The topics I will be covering are the Texas Educators' Code of Ethics (Texas Educators' Code of Ethics (19 TAC § 247) and the Texas Administrative Code for Teacher Standards (19 Tex. Admin. Code § 149.1001(1995).

I chose this topic because, as the instructional coach, I will be guiding teachers on the expectations from them based on the Code of Ethics and Teacher standards. 

I will also provide training to administrators on the same expectations so they can calibrate their observations and evaluations.

References:

19 Tex. Admin. Code § 149.1001(1995)

Texas Educators' Code of Ethics (19 TAC § 247)

3. Emerging Issue:
For our school, an issue that is emerging is the average experience of our department went from 15 year average experience to 3-4 years due to most teachers being new or second year teachers.  As the coach, this will make my job a little more challenging because I will need to see if this will impact student learning.  Since several teachers will be new this year, they will rely heavily on my help when it comes to modeling how to run a classroom or teach certain concepts.  Veteran teachers who spent the last year doing a hybrid teaching model will also need to review how to teach a full classroom of students how they did before the pandemic. Unfortunately, the pandemic has also affected teachers, both novice and veteran, and we may not see this impact for many years to come. 
4. Interview:
I interviewed the Associate Principal who is in charge of our department.  Mr. Adrian Hid at Highlands High School for SAISD. 

We spoke about the legal requirements that he has to deal with on a day to day basis regarding teacher training.  Legally, each teacher must meet the teaching standards and must also receive ongoing training on other topics such as Ethics and Principles. As the assistant principal, Mr. Hid stated that he is responsible for making sure teachers meet these requirements every year. The policy that came to mind was the No Child Left Behind Act  (2008) and the changes in the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) since these specifically address the need for high quality teachers. By bringing in the Teacher evaluation T-TESS, Mr. Hid has to directly observe teachers and ensure they are high quality teachers based on the T-TESS Matrix. We spoke about court cases that may impact his work and he brought up the IDEA Act of 2004 and its update in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.  He stated that making sure new teachers understand accommodations and modifications for our students is a top priority of his since teachers need to establish this knowledge pretty quickly in order not to get into legal trouble.

References:
Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 (2015)
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2004)

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C. § 6319 (2008)