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Educator Preparation Program Support

New: Countdown to ASEP Reporting 

To assist EPPs with completing ASEP Reporting with ease, we have developed weekly reminders for EPP staff who work on ASEP Reporting. Each week, you will receive a weekly reminder in this Newsletter that will include a timely task that will lead to successful completion of data reporting by September 15. Please remember that the Technical Manual published on the Program Provider Resources page on the TEA website is a wonderful ‘how to’ resource for using the various functions needed for reporting in ECOS and contains some useful tips for problem solving, if needed. 

Week 1 ASEP Task Reminders 7/12-19/2023:  

1. Know your assigned Education Specialist. This is the TEA staff member that you will need to reach out to when you have questions about ASEP Reporting. The EPP specialist assignment list is published on the Program Provider Resources page under Forms and Documents. Your Education Specialist is one of five staff members: 

• Lorrie Ayers, Director 

• Vanessa Alba 

• Irene Chacon 

• Linda Mott 

• Keena Sandlin 

2. Become familiar with the Help Desk which EPPs should use for all questions related to ASEP Reporting. Your Education Specialist will address your EPP’s questions in the Help Desk. We are in the Help Desk under the Educator Testing and Preparation Programs tile: 

3. Review the 2022-2023 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page. It is located under Forms and Documents. This is a helpful resource as it provides useful information needed to complete ASEP Reporting. 

4. Register for the ASEP Reporting 2022-2023 webinar on Thursday, August 3 at 10:00 am central. The webinar will provide useful information and reminders about state reporting processes and tips to improve the reporting experience. Please find the link in the Upcoming Events section above. 

Reminder: Principal and Teacher Survey Roster Reviews  

The Principal and Teacher Surveys closed for responses as of June 15. As we have done in prior years, TEA will provide rosters of respondents to EPPs for your optional review, to confirm that the respondents were associated with your EPP. The EPP Principal and Teacher Survey Roster Verification lists for 2022-2023 ASEP Reporting were sent via email to each EPP Legal Authority with a ShareFile link to access the data in early July. As a reminder, for data security purposes only EPP legal authorities have access to the EPP Sharefile folder. 

The Request for Exception (RFE) forms for this process will soon be posted on Program Provider Resources. The RFEs will be due by 5 PM CST on August 1, 2023, via the Data Reporting Help Desk. The email we send announcing the data distribution will also provide guidance. If you have any questions about this process, please contact your Education Specialist assigned.  

Reminder: Late Hire Flag 

The June updates to ECOS are bringing a key update – the ability for EPPs to designate an intern as a Late Hire when entering the clinical experience record. As a reminder, a Late Hire is a candidate who is both hired for a teaching assignment within 45 days of the first day of instruction and admitted to an EPP within 45 days of the first day of instruction. The clinical experience record screen and upload are now updated to allow for EPPs to identify if an intern meets these requirements. This will simplify recordkeeping around late hires for EPPs, allowing for clear data when reviewing late hire records during continuing approval reviews. Additional guidance will be available in the updated Technical Manual.

Educator Preparation and Certification
Updates related to Educator Preparation and Certification 

New: Superintendent Certification Applications to Substitute Managerial Experience 

EPP Advisors, as you recommend individuals to complete the application to substitute managerial experience in lieu of the principal certification requirement to be enrolled in the superintendent certification program, please be certain to confirm that the individual has three years of experience as a district employee in the following areas: 

• Supervising and/or appraising personnel (direct supervision or appraisal, not simply taking part in the appraisal process) 

• Leading district-wide (not campus-wide) projects or initiatives 

•  Managing and/or creating a budget 

Also, please ensure that you are using the most recent application from the TEA website found at this link. 

Reminder: Incorrect Applications and Fee Transfers 

TEA staff in Educator Preparation and Certification are processing a high volume of help desk ticket requests to transfer fees to new applications due to candidates selecting incorrect applications.  When the incorrect application is submitted, TEA staff cannot edit or remove the submitted application. The Educator Preparation Program (EPP) must remove the incorrect application and the candidate must re-apply.  TEA staff will then need to transfer the fee from the old to the new application.  To help reduce the number of these requests, please ensure that candidates are well informed of the correct applications to select during the application process.  We appreciate your assistance with this matter. 

Updates about SBEC, Rules, and Legislation   
Updates related to actions by the State Board for Educator Certification, the State Board of Education, and the Legislature.

New: The July SBEC work session and meeting will be held Thursday and Friday, July 20th and 21st.   More information about the SBEC meeting, including the meeting agenda and access to view the meeting virtually, can be found on the SBEC webpage.  

FAQs
We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from EPPs. 

Q: My EPP has been reviewing our mid-year data sets and we have former candidates that have been listed as Other Enrolled for five or more years that are no longer in our program. What is the best way for our EPP to correct these records? 

A: The EPP should remove the former candidates from the Finisher Records List by changing the status from Other Enrolled to Removed in the 2022-2023 academic year. When ASEP rolls over and the new 2023-2024 year opens, those former candidates that have been changed to Removed will not appear on the Finisher Records List. You do not need to submit a Data Fix request to TEA to correct all past records.  However, if you find that a former candidate should have been reported as a finisher in a previous year, then you should submit a Data Fix request to TEA to identify the candidate as a finisher in the specified year and to remove records for subsequent years. Be sure to notify your candidates of any action taken related to their enrollment status.  

EPP Points of Contact   

Your best source for information and support at the TEA.   

As an Educator Preparation Program, your main point of contact is your Education Specialist.   

• View a list of EPPs and their associated Education Specialist. 

• For easiest assistance, please submit a Help Desk ticket to Preparation Programs.   

• Or EPPs (and candidates) may call (512) 936-8400 and select Option #5: Educator Preparation Programs. If an Education Specialist is not available to answer the call at that time, please leave a voicemail. An Education Specialist will promptly return the call.  

Updated: If EPPs (and candidates) would like to speak to a representative from another area(s), they may call (512) 936-8400 and select one of the options listed below. 

• Option 2: Educator Certification  

• Option 3: Fingerprinting  

• Option 6: Investigations 

• Option 8: General Office Information 

The Teal Account Access team and Educator Testing team are available through the Help Desk.