(a) Eligibility for participation. The commissioner of education shall determine a school district's or open-enrollment charter school's eligibility to participate in the Reading Excellence Team Pilot Program based on the following:      
        (1) a school district's or open-enrollment charter school's performance on a reading instrument administered in accordance with the Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.006(c); or       
        (2) a school district's performance on a Grade 3 reading assessment instrument administered under the TEC, §39.023(a), relative to other districts in the district's region.       
      (b) Selection of districts.      
        (1) Education service centers (ESCs) selected to administer the pilot program by the commissioner shall establish an application deadline for school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to request assignment of a reading excellence team.       
        (2) The ESCs shall prioritize the assignment of reading excellence teams to the lowest performing school districts and open-enrollment charter schools that apply for assistance, as measured by the reading instruments referenced in subsection (a)(1) and (2) of this section.       
        (3) After assignment of reading excellence teams under the initial application, if any capacity to assign reading excellence teams remains, the ESCs may accept additional applications and provide reading excellence team support to additional school district and open-enrollment charter school applicants based on the lowest performing school districts or open-enrollment charter schools, as measured by the reading instruments referenced in subsection (a)(1) and (2) of this section.       
      (c) Qualifications for reading instruction specialist. A reading instruction specialist must have:      
        (1) significant expertise in reading instruction with a minimum of three years of classroom teaching experience;       
        (2) experience in providing instruction directly related to the curriculum in Chapter 110 of this title (relating to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading), specifically in kindergarten-Grade 3; and       
        (3) knowledge of developmentally appropriate and research-based strategies for students in kindergarten-Grade 3.       
      (d) Assignment of reading excellence teams. ESCs shall assign reading excellence teams upon prioritization of the applications and in accordance with this section and the TEC, §28.0061.     
      (e) Requests for student achievement data. Participating school districts and open-enrollment charter schools will comply with requests for student achievement data made by reading excellence teams or their sponsoring ESC that will assist in monitoring the implementation as well as the effectiveness of the overall pilot program. The sponsoring ESC shall adopt procedures to ensure compliance with applicable state and federal privacy laws. The sponsoring ESC shall comply with requests for student achievement data made by the Texas Education Agency.     
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §102.1058 adopted to be effective September 26, 2016, 41 TexReg 7482