Summary of Report 08-037

June 2008

Report Number 08-037

The Texas Education Agency (Agency) should improve its oversight of alternative teacher certification programs (alternative programs) to ensure that candidates complete required course work and appropriately receive teaching certificates. Alternative programs have become a common route to becoming a certified teacher in Texas-55 percent of the 26,576 standard teacher certificates issued for academic year 2006-2007 were issued through alternative programs.

The Agency should improve its monitoring function, its process for collecting and validating performance data, and the controls over its information technology. The Agency also should review how it assesses alternative programs through its accreditation ratings.

The Agency has made efforts to increase the monitoring of alternative programs since September 2005, when legislation was authorized to transfer the State Board for Educator Certification's administrative functions and services to the Agency. As of May 2008, the Agency had conducted 24 five-year reviews; there had been no on-site monitoring visits conducted before 2005. The Agency also provided monitoring reports to the program directors.

The Agency did not adequately monitor all aspects of the alternative programs.

The Agency did not ensure that data self-reported by alternative programs is accurate and that teacher candidates had completed all program requirements before being designated as a completer. The Agency's current monitoring process does not include enough detailed reviews to ensure that this data is accurate. Five of eight alternative programs auditors visited classified some teacher candidates as completers even though the teacher candidates had not completed all education and training requirements. As a result, there is an increased risk that unqualified teachers may be issued a certificate and allowed to teach in Texas schools.

The Agency does not adequately ensure the accuracy of alternative programs' accreditation ratings, which are reported to the State Board for Educator Certification and are the only measure being used by the State to evaluate the effectiveness of teacher certification programs. Alternative programs self-report completer data, and completers' certification exams are the major component in determining accreditation ratings. If this completer data is not accurate, as discussed above, then the accreditation ratings also will be inaccurate. Additionally, the Agency should review the formulas it uses to calculate accreditation ratings.

The Agency did not ensure that annual performance reports submitted by alternative programs were complete or submitted by the deadline in the Texas Administrative Code. The purpose of the annual performance reports is to determine whether the alternative programs are accessible and equitable. The Agency reported alternative programs' performance data for the 2006-2007 academic year to the State Board for Educator Certification in May 2008, seven months after the due date set in the Texas Administrative Code. The Agency did not verify the accuracy of the self-reported performance data; however, six of the eight alternative programs auditors visited provided support demonstrating that the reported data was substantially accurate.

The Agency lacked a formal, documented methodology for prioritizing site visits to alternative programs. Without a formal risk assessment process, the Agency cannot ensure it is allocating its limited resources effectively and providing sufficient monitoring of those alternative programs at highest risk of noncompliance with state and Agency requirements. The Agency's informal process for selecting alternative programs to visit considers whether the alternative program (1) is new, (2) has an unacceptable pass rate, (3) has been the subject of complaints, or (4) is due for a required five-year review. The Agency has a backlog of required monitoring visits and is not complying with the Texas Administrative Code, which requires the Agency to review alternative programs at least once every five years. As of March 2008, 54 percent of the alternative programs due for a required five-year review had not received the review.

The Agency lacks proper security management, which exposes the confidential data of approximately 1.47 million teachers and teacher candidates to unauthorized access and modification.

Security management weaknesses identified include terminated employees continuing to have access, users having inappropriate rights assigned to them, a lack of documentation showing approved levels of access, a lack of password and account lockout controls, and inadequate controls over the application used by the third-party vendor that administers the state teacher certification exams.

Alternative certification programs vary greatly in the design and method of curriculum delivery.

Although the Agency's administrative rules are structured to allow for flexibility, the current rules and regulations do not ensure some level of consistency in the design and method of curriculum delivery among alternative programs. Auditors conducted surveys of alternative program directors and school principals. The directors' responses indicate that alternative programs' requirements for admission criteria, field experience, internships, and mentoring vary widely. The school principals stated that the alternative programs are fulfilling a need on their campuses and that the long-term success of the teacher candidates was as dependent on the teacher candidates' innate abilities as on the quality of an alternative program's curriculum and training.

Five of the eight alternative programs that auditors visited did not adequately ensure that teacher candidates designated as completers had completed all program requirements.

The eight alternative programs visited accounted for 38 percent of the standard teacher certificates issued for academic year 2006-2007. At five of these programs, auditors identified some teacher candidates reported as completers who had not actually completed all program requirements. Because the Agency does not have the authority to impose sanctions, the Agency is limited in enforcing alternative programs' compliance with state laws and Agency regulations.

Other weaknesses identified during the site visits included:

- Four of the eight (50 percent) alternative programs did not have sufficient documentation to verify completer records. The Agency has not provided guidance to alternative programs about record retention requirements, which could limit the Agency's ability to monitor alternative programs. One alternative program discarded nearly all of the documentation supporting its reported completer data.

- Three of the eight (38 percent) alternative programs did not have a functioning advisory committee that met Texas Administrative Code requirements.

- Two of the eight (25 percent) alternative programs allowed interns to teach in a school district without obtaining a required probationary certificate.

The Agency has a documented process for approving new alternative programs that complies with Texas Administrative Code.

The Agency approved five programs during the 2006-2007 academic year. However, Agency staff did not consistently document the required reviews of applications for new programs.

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