and standards that must be independently developed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) staff and approved by the SBEC;
   3. (3) to the extent practicable, as valid data become available and performance standards are developed, the improvement in student achievement of students taught by beginning teachers for the first three years following certification; and
   4. (4) the results of data collections establishing EPP compliance with SBEC requirements specified in §228.35(f) of this title (relating to Preparation Program Coursework and/or Training), regarding the frequency, duration, and quality of field supervision of teachers during their internship year. The performance standard is a 95% compliance rate with SBEC requirements as to the frequency, duration, and required documentation of field supervision for each EPP candidate.
2. (b) An EPP shall be assigned an Accredited status if the EPP has met the accountability performance standards described in subsection (a) of this section and has been approved by the SBEC to prepare, train, and recommend candidates for certification.
3. (c) An EPP shall be assigned Accredited-Not Rated status upon initial approval to offer educator preparation, until the EPP can be assigned a status based on the performance standards described in subsection (a) of this section. An EPP is fully accredited and may recommend candidates for certification while it is in Accredited-Not Rated status.

4. (d) Accredited-Warned status. An EPP shall be assigned Accredited-Warned status if the EPP:

   1. (1) fails to meet the performance standards set by the SBEC for the overall performance of all its candidates on any of the four performance indicators set forth in subsection (a) of this section in any one year;
   2. (2) fails to meet the standards in any two gender or ethnicity demographic groups on any of the four performance indicators set forth in subsection (a) of this section in any one year; or
   3. (3) fails to meet the standards for a gender or ethnicity demographic group on any of the four performance indicators set forth in subsection (a) of this section for two consecutively measured years, regardless of whether the deficiency is in the same demographic group or standard.

5. (e) Accredited-Probation status. An EPP shall be assigned Accredited-Probation status if the EPP:

   1. (1) fails to meet the performance standards set by the SBEC for the overall performance of all its candidates on any of the four performance indicators set forth in subsection (a) of this section for two consecutively measured years;
   2. (2) fails to meet the standards in any three gender or ethnicity demographic groups on any of the four performance indicators set forth in subsection (a) of this section in any one year; or
   3. (3) fails to meet the standards for a gender or ethnicity demographic group on any of the four performance indicators set forth in subsection (a) of this section for three consecutively measured years, regardless of whether the deficiency is in the same demographic group or standard.

6. (f) Not Accredited-Revoked status.

   1. (1) An EPP shall be assigned Not Accredited-Revoked status and its approval to recommend candidates for educator certification revoked if it is assigned Accredited-Probation status for three consecutively measured years.
   2. (2) An EPP may be assigned Not Accredited-Revoked status if the EPP is assigned Accredited-Probation status for two consecutively measured years, and the SBEC determines that revoking the EPP's approval is reasonably necessary to achieve the purposes of the TEC, §21.045 and §21.0451.
   3. (3) An assignment of Not Accredited-Revoked status and revocation of EPP approval to recommend candidates for educator certification is subject to the requirements of notice, record review, and appeal as described in this chapter.
   4. (4) A revocation of an EPP approval shall be effective for a period of two years, after which a program may reapply for approval as a new EPP pursuant to Chapter 228 of this title (relating to Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs).
   5. (5) Upon revocation of EPP approval, the EPP may not admit new candidates for educator certification, but may complete the training of candidates already admitted by the EPP and recommend them for certification. If necessary, TEA staff and other EPPs shall cooperate to assist the previously admitted candidates of the revoked EPP to complete their training.

7. (g) Small group exception.

   1. (1) For purposes of accreditation status determination, the performance of an EPP candidate group, aggregated or disaggregated, shall be measured against performance standards described in this chapter in any one year in which the number of individuals in the group exceeds 20.
   2. (2) For an EPP candidate group disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and certification field, where the group contains 20 or fewer individuals, the group's performance shall not be counted for purposes of accreditation status determination for that academic year.
   3. (3) For an EPP candidate group not disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and certification field, where the group contains 20 or fewer individuals, the group's performance shall not be counted for purposes of accreditation status determination for that academic year based on only that year's group performance.
   4. (4) If the preceding year's EPP candidate group, not disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and certification field, contained 20 or fewer individuals, that group performance shall be combined with the following year's group performance, and if the two-year cumulated group contains more than 20 individuals, then the two-year cumulated group performance must be measured against the standards in that second year.
   5. (5) If the two-year cumulated EPP candidate group, not disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and certification field, contains 20 or fewer individuals, then the two-year cumulated group performance shall be combined with the following year's group performance. The three-year cumulated group performance must be measured against the standards in that third year, regardless of how small the cumulated number of group members may be.
   6. (6) In any reporting year in which the EPP candidate group, not disaggregated by gender and ethnicity, or in which the EPP candidate group, disaggregated by certification field, does not meet the necessary number of individuals needed to measure against performance standards for that year, any sanction assigned as a result of an accredited-warned or accredited-probation status in a prior year will continue if that candidate group has not met performance standards since being assigned accredited-warned or accredited-probation status. TEA staff may modify the sanction as TEA staff deems necessary based on subsequent performance, even though that performance is not measured against performance standards for a rating.
8. (h) An EPP that fails to meet a required performance standard shall develop an action plan addressing the deficiencies and describing the steps the program will take to improve the performance of its candidates, especially regarding the performance standard that was not met. TEA staff may prescribe the information that must be included in the action plan. The action plan must be sent to TEA staff no later than 45 calendar days following notification to the EPP of the failure to meet a performance standard.
9. (i) To the extent of any conflict, this section controls over the requirements in §229.21 of this title (relating to Transitional Provisions).

Source Note:The provisions of this §229.4 adopted to be effective April 18, 2010, 35 TexReg 2849; amended to be effective October 26, 2014, 39 TexReg 8395.