June 21, 2024: Texas Educator Preparation Programs Newsletter

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Texas Education Agency

June 21, 2024

Texas Educator Preparation Programs Newsletter

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Welcome

This newsletter compiles the most up-to-date information concerning what EPPs need to know to best support their faculty/instructors, staff, and candidates. Please thoroughly read all the sections for reminders, upcoming events, To Dos, and FAQs.   

If you are not currently subscribed to the newsletter, please sign up at the link below.    

Educator Preparation Program Listserv Registration


Upcoming Events

Topic

Description

Event Date & Time

 Redesigned 257 Health EC-12 Exam Framework and CRI Deep Dive Webinar  

This webinar will guide programs through the framework for the redesigned 257 Health EC-12 exam and closely examine an example of the constructed response item. 

Tuesday, July 2, 2024, from 9:00 - 10:30 am CT 

Register Here  

Redesigned 258 Physical Education EC-12 Exam Framework and CRI Deep Dive Webinar 

This webinar will guide programs through the framework for the redesigned 258 Physical Education EC-12 exam and closely examine an example of the constructed response item. 

Tuesday, July 2, 2024, from 3:00 - 4:30 pm CT 

Register Here 

Redesigned 331 ELAR 7-12 Framework and CRI Deep Dive Webinar  

This webinar will guide programs through the framework for the redesigned 331 ELAR 7-12 exam, and closely examine an example of the constructed response item. 

Tuesday, July 9, 2024, from 3:00 - 4:30 pm CT 

Register Here 


Educator Preparation Program Support

Updates related to Educator Preparation Program Management  

Reminder: Insight to Impact Dashboards Updates on Outages
Last week, there was an unexpected outage of all of the Insight to Impact Dashboards. This has been resolved and the dashboards are accessible to all users again.  

An additional issue has surfaced related only to the New Teacher and Principal Survey dashboards. We are currently working with our team to resolve this issue. 

If you have any other questions or issues, please submit a ticket to the Insight to Impact Help Desk. 

Reminder: ECOS Pass Rates
This week, it was determined that the program that produces the data for the View Pass Rates screen in ECOS was improperly including PACT exams in the overall content pedagogy counts. This issue impacted the values on the screen for a limited number of EPPs. This issue has now been fixed. The data has been updated to reflect only content pedagogy exams as of June 11, 2024.  

Please Note: this programming issue was pertinent only to the data located in ECOS pass rates screens. All data used in the ASEP accreditation letters is produced in separate programming and this issue did not impact ASEP calculations.  

A big Thank You to our EPP partners for finding and sharing this issue with our team. We appreciate your feedback as we work to ensure high quality data. 


Educator Standards and Testing

Updates related to Educator Standards and Certification Testing  

New: Upcoming 2024 Exam Launch Framework and CRI Deep Dive Webinars
We are excited to announce upcoming Framework and CRI Deep Dive webinars for three new content pedagogy exams launching in September of 2024. The webinars will guide programs through frameworks for the redesigned 331 ELAR 7-12, 257 Health EC-12, and 258 Physical Education exams, and closely examine examples of constructed response items for each. Recordings will be available to those who cannot attend. Webinars will be held on the following dates: 

  • 257 Health EC-12 Framework Overview and CRI Deep Dive Webinar
  • 258 Physical Education Framework Overview and CRI Deep Dive Webinar
  • 331 ELAR 7-12 Framework Overview and CRI Deep Dive Webinar  
    • Tuesday, July 9, 2024, from 3:00 - 4:30 pm CT 
    • Register Here  

More information on each exam, including exam one-pagers, can be found on the Educator Testing site. We look forward to seeing you soon! 


Educator Preparation and Certification

Updates related to Education Preparation and Certification 

New: EPP Legal Authority Change Requests
As we enter the summer months, EPPs begin to make staff changes. If you have a Legal Authority, Back-Up Legal Authority, Certification Officer, or other change at your EPP, please contact your assigned Education Specialist to request the Legal Authority/Back-up Legal Authority change request template. Once we receive the completed request, we will make the changes for you.  


FAQs

We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from EPPs.

Q: I submitted an EPP admission data fix to the Preparation Programs Help Desk to get a past candidate identified as admitted to the EPP.  When can I add test approval? 

A: Once the candidate is in your admissions tab for the date admitted and the candidate is on the finisher record list (FRL) as other enrolled (OE) or finisher (F), then you can add test approval for the needed exams. Be sure to also submit a data fix to add the candidate to the FRL for each year the candidate is OE or F. Data Fix information is found under Forms and Documents on the Program Provider Resources page.  

Q: Why does a candidate not have test approvals when my data fix was completed by TEA? 

A: The data fixes do not automatically add a candidate’s test approval. The EPP must add the test approval manually. To do so, go to your Green Screen>Test Approval>Search/Maintain Candidates and search for the candidate by SSN, name, or TEA ID. Once the candidate appears, you can go to the bottom of the screen to see the “Add Test Approval” button. Add the needed exams using the candidate’s admission date, the certification route, the test name, and identify “Eligible” or “Approved for One Attempt” to give the candidate approval to test. You can find information about adding test approvals in the 2023-2024 Technical Manual on pp. 26-29 located under Forms and Documents on the Program Provider Resources page.  


EPP Points of Contact

Your best source for information and support at the TEA.   

  • As an Educator Preparation Program, your main point of contact is your Education Specialist.   

    • View a list of EPPs and their assigned Education Specialist. 
    • For most efficient assistance, please submit a Help Desk ticket to Preparation Programs.   
    • EPPs may contact their assigned Education Specialist directly via phone or email. 
    • Candidates may call (512) 936-8400 and select Option #2: Educator Preparation and Certification for assistance.  
    • Updated: If EPPs (and candidates) would like to speak to a representative from another area(s), they may call (512) 936-8400 and select one of the options listed below. 
    • Option 2: Educator Preparation and Certification  
    • Option 3: Fingerprinting  
    • Option 6: Investigations 

    The Teal Account Access team and Educator Testing team are available through the Help Desk. Links to both teams are below. 

Help Desk Link