Advanced Academics Newsletter

Advanced Academics includes courses, programs, assessments, services and supports that provide opportunities for students to demonstrate college and career readiness and earn postsecondary credit.

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College Preparation Courses and Programs

Advanced Placement (AP)

Although the traditional paper AP May exam administration has ended with no fee for unused tests, there are students who wanted to take the exam who did not participate in the paper testing administration earlier this month.  AP coordinators can still assign these students to the digital AP Exam dates for Administration 3, June 1–4, 7–11, in school and at home administrations, until 7 calendar days before the scheduled digital exam date. This page on AP Central explains how an AP Coordinator can move student registrations to a later exam.

To avoid unused/canceled exam fees, AP Coordinators should indicate all unused paper exams, AP Chinese and AP Japanese exams that were ordered but not taken before the invoice is generated in June. See page 89 of the 2020-2021 AP Coordinator’s Manual, Part 2 for details about indicating unused exams.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

Please complete and submit the 2021 IB Exam Reimbursement Application to the Texas Education Agency no later than Friday, July 30, 2021 to apply for the IB exam subsidy reimbursement for eligible students during the May 2021 administration. For questions, please contact the Division of College, Career, and Military Preparation Advanced Academics office at advancedacademics@tea.texas.gov.

College Preparation Assessments

TSIA2

The TSIA2 scores are shown below in comparison to the TSIA. If students have previously taken the TSIA, their scores are valid for 5 years from the date of testing.  As of January 11, 2021, students are testing on the TSIA2.

2021-2022 ACT and SAT Administrations

The cost for ACT and SAT school day administrations is $36 instead of the previous $35. The contracted rates for the next four years are outlined in the following table:

ACT School Day Administration Dates

Note: The 2021-2022 school year is the first year that TEA is operating under an ACT state testing contract. For more information, please contact ACT's state representative John Cernohous at John.Cernohous@act.org.

Additionally, ACT has a new website specifically for Texas stakeholders.

SAT School Day Administration Dates

See College Board's Texas website for more information.

Industry-Based Certification Reimbursements

Please follow the appropriate reporting window when reporting IBCs in PEIMS:

• IBCs earned from September 1, 2020 - May 31, 2021 are reported in the summer submission
• IBCs earned from June 1, 2021 - August 31, 2021 are reported in the fall submission

College Preparation Services and Supports

College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

Students can earn college credits towards an Associate Degree for free using a program offered by Modern States. CLEP exams, administered by the College Board, are accepted for credit by more than 2,900 colleges and universities. The program's courses are taught by professors from Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Rutgers and other highly regarded schools. After completing the typical online college course with lectures, materials, and textbooks provided, students may request an exam voucher for the $89 test fee.  The course, all materials, and the exam are free.  According to the Washington Post a student could potentially save as much as 25% on tuition by passing AP and CLEP tests.  For more information visit Freshman Year Free.

CLEP offers 34 exams covering intro-level college course material and the exams can be administered anytime throughout the year at over 2,000 CLEP test centers. However, with test centers being closed or reducing their testing capacity due to the pandemic, the College Board now provides students an additional flexible option to take their exams at home.  For more details, visit the At-Home CLEP Exams pages.

Texas Tuition Promise Fund

The Texas Tuition Promise Fund, a program that allows students and families to secure current undergraduate tuition rates and school wide required fees at Texas public colleges and universities, is offering several informational webinar options this summer on May 26, June 9, June 23, July 7 and July 21. Click here to register. This program is the state’s newest prepaid tuition plan that is administered by the Texas Prepaid Higher Education Tuition Board as one of five tax-advantaged plans and programs throughout the state.  Other programs include the Texas Guaranteed Tuition Plan (formerly known as the Texas Tomorrow Fund), Texas College Savings Plan, Texas LoneStar 529 Plan, and the Texas ABLE Program.

This Month's Frequently Asked Question

I have looked on the TEAL report for my reimbursement data and the report is blank or missing data. Why is that and can I fix it?

There are several reasons why the reimbursement data may not be represented. 

1. For IBCs, did the district submit the student information via Qualtrics or PEIMS?
2. For College Prep Assessments, did the district test students in the 2019-20 school year for a school day administration, or request in TEAL students that tested on a national day?

More often than not, a district's data is not represented because the data was never submitted or does not exist.

TEA is not allowing any changes or corrections to the 2019-20 school year reimbursement data.

Thank you for subscribing to the Advanced Academics news bulletin and for your commitment to serving Texas students.

Contact: Kay Humes and Tracy Johnson

advancedacademics@tea.texas.gov

(512) 463-8864 or (512) 463-9762

The Texas Education Agency will improve outcomes for all public school students in the state by providing leadership, guidance, and support to school systems.