This report presents the key findings and recommendations developed by the Texas Teaching Commission over the last year. It addresses the seven phases of the teaching continuum, grounding each phase in context (state, national and international), highlighting the challenges and issues in each phase, and presenting a series of interrelated statutory, regulatory, and district recommendations for improving the teaching continuum in Texas The goal of this report is to implement policies that will lead to improved classroom instruction and student growth.

Over the course of a year, members of the Commission deliberated and worked to build consensus around the key set of recommendations included in this report. In a few instances, however, the Commissioners were unable to reach consensus. Dissenting opinions appear in certain sections of this report. Additionally, although the report offers recommendations for each phase of the teaching continuum separately, the Commission considers these recommendations to be a package of interrelated and aligned actions that will be most effective if they are made in concert. In every section, the report divides recommendations into three categories: statutory (Texas Legislature); regulatory/administrative (education agencies -- TEA or THECB); and school district recommendations. The last section of the report presents an alignment summary of the recommendations.

Texas is ready to take the steps proposed in this report. The state has a history of bold and thoughtful action, and is the only state to achieve the full set of policies for college-and career-readiness, including aligned assessments used for accountability purposes and public reporting of statewide performance goals.

With the Commission's recommendations in place, Texas teachers will be much better supported in preparing students for the new, more rigorous assessments and accountability measures that will demand the best that teachers have to give.

This report presents the key findings and recommendations developed by the Texas Teaching Commission over the last year. It addresses the seven phases of the teaching continuum, grounding each phase in context (state, national and international), highlighting the challenges and issues in each phase, and presenting a series of interrelated statutory, regulatory, and district recommendations for improving the teaching continuum in Texas The goal of this report is to implement policies that will lead to improved classroom instruction and student growth.

Over the course of a year, members of the Commission deliberated and worked to build consensus around the key set of recommendations included in this report. In a few instances, however, the Commissioners were unable to reach consensus. Dissenting opinions appear in certain sections of this report. Additionally, although the report offers recommendations for each phase of the teaching continuum separately, the Commission considers these recommendations to be a package of interrelated and aligned actions that will be most effective if they are made in concert. In every section, the report divides recommendations into three categories: statutory (Texas Legislature); regulatory/administrative (education agencies -- TEA or THECB); and school district recommendations. The last section of the report presents an alignment summary of the recommendations.

Texas is ready to take the steps proposed in this report. The state has a history of bold and thoughtful action, and is the only state to achieve the full set of policies for college-and career-readiness, including aligned assessments used for accountability purposes and public reporting of statewide performance goals.

With the Commission's recommendations in place, Texas teachers will be much better supported in preparing students for the new, more rigorous assessments and accountability measures that will demand the best that teachers have to give.

This report presents the key findings and recommendations developed by the Texas Teaching Commission over the last year. It addresses the seven phases of the teaching continuum, grounding each phase in context (state, national and international), highlighting the challenges and issues in each phase, and presenting a series of interrelated statutory, regulatory, and district recommendations for improving the teaching continuum in Texas The goal of this report is to implement policies that will lead to improved classroom instruction and student growth.

Over the course of a year, members of the Commission deliberated and worked to build consensus around the key set of recommendations included in this report. In a few instances, however, the Commissioners were unable to reach consensus. Dissenting opinions appear in certain sections of this report. Additionally, although the report offers recommendations for each phase of the teaching continuum separately, the Commission considers these recommendations to be a package of interrelated and aligned actions that will be most effective if they are made in concert. In every section, the report divides recommendations into three categories: statutory (Texas Legislature); regulatory/administrative (education agencies -- TEA or THECB); and school district recommendations. The last section of the report presents an alignment summary of the recommendations.

Texas is ready to take the steps proposed in this report. The state has a history of bold and thoughtful action, and is the only state to achieve the full set of policies for college-and career-readiness, including aligned assessments used for accountability purposes and public reporting of statewide performance goals.

With the Commission's recommendations in place, Texas teachers will be much better supported in preparing students for the new, more rigorous assessments and accountability measures that will demand the best that teachers have to give.

College completion, earning a degree or certificate, is considered to be a key college success outcome, supported by every educational policymaker. Yet, institutions and policymakers in the U.S. know surprisingly little about the rates of completion for students who follow all but the most traditional of postsecondary pathways. This is because traditional graduation rate calculations are institution based and only count students who finish at the same institution where they started. Building on findings from previous reports in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center's Signature Report series, this new report measures this key college success outcome -- rates of first completion -- encompassing postsecondary credentials of all levels and types at any institution in any state, whether it is the first, second, third, or more, attended.

Students in the U.S. pursuing a postsecondary education move along pathways that are increasingly complex. In its second Signature Report, Transfer and Mobility: A National View of Pre-Degree Student Movement in Postsecondary Institutions (Hossler et al., 2012), the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that one-third of first-time college students attended multiple institutions before earning a degree or certificate. Nontraditional students, like those who postpone college enrollment after high school, attend college part time, and/or have full-time jobs, have become the new majority among U.S. college students. This emphasizes the limitations of continuing to rely on traditional measures of student and institutional success that describe only first-time full-time students who never enroll at any institution other than their starting institution. Such measures fail to capture the full range of outcomes among today's college students. They also fail to recognize institutional and policy efforts to support students pursuing diverse pathways.

This report draws on the Clearinghouse database's near-census national coverage of enrollments and awarded degrees to explore the six-year outcomes of a cohort of first-time-in-college degree-seeking students who started in fall 2006 (N=1,878,484).

Recognizing a critical education reform issue, the Public Education Network applied to the Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps) in 1994 for a grant to improve educational access to and use of technology. The resulting initiative is Fostering Instructional Reform Through Service and Technology -- Project FIRST. Project FIRST works to integrate technology into public school curricula and to increase community involvement in the process by using the unique resources and capabilities of local education funds (LEFs) and their business partners.

Project FIRST and other similar programs are helping public schools across the country to become technologically sophisticated educational institutions. Project FIRST's considerable progress has come about, in part, because it addresses the need to modernize the instructional norms of many classroom settings. Project FIRST is effectively promoting information technology as a means of enhancing teaching and learning -- for both teachers and students.

For many students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including most racial minorities, these advances will not be enough to bridge the computer experience gap. According to a study published in the April 1998 issue of Science Magazine, white students in high school and college are still much more likely than black students to have computers in their homes and to use the World Wide Web. While 73 percent of white students had a home computer, only 33 percent of black students did, even when accounting for differences in income, according to another report compiled by Vanderbilt University researchers. Elevating the level of technology use and access in schools located in disadvantaged communities to that in other schools throughout the nation is a challenge of enormous magnitude. There is still much work to be done to ensure optimum learning environments and outcomes for all students. Project FIRST's efforts are a step along the way.

Recognizing a critical education reform issue, the Public Education Network applied to the Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps) in 1994 for a grant to improve educational access to and use of technology. The resulting initiative is Fostering Instructional Reform Through Service and Technology -- Project FIRST. Project FIRST works to integrate technology into public school curricula and to increase community involvement in the process by using the unique resources and capabilities of local education funds (LEFs) and their business partners.

Project FIRST and other similar programs are helping public schools across the country to become technologically sophisticated educational institutions. Project FIRST's considerable progress has come about, in part, because it addresses the need to modernize the instructional norms of many classroom settings. Project FIRST is effectively promoting information technology as a means of enhancing teaching and learning -- for both teachers and students.

For many students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including most racial minorities, these advances will not be enough to bridge the computer experience gap. According to a study published in the April 1998 issue of Science Magazine, white students in high school and college are still much more likely than black students to have computers in their homes and to use the World Wide Web. While 73 percent of white students had a home computer, only 33 percent of black students did, even when accounting for differences in income, according to another report compiled by Vanderbilt University researchers. Elevating the level of technology use and access in schools located in disadvantaged communities to that in other schools throughout the nation is a challenge of enormous magnitude. There is still much work to be done to ensure optimum learning environments and outcomes for all students. Project FIRST's efforts are a step along the way.