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.
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Educator Preparation Program Listserv Registration
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Description
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Date & Time
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2024 Redesigned Exams Launch
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First administration date for three redesigned exams launching in September 2024: 257 Health EC-12, 258 Physical Education EC12, and 331 ELAR 7—12; view each exam’s one-pager here for other key deadlines.
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September 2, 2024
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Action Item
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Due Date
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September 15, 2024
5:00 PM, CST
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Updates related to Educator Preparation Program Management
New: Year-to-Date Observation Reports
The year-to-date observation reports will be distributed via ShareFile to each EPP Legal Authority on September 3, 2024. These reports, distributed annually, include all observation data reported by EPPs by September 2, 2024. TEA encourages all EPPs to update their finisher records list and to input observation records and clinical experience records prior to September 2, 2024, so that the year-to-date observation report will be helpful in informing any final reporting that EPPs need to complete prior to the September 15, 2024, final reporting deadline. These reports will also include any approved RFEs that are submitted by the end of the day on Thursday, August 29, 2024.
One email will be sent advising the Legal Authority to access the ShareFile. If your EPP has a staff member who needs to review the data, please reach out to your Legal Authority to request a copy. The Legal Authority must download it to give it to you.
help ensure on-time submission. If you need assistance, contact your assigned TEA Education Specialist early and often to ensure you receive the support needed to meet the ASEP reporting deadline.
Reminder: Clinical Experience Records
If your EPP has not started to create Clinical Experience Records (CER) or uploaded observations, please start to do so now. All observations with dates in 2023-2024 must be entered before September 15. The 2023-2024 ASEP will lock on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 5:00 PM CST. Please plan accordingly. If you need assistance, contact your assigned TEA Education Specialist early and often to ensure you receive the support needed to meet the ASEP reporting deadline. While a limited number of TEA staff will be available to assist you on Saturday and Sunday, September 14 and 15, we are encouraging EPPs to work ahead and try to complete ASEP Reporting by Friday, September 13, 2024, where possible.
Reminder: Insight to Impact Dashboard Issue
There is a known issue with the Insight to Impact Initial Employment and Employment and Retention Dashboards. We are working to resolve this issue and will provide a newsletter update when resolved.
Updates related to Educator Standards and Certification Testing
New: Texas Educator Certification Examination Program
We are pleased to announce that Pearson will continue to be our partner in the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program development and administration. Please visit the program website at www.tx.nesinc.com or email texas.support@pearson.com if you have any questions.
Reminder: 257 Health EC-12, 258 Physical Education EC-12, and 331 ELAR 7-12
The first exam administration for these new exams is 9/2/2024 with scores first reporting on 9/27/2024.
Thank you again to EPPs who joined the Framework Overview and CRI Deep Dive webinars. We continue to work on publishing recorded versions of these webinars, as well as aligned materials and resources. Once available, webinar recordings and framework crosswalk documents will be posted to the Educator Testing site. In the meantime, exam one-pagers for each of the three exams that include first administration date, last day to apply and recommend, and other key deadlines can be found on the Educator Testing site. Thank you for your patience!
Updates related to Education Preparation and Certification
New: Update on Additional Options for Internships/Practicum Placements
TEA staff have recently engaged in conversations regarding the ability to place EPP candidates in settings such as Windham School District and other adult charter high schools. These latest conversations have confirmed that SBEC’s Chapter 228 rules for preparation and certification do not prohibit EPP candidates from completing clinical experiences in these settings. This notification serves as confirmation that internship and practicum placements in these settings are allowable across classes of certificates if the assignment is one that meets the requirements in §228.35(e) including that it allows candidates to demonstrate proficiency in the standards for the certificate sought. As you explore and utilize this option when applicable, we encourage you to reach out to your TEA Education Specialist for any additional support in ensuring that you as the EPP, the LEA partner providing the opportunity for placement, and the candidate completing his or her internship/practicum have the support needed to ensure that everyone is successful in their specific roles.
Reminder: ASEP Reporting Webinar
Thank you to our EPPs for your participation in the 2023-2024 ASEP Reporting webinar on 8/6/2024! We appreciate your attendance. As soon as the presentation is ready for publishing, it will be posted on the Program Provider Resources page under EPP Training Events and Materials. The FAQ from the webinar will also be posted soon.
Countdown to ASEP Reporting 2023-2024
To assist EPPs with completing ASEP Reporting with ease, we have developed weekly reminders for those EPP staff working on ASEP Reporting. Each week, you will receive weekly reminders in this Newsletter that include timely tasks that will lead to successful completion of data reporting by September 15. Please remember that the Technical Manual published on the Program Provider Resources page on the TEA website is a wonderful “how to” resource for using the various functions needed for reporting in ECOS and contains some useful tips for problem-solving if needed.
ASEP closes on a Sunday this year (September 15, 2024, at 5:00 pm CST). All data submissions for 2023-2024 reporting, including submissions in ECOS and forms submitted via the Helpdesk, must be complete by this time. TEA strongly recommends that EPPs complete reporting requirements by close of business on Friday, September 13 to avoid last-minute problems that require TEA assistance which will be limited on Saturday, 9/14 and Sunday, 9/15.
New: Week 7 ASEP Tasks 8/26-30/2024: Report your Applied Data
Use the Applied portal in ECOS Entities > ASEP > Annual Performance Report to report the number of individuals who applied to any of the programs within your EPP in 2023-2024 (from 9/1/2023-8/31/2024). The Applied data is reported as a total of ‘All’ that applied and is also reported as disaggregated by demographic group. This Applied portal will lock when ASEP locks so data must be entered before the 2023-2024 ASEP locks on September 15. Be sure to review the 2023-2024 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page if you need assistance using the Applied portal.
Reminder: Week 6 ASEP Tasks 8/19-23/2024: Enter all observations
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Verify that all observations completed in 2023-2024 (9/1-8/31) have been entered into ECOS. All observations must be reported for all teacher and non-teacher candidates completing clinical teaching, internship, or practicum. All observations must be reported in the reporting year in which they occurred.
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Ensure that all your field supervisors are on your field supervisor list in ECOS. If they are not there, please enter them so observations for candidates assigned to those field supervisors can be entered into ECOS. If you try to enter an observation record with a field supervisor who is not in the system, the observation record will not load. You must add the field supervisor first.
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If necessary, complete the Request for Exception (RFE) form, to submit an exception request for a candidate whose observations should not be included in the data calculations. The ASEP Observation RFE Form is located on the Program Provider Resources page under ASEP Reporting 2023-2024 Forms. Submit forms securely to the Data Reporting Help Desk.
- For the best functionality of RFE forms, use Google Chrome and download and save the form on your computer before completing. After the form is complete, e-sign the form which will lock it from further edits. Save the signed form and attach it to a Help Desk ticket to submit to TEA.
Note: You can review the observations you have reported in ECOS, and you can download the observation data from ECOS into a spreadsheet to assist with reviewing and verifying your data. Be sure to review the 2023-2024 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page if you need assistance with downloading records from ECOS.
Reminder: Week 5 ASEP Tasks 8/12-16/2024: Create Clinical Experience Records
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Verify that each candidate who completed any part of a clinical experience (clinical teaching, internship, or practicum) in 2023-2024 has a Clinical Experience Record.
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To create a clinical experience record for a candidate, the candidate must have an admission record and must be listed on the Finisher Records List with a status of Other Enrolled or Finisher.
Note: You can download the Clinical Experience Records from ECOS into a spreadsheet to assist with reviewing and verifying your data. Be sure to review the 2023-2024 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page if you need assistance with downloading records from ECOS.
Reminder: Week 4 ASEP Tasks 8/5-9/2024: Update the Finisher Records List.
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Verify that all 2023-2024 finishers are correctly listed on the Finisher Record List (FRL) with a status of “Finisher” (F). If a finisher is on the FRL for certificate categories they are not finishing, you must remove those certificate categories from the list for the candidate.
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If candidates left your EPP without finishing requirements during the year 2023-2024, be sure that you have removed them from your Finisher Records List (and that you have removed their test approvals). You must update the record to “removed” in this reporting year. Once ASEP closes, you will not be able to make any changes to the FRL.
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Additionally, remember to review the candidates from your mid-year data set that have been enrolled for five or more years and remove any from your 2023-2024 list that are no longer actively enrolled. This data was provided to you in your Sharefile folder in April 2024. Note: Candidates that are removed will need to apply and be admitted if they want to work with the EPP in future.
Reminder: Week 3 ASEP Tasks 7/29-8/2/2024
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Each candidate admitted between 9/1/2023 and August 31, 2024 must have an admission record that is complete and correct by 9/15/2024.
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Verify that each candidate admitted in 9/1/2023-8/31/2024 has an accurate admission record. Verify all required admission data has been included in the record. If you need to update a record, you can do so manually or by bulk upload. Instructions are included in the Technical Manual located on the Program Provider Resources page of the TEA website.
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EPPs can view their admissions in ECOS. Also, you can download admission data from ECOS into a spreadsheet to help verify the admission data that has been reported to date.
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Remember: Admission records for candidates admitted in 2023-2024 cannot be created after 8/31/2024 except for candidates admitted in the last week of August. Admission records for candidates with admission dates in the last week of August can locks on 9/15/2024. Be sure to review the 2023-2024 Technical Manual in the Forms and Documents section on the Program Provider Resources page. This is a helpful resource as it provides step by step instructions for completing admission reporting.
Reminder: Week 2 ASEP Tasks 7/22-26, 2024
- Ensure that TEA has your updated EPP Contact Information.
- Each EPP should have one Legal Authority, or for an EPP at a school district or Education Service Center, a Primary Contact, and at least one Backup Legal Authority. If you have recently had a change in these staff, please contact your Education Specialist assigned and we will send you the template so you can request the changes to be made.
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Each EPP must have a Primary Title II Pearson and Title II IPRC contact and should have a Secondary contact for each, if possible. Ensure TEA has these current contacts. The following organizations must also have current contact information for your Title II contacts: es-titleii@pearson.com and Title2@trewon.com
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Make sure that the following contacts are correct (your assigned TEA specialist can provide you a list of contacts that we have on file for your EPP):
- The staff that manages your data.
- Your LBB contact if you are a college or university.
To verify and/or update contacts with TEA, please contact your Education Specialist.
Reminder: Week 1 ASEP Tasks 7/15-19/2024:
1. Know your assigned Education Specialist. This is the TEA staff member that you will need to reach out to when you have questions about ASEP Reporting. The EPP specialist assignment list is published on the Program Provider Resources page under Forms and Documents.
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Your Education Specialist is one of four staff members or the Director of Preparation Program Management:
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Vanessa Alba
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Rebecca Bunting
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Keena Sandlin
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Lorrie Ayers, Director
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2. Become familiar with the Help Desk which EPPs should use for all questions related to ASEP Reporting. Your Education Specialist will address your EPP’s questions in the Help Desk. We are in the Help Desk under the Educator Testing and Preparation Programs tile. |
3. Review the 2023-2024 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page. It is located under Forms and Documents. This is a helpful resource as it provides useful information needed to complete ASEP Reporting.
4. Review your ASEP reporting processes from 2022-2023. We recommend that you review internal documents, correspondence with your Education Specialist, and any place where you encountered difficulties. Particularly if your EPP encountered challenges with Observation reporting or were subject to an informal review, we encourage you to review your processes and reach out to your Education Specialist assigned early and proactively for support.
5. Register for the ASEP Reporting 2023-2024 webinar on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, at 10:30-11:30 AM CST. The webinar will provide useful information and reminders about state reporting processes and tips to improve the reporting experience. Please find the link in the Upcoming Events section above.
We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from .
Q: Is it acceptable if my Annual Performance Report (APR) Applied “All” number is greater than the total of my race/ethnicity or gender groups?
A: Yes. If your APR Applied “All” number is greater than the total in your race/ethnicity or gender groups, that is acceptable. This results from when an EPP has admitted a candidate but has not collected race/ethnicity or gender information from them. These candidates must still be counted in the “All” group but do not need to be counted in a gender or race/ethnicity group, because the gender or race/ethnicity is not known. For this reason, it is acceptable for the sum of the gender groups to be less than the “All” group or for the sum of the race/ethnicity groups to be less than the “All” group.
Example: Texas EPP reports the following:
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- All = 10
- Male = 3
- Female = 6
This is acceptable because “All” is greater than the sum of the gender groups.
If the “All” number is less than the sum of the disaggregated groups, you will receive an error message and will not be able to save the APR Applied record.
Be sure to click the green Save button when you are finished entering the numbers or the record will not save.
If you need additional assistance, reference the 2023-2024 Technical Manual pp. 11-13 located on the Program Provider Resources page under Forms and Documents.
Q: Is there a way for my EPP to verify that my APR was completed correctly?
A: Yes. There are two simple ways that you can check to verify that your data is in range.
The first validation is to check that your “All” group is greater or equal to the sum of the gender groups and the sum of the race/ethnicity Demographic groups.
The second validation is to compare your APR Applied “All” number to your total admitted. To verify this, go to ECOS Entities > ASEP > Maint Admissions. Select “Reporting Year 2023-2024”. That will give you a “total persons with the number of records” that were admitted in 2023-2024. Compare the APR Applied “All” number to the “total persons” admitted number and make sure the Applied number is greater than or equal to, the number admitted.
Your best source for information and support at the TEA.
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As an Educator Preparation Program, your main point of contact is your Education Specialist.
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View a list of EPPs and their assigned Education Specialist.
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For most efficient assistance, please submit a Help Desk ticket to Preparation Programs.
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EPPs may contact their assigned Education Specialist directly via phone or email.
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Candidates may call (512) 936-8400 and select Option #2: Educator Preparation and Certification for assistance.
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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.
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Option 2: Educator Preparation and Certification
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Option 3: Fingerprinting
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Option 6: Investigations
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