Texas Teachers of Tomorrow — the largest educator preparation program in the state — must prove it has fixed longstanding problems or risk losing approval to operate in Texas.
An agreement approved Thursday by the State Board for Educator Certification is the latest move in a multi-year saga that has unfolded while Texas schools struggled to recruit enough qualified teachers.
The board’s decision ends a legal battle between the state and the educator prep company, but it’s not the end of the story for the embattled program.
A state-appointed monitor will review company practices and issue a report on its progress by Feb. 13. If Texas Teachers of Tomorrow fails to meet certain benchmarks, its accreditation will be revoked. An educator prep program without accreditation cannot produce certified teachers.
If the company successfully hits the metrics, it will be able to continue doing business in the state.
CEO Heath Morrison said Thursday the company has done everything requested of them to move forward.
“This has not been an easy journey,” he told the board. “We were determined to do whatever was needed to finally resolve any remaining issues.”
Board chair Jean Streepey said the company has committed to upholding quality standards.
“Teachers that are well prepared are more likely to stay in the profession, and teacher candidates who spend the time and money to seek Texas certification deserve consistent, high quality preparation to give them and their students the best chance of success,” Streepey said.
While the process plays out, Texas Teachers of Tomorrow can continue to work with educator candidates as usual. Even if the state eventually revokes accreditation, existing candidates would have until the end of an academic year to finish out their program or transfer out.
Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, also known as A+ Texas Teachers, presents candidates with an alternative pathway to the classroom, targeting those who didn’t necessarily go to college intending to become educators.
The for-profit program recruits people in search of a second career and trains them through primarily online coursework.
It had been under fire from state education leaders for failing to fix its issues. In 2021, state auditors determined Texas Teachers of Tomorrow misled potential teachers with its advertising, did not support candidates with required mentors and failed to demonstrate that its training was based on research.
Additionally, a large number of candidates filed complaints about the program. Some would-be teachers said they left the profession after getting poor advice from company officials that derailed their careers.
The State Board for Educator Certification placed Texas Teachers of Tomorrow on probation in July 2022. Texas Education Agency officials later recommended the program’s accreditation be revoked.
Texas Teachers of Tomorrow officials disputed the state’s findings. They were granted a temporary injunction last year that stopped state education officials from moving forward with the case against them.
Thursday’s agreement ended that lawsuit.
Company officials said they’ve taken the turnaround effort seriously by investing millions of dollars in upgrading the program, adding staff devoted to customer service and hiring a new compliance director.
The agreement approved Thursday names a new monitor — Pam Wells — to oversee Texas Teachers of Tomorrow’s work in ensuring it hits benchmarks related to appropriate mentoring and field experience. After an initial period of intense involvement, Wells will transition to submitting quarterly reports on the company’s progress for the next year.
Morrison has praised his company’s efforts, saying the program plays an essential role in combating the steep rise in uncertified teachers.
Roughly 1 in 3 new teachers hired across Texas in 2022-23 were uncertified, meaning the state had no way to know if they received rigorous training. That’s up from 12% in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“Those of us that have been in public service very rarely use the word ‘crisis’, but the number of people coming into our classrooms across Texas uncertified is a crisis,” Morrison said.
The company identified districts with large numbers of uncertified educators and offered to help prepare them for certification, leaders said.
“We will only set the highest standards around quality and compliance,” Morrison said. “I hope, with the passage of the settlement today, that we have an opportunity to demonstrate how high that standard is around compliance.”
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 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 and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
