What’s next for Texas Teachers of Tomorrow? Officials brace for potential revocation

Texas education leaders are bracing for what could happen should the state’s largest teacher preparation program lose its accreditation.

But such a drastic step — if it happens — could still be more than a year away.

The State Board for Educator Certification on Friday heard an update on the status of Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, an educator prep company under fire for falling short in several key standards.

The Texas Education Agency is recommending the program’s accreditation be revoked after it failed to meet the conditions of an improvement plan. The agency and the company will now go before a judge for a hearing that could stretch for months or longer.

Depending on the hearing’s outcome, the State Board for Educator Certification will have to decide whether to take serious action against the company — a decision complicated by the fact that Texas schools are facing teacher shortages. Of the state’s nearly 132,000 candidates in teacher prep programs in 2021, more than half were enrolled through Texas Teachers of Tomorrow.

“At the end of the day, this will affect kids and we don’t want it to,” said SBEC member Scott Muri, the Ector County ISD superintendent. “It’s just making sure that we are ready for whatever the outcome may be.”

State officials cautioned it was still too early to speak on what will end up happening to the program.

The educator preparation company was placed on probation after a 2021 state audit found it misled potential teachers with its advertising, did not support candidates with required mentors and failed to demonstrate that its training was based in research. Texas Teachers of Tomorrow has also dealt with a high number of customer complaints.

CEO Trent Beekman told the board that the company disagrees with the findings and believes it is in compliance with state law and education agency standards.

But because the two parties will soon go before the State Office of Administrative Hearings, he declined to comment further.

“Teachers of Tomorrow has worked diligently to completely update our process and procedures to demonstrate compliance with both the letter and the spirit of TEA’s standards,” he said.

Calvin Stocker, the state monitor tasked with overseeing Texas Teachers of Tomorrow’s work, told the board he took care to confirm his findings. He determined that the company fell short in several categories. For example, the review determined that Texas Teachers of Tomorrow could not show that all candidates receive enough training inside a classroom and that all are matched with a qualified mentor.

Board members asked several questions about what could happen to the thousands of teacher candidates currently enrolled with the company.

TEA associate commissioner Emily Garcia told the board that officials intend to communicate with districts about the program’s status. For now, the company remains on probation. That means potential educators can continue moving through the program as planned.

“We want to make sure superintendents and hiring managers know that all current candidates within the [program], their status is unaffected by this process,” she said. “It’s likely a year-plus before there would be any change, should a change end up happening. The vast majority of their candidates should be able to successfully complete the program without any type of interruption”

If the program’s accreditation is eventually revoked, it would mean that it can not continue producing certified teachers.

While Texas districts can use exemptions to hire teachers for specific subjects without certifications, many principals prefer to first hire those who have gone through all of their training. Candidates going through an educator preparation program also have the expectation of earning a teaching certification.

Workforce impact

Texas Teachers of Tomorrow is a behemoth in the state’s fractured educator prep landscape. Any action against it could trigger major reverberations across schools.

Deputy TEA Commissioner Kelvey Oeser said she does not expect the current situation to affect issues with teacher vacancies. Because a decision about the program’s future is at least a year away, she said, there’s time to talk to other educator preparation programs about their capacity to support additional candidates.

Veronica Galvan, who is SBEC’s alternative education preparation program representative , said these other programs are prepared to respond. Texas is home to more than 100 educator preparation programs.

“Other programs are ready and very willing to cooperate,” she said. “The candidates will be fine.”

Lawmakers have vowed to tackle the causes of teacher shortages this session and Gov. Greg Abbott created a Teacher Vacancy Task Force, which is expected to have its recommendations finalized by February.

Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, said he hopes the Legislature holds a hearing on alternative certification programs like Texas Teachers of Tomorrow. It’s imperative all educator preparation pathways are high-quality, he said.

“It’s undeniable that there’s a problem here,” he said. “It’s going to require policy makers at all levels — not just SBEC and TEA — but also the Legislature to address it.”

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, Todd A. Williams Family Foundation and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.