By Ellis S.B. No. 846
74R7163 SRC-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to establishment of the center for the development and
1-3 study of effective pedagogy for African American learners.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 106, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Subchapter E to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER E. CENTER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND STUDY OF EFFECTIVE
1-8 PEDAGOGY FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN LEARNERS
1-9 Sec. 106.61. CENTER ESTABLISHED; MISSION. (a) The Center
1-10 for the Development and Study of Effective Pedagogy for African
1-11 American Learners is established as a cooperative partnership
1-12 between the public school system and Texas Southern University
1-13 acting through the university's college of education.
1-14 (b) The mission of the center is to promote educator and
1-15 institutional responsibility for the excellent and equitable
1-16 education of African Americans.
1-17 (c) Cooperative relationships among the center, partner and
1-18 affiliate campuses, and other appropriate entities, including the
1-19 Central Education Agency, may be established with the approval of
1-20 the dean of the university's college of education.
1-21 Sec. 106.62. AFFILIATE CAMPUS ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA. (a) A
1-22 school campus may affiliate with the center as a partner campus or
1-23 an affiliate campus. A partner campus must have an accountability
1-24 rating by the Central Education Agency of at least "recognized."
2-1 An affiliate campus must have an accountability rating by the
2-2 Central Education Agency of "acceptable" or "low performing."
2-3 (b) To be eligible to affiliate with the center, a campus
2-4 must meet the following criteria, as determined by the center:
2-5 (1) have a percentage of enrolled students who are
2-6 African American that is at least 15 percentage points greater than
2-7 the statewide average;
2-8 (2) have a percentage of enrolled students from
2-9 low-income families that is at least 20 percentage points greater
2-10 than the statewide average;
2-11 (3) have a superintendent of schools who demonstrates
2-12 an interest in increasing the achievement level of African American
2-13 students and who is willing to allocate resources to develop
2-14 further the instructional program of the campus;
2-15 (4) have a principal, teachers, and other staff who
2-16 are willing to work cooperatively with the center's staff; and
2-17 (5) be located in a community in which an
2-18 institutional base exists, independent of the campus, from which
2-19 parents and community leaders may be organized or in which
2-20 potential for that institutional base exists.
2-21 Sec. 106.63. CENTER ACTIVITIES. (a) The center shall focus
2-22 teaching, research, and services on improving the capacities of
2-23 educators and educational institutions to effect educational
2-24 excellence and equity and improve learner achievement for African
2-25 Americans.
2-26 (b) Consistent with its mission, the center shall:
2-27 (1) conduct research, studies, evaluations, field
3-1 tests, implementation, and dissemination of culturally consistent
3-2 educational pedagogy and learning opportunities for African
3-3 Americans;
3-4 (2) assist institutions and individual educators in
3-5 effecting a change in attitudes and practices that are barriers to
3-6 educational excellence and equity with respect to student learner
3-7 outcomes for African Americans;
3-8 (3) create a structure for professional development
3-9 that is driven by local needs and student learner outcomes and that
3-10 fosters educator and institutional responsibility for learning
3-11 among African Americans;
3-12 (4) develop an array of educational programs,
3-13 services, and support systems from the best available practices and
3-14 research for the purpose of enabling schools to effect for African
3-15 American students excellence and equity in a broad range of
3-16 real-world outcomes at each level of education, from early
3-17 childhood through postsecondary;
3-18 (5) empower African Americans to hold public schools
3-19 accountable for school-related outcomes and results;
3-20 (6) enable teachers and administrators to use
3-21 culturally consistent educational pedagogy in classrooms; and
3-22 (7) provide statewide staff development for partner
3-23 and affiliate campuses.
3-24 (c) The center may recommend to the governor and the
3-25 legislature legislation relating to the mission and activities of
3-26 the center.
3-27 (d) The center may participate in collaborative activities
4-1 with foundations or organizations in or outside of this state.
4-2 Sec. 106.64. FUNDING. (a) The center is funded through
4-3 legislative appropriations and gifts and grants for the purpose of
4-4 the center.
4-5 (b) The university and the governor may solicit and receive
4-6 gifts and grants for the purpose of the center.
4-7 Sec. 106.65. STATE AGENCY COOPERATION. At the request of
4-8 the dean of the university's college of education, a state agency
4-9 shall cooperate with and assist the center in carrying out its
4-10 activities.
4-11 Sec. 106.66. REGIONAL SERVICE CENTER COOPERATION. Each
4-12 regional education service center in whose region a center partner
4-13 or affiliate campus is located shall employ a person in the
4-14 position of regional coordinator who shall provide general
4-15 assistance and access to all service center programs, services, and
4-16 materials by the partner or affiliate campus and by the school
4-17 districts in which the campuses are included.
4-18 Sec. 106.67. BIENNIAL REPORT. (a) Not later than January
4-19 31 of each odd-numbered year, the center shall report to the
4-20 governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
4-21 representatives giving an account for the preceding two years of
4-22 center activities and the use of funds by the center.
4-23 (b) The report shall also include a description of the
4-24 progress of partner and affiliate campuses, including:
4-25 (1) the percentages of students passing all assessment
4-26 instruments under Section 35.023, in the aggregate and by campus;
4-27 (2) projections for the next two years of the
5-1 percentages of students that will pass all assessment instruments
5-2 under Section 35.023, in the aggregate and by campus, assuming no
5-3 action is taken by the center to contribute to an increase in the
5-4 percentages, and a plan for increasing those percentages; and
5-5 (3) information about specific campus programs that
5-6 have been identified as successful.
5-7 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
5-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-13 passage, and it is so enacted.