Youth Empowerment Services, Inc.

Youth Empowerment Services, Inc. 511 Fredericksburg Road, San Antonio, Texas 78201 210-735-2341 EDUCATOR PREPARATION INNOVATION CENTER (EPIC) a proposed alternative certification program for Texas Educator Preparation Program (EPP) I. Roll Call a. Members Present: i. Public Schools: EPIC Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes April 27, 2017 6:30pm 8:30pm Joseph Rendon-Superintendent @ Por Vida Academy San Antonio TX ii. Education Service Center: John Omelan-Senior Educational Specialist @ Education Service Center Region 4 iii. Institution of Higher Education: Kimberly Kennedy, PhD-Professor @ Our Lady of the Lake University San Antonio TX iv. Business/Community: Thomas Thompson-Youth Mental Health First Aid Coordinator @Communities in Schools New Braunfels TX Kevin Slater, CMSgt (Ret) USAF San Antonio TX v. Youth Empowerment Services: Claudette Yarbrough, CEO Debbie Constable, M.Ed. - EPP Project Coordinator Connie Perez - HCMS Director Marlene Rendon - Regional Coordinator b. Members not Present i. Intuition of Higher Education: Tiffany Jackson, Instructor & MAT Coordinator @ University of Louisiana at Monroe Steven Wall, Assistant Professor @ Samford University ii. Business/Community: Paula Johnson, Education Associate @ Intercultural Development & Research Association (IDRA) San Antonio Amy Hutchinson, LPC @ Olive Branch Counseling and Training Boerne TX Victoria Palacios, Health Coach @ Optimal Health & Wellness San Antonio TX Page 1 of 5

II. Welcome and Introductions: a. Kevin Slater shared that he is retired from the USAF after 31 years of service and has been teaching 6 th grade math for the past 18 months. (He also noted that he s been sick more in the past 18 months than he had the previous 31 years combined.) Mr. Slater received his teacher training through an Alternative Certification Educator Preparation Program. And while he has seen other teachers who have also gone this route struggle in the classroom, he was recognized this year as Teacher of the Year. He attributes the struggling of new teachers to lack of face-toface time with instructors and opportunities to practice skills prior to getting into the classroom. Finally, Mr. Slater shared that he talks with numerous military members regarding postretirement plans, and he is happy to assist with marketing of this program to retired military members. b. Kim Kennedy shared that she received her graduate degrees at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied bilingual, multicultural, and special education. She received her Ph.D. in 2005 and has experience teaching at University of Texas at San Antonio and Our Lady of the Lake University, and conducting research at Trinity University. She shared that her experience with teacher training programs (including her own) was through the traditional route (universitybased programs), and that she is interested in this alternative route. c. Thomas Thompson shared that he is retired from the Army, where he served in intelligence and counter-intelligence and had experience teaching and developing curriculum. He has worked as a consultant and trainer in mental health and now serves as the Youth Mental Health First Aid Project Coordinator at Communities in Schools in New Braunfels. Mr. Thompson shared that he is very interested in alternative certification programs for teachers, especially this one. d. Joseph Rendon has been the Superintendent at Por Vida Academy for 21 years. He shard that he got his start as a social worker and received his certification for health, principal, and superintendent through alternative routes, and that he has very different personal experiences to reflect on and share in the development of this teacher preparation program. e. John Oleman shared that he is the Senior Educational Specialist in charge of the Educator Preparation Program at Education Service Center Region 4 in Houston. He is also the President Elect of the National Association for Alternative Certification (NAAC). f. Debbie Constable shared that she has been in education since the early 1990s, primarily focusing on the areas of special education and more recently gifted education. After six years as a classroom teacher, she joined the Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin to conduct education research and run the Reading Success Network. From there, Ms. Constable worked as an Educational Specialist at Region 20 (providing special education support to charter schools), then to work as a Special Education director for a Co-op of charter schools in San Antonio. Ms. Constable shared that her focus for the past 6 months has been leading the development of the EPIC program. g. Connie Perez shared that she is an HCMS project director at Youth Empowerment Services. She has been involved in education since the 1970s and has always appreciated being able to provide hands-on support to teachers. Ms. Perez credits her successes as an educator to the knowledge and support from her supervising teacher. In helping develop the EPIC program, Ms. Perez shared that she recognizes this as the program new teachers need to get the hands-on support to be successful in the classroom. Page 2 of 5

h. Marlene Rendon is the Regional Coordinator for the Youth Empowerment Services TIF5 grant. She shared that she was promoted through the TIF5 grant process and that she has firsthand experience in how the proper support to teachers can be effective. i. Claudette Yarbrough shared that she has been the CEO of Youth Empowerment Services for 22 years. She recognized their claim to fame is having a mission and vision to help people to become self-sufficient and treating people better than we want to be treated. Through grants, she has been coordinator the Educator Effectiveness Process (EEP) for seven years and recognized a connection with the EPIC program through questions of sustainability for the EEP program. III. Achieving our Meeting Goals/Objectives a. Who is Youth Empowerment Services, Inc. (YES, Inc.)? What is their role in the proposed EPP? i. Ms. Yarbrough shared that Youth Empowerment Services, Inc. is a non-profit organization that is working with a very different set of charter schools with very common goals equity in schools an educator effectiveness. The YES Board is very hands on and learning focused. Most members have been on the board for at least 10 years. They will meet on May 8 to review the application and minutes from this Advisory Committee Meeting to vote on EPIC Program approval. Once approved, EPIC will be a division of YES, Inc. b. What is YES, Inc. s plan for an equity pipeline? i. Ms. Yarbrough referred to the handout to explain how one goal of the EPIC program would be to help put quality teachers in quality charter schools in San Antonio. c. Why a focus on equity? i. Ms. Yarbrough shared that equity is a focus with this program, as all grant funding coming from the USDE want to see research-based, best-practice teacher preparation. In addition, ESEA requires strategies to ensure equity - that all students have quality teachers. d. Who is Debbie Constable and what is her role with the proposed EPP? i. Ms. Constable shared that she is currently working with YES staff and others in developing the curriculum and designing the EPIC program. Once approved she will be the EPIC Director. e. Why a new EPP for San Antonio? A Rationale Where did EPIC come from? i. Ms. Constable shared that she has been looking at data on this for quite some time. Back when doing research at UT, she recognized there are some gaps between the great research being done and the information teachers are given. In her work with charter schools, she recognized that there are some great charter schools that are having trouble finding quality teachers and that the problem of teacher-turnover continues. Ms. Constable shared that she recognized this opportunity to start building a unique Educator Preparation Program after contact with Ms. Yarbrough and her Educator Effectiveness Program. Teachers need more training and support prior to entering the classroom specifically in areas lower than satisfactory statewide (special education, ESL, and technology) and teacher/student health & wellness and schools need access to quality teachers. ii. Ms. Yarbrough shared that the program would work in conjunction with current new teacher induction programs at cooperating schools. She also shared that we were told at the EPP meeting with TEA in January that they anticipated no more than one EPP application Page 3 of 5

from the group of 30+ people in attendance, and that they weren t obligated to approve any. iii. Mr. Slater noted that some EPPs promote accessibility rather than quality (fewer hours faceto-face, more hours online). He attributes his success to hands-on, face-to-face learning and practicing in his alternative certification program. He also shared that he did not receive any follow-up contact after leaving the program and felt that was a mistake on the part of the educator preparation program. Mr. Slater shared his belief that this face-to-face program will help teachers be better prepared on day one and have what they need to be successful teachers. f. Why an Advisory Committee is needed and what is the AC role? i. Ms. Yarbrough reviewed the requirements for the Advisory Committee. IV. Achieving our Outcomes. Ms. Yarbrough shared that while there are very specific and important parts of the application, most parts are structured by the Texas Administrative Code and Texas Education Code. There are a few areas where the EPP can make its own program decisions, and this is what we brought to the Committee for review and feedback today. a. Admission Policy - GPA i. Ms. Yarbrough reviewed the program policy on Admission and GPA: EPIC must maintain in each cohort an average GPA of 3.0 or higher among selected applicants. EPIC can/will make an exception to the minimum of 2.5 GPA or lower if the average in each cohort of selected applicants is 3.0 or higher. EPIC will admit no more than 10% of applicants each year with GPAs less than the minimum. Ms. Constable shared that the rule about minimum GPA by applicant and by cohort GPA seemed confusing, but that research doesn t indicate that higher GPA equates to a better-quality teacher. Mr. Omelan agreed that research is mixed on GPA as an indicator for teacher success and shared that their program at Region 4 requires a 2.75 GPA for admission and that they end with a 3.1 cohort average GPA. He also shared that the program must make sure to have a letter in the candidate s file stating they were part of the 10% exception for admission. He explained that it is required to be there and will be reviewed during audit. ii. Ms. Constable shared passing content PACT is required for admission. Rather than teaching the core subjects content, the focus of the EPIC program will be to teach candidates how to teach the content. No everyone in the meeting was familiar with PACT, so Mr. Omelan shared that PACT is a Pre-admission Certification Test available to anyone in the US who has a Bachelor s degree and has never been accepted into an EPP. He further explained that Texas Administrative Code has changed and that EPPs will be held accountable for the passing rate of candidates if they don t enter with a passing PACT score. b. Calendar (see attachment) i. Ms. Constable reviewed the calendar plan. There are six possible cohorts that can occur each year. There are full and part time cohorts to support different types of applicants. ii. Dr. Kennedy asked about the clinical teaching option and recommended a phase in plan that involves candidates taking on one-two classes per week until they reach full teach (approximately week 10) for two weeks, then phase out until their program ends at 14 weeks. Page 4 of 5

iii. Mr. Omelan recommended the program develop partnerships with local schools to help with clinical teachers and reminded the group that the clinical teacher s cooperating teacher MUST be certified in the same area of certification the clinical teachers is training for. iv. Mr. Slater shared his personal experience in clinical teaching through the alternative certification program and supported Dr. Kennedy s recommendation for phase-in of clinical teachers. c. Late Hires i. Ms. Constable reviewed the EPIC plan for late hires. EPIC requires 100% of the course work to be completed before beginning clinical or internship hours. Applicants securing jobs before completion of 100% of the 300 hours will earn credit for clinical teaching or be recommended for an intern or probationary certificate and earn credit for internship upon completion of said hours. This position supports the State Plan for Equity having all teachers prepared by day one in the classroom. ii. Mr. Rendon shared that he has concerns that this plan punishes the school and that he would feel more comfortable getting them certified as soon as possible when on campuses. He stated that he needs to think more about this, talking to his principals, and will follow up with Ms. Yarbrough. iii. Ms. Yarbrough shared with the group that teachers can still be hired to teach while they are taking classes through this program in the evening (for 2 semesters), then Internships can officially start as soon as candidates have successfully completed all the coursework. iv. Mr. Rendon shard that it is good to know about this program so he can refer new hires who need certification to this program. d. Marketing i. Ms. Yarbrough reviewed the EPIC plan for marketing. EPIC will utilize YES current marketing strategies to promote the program. This includes running KSAT 12 banner ads and marketing through the YES website. There is no current budget for EPIC, so the program will be integrating all marketing activities until applicants begin enrolling will be important. EPIC will continue to explore all options related to best practices in marketing strategies. ii. Dr. Kennedy shared that the universities have their own way of marketing, so she would refer to YES for best practices for marketing. iii. Mr. Slater shared that he will be happy to assist with marketing. V. Advisory Committee Handbook and Advisory Committee Training Requirements a. Ms. Constable reviewed the Advisory Committee Handbook and Advisory Committee training requirements and asked members to sign the back page of the Handbook and return it as soon as possible. b. Mr. Omelan shared that this is a very typical means of training and record-keeping for EPPS. VI. Ms. Constable asked members to continue to share any input as we continue to develop this program. VII. Meeting concluded at 8:10pm Page 5 of 5