Blended Learning Professional Development Opportunity

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April 24, 2018

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

SUBJECT: Blended Learning Professional Development Opportunity

During the 85th Texas legislative session, funds were appropriated to reimburse local educational agencies (LEAs), which include school districts and open-enrollment charter schools, for costs related to professional development for blended learning offered by approved providers.

The purpose of this letter is to announce the list of approved providers and the process LEAs would use to request reimbursements for costs associated with blended learning professional development.

Approved  Providers
Upon the conclusion of a request for qualifications (RFQ) process, the following providers were selected as the qualified providers for this blended learning professional development program:

• The University of Texas – UTeach Science Program
• The University of Texas – UT High School

Reimbursement  Process
TEA and the approved providers have determined that the following process will be used to determine which LEAs will be eligible for the reimbursement of program/enrollment costs related to blended learning professional development for their educators:

1. The LEA will contact one of the approved providers to determine availability;
2. The provider will use screening tools to determine whether the LEA, campus, and educator possess the basic technical readiness to implement blended learning pedagogy;
3. The provider will submit to TEA a list of enrolled educators for pre-approval for reimbursement;
4. TEA will determine approval based on availability of funds and number of requests per LEA and campus;
5. Pre-approval will be communicated to enrollees by the provider;
6. The provider will submit to TEA verification of those educators who complete the professional development course;
7. TEA will contact the LEA to inform it of the reimbursement amount; and
8. TEA will submit a reimbursement payment to the LEA.

Reimbursement  Considerations
Reimbursements are limited by the amount of funds appropriated for this program, which is $2 million through August 31, 2019.

LEA costs are only eligible for reimbursement if:

• the professional development was provided by one of the two providers listed above;
• the educator completed the program as determined by the provider prior to July 28, 2019; and
• pre-approval was granted to the professional development provider for the educator for which the LEA seeks reimbursement.

Reimbursable  Costs
Enrollment costs paid to one of the approved professional development providers are eligible for reimbursement through this program.

For additional information or assistance, please contact Blair Claussen at  Blair.Claussen@tea.texas.gov.

Sincerely,

Martin Winchester
Deputy Commissioner for Educator and System Support
Texas Education Agency
1701 North Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701