 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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Topic
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Description
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Event Date & Time
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Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental (TX165) Framework Overview Webinar
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The 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Framework Overview Webinar will guide programs through an overview of the updated Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 exam framework, and closely examine shifts to the exam format, requirements, and timeline.
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Thursday, August 21, 2025,
10:00 am - 12:30 pm CST via Zoom
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Topic
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Action Item
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Due Date
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Texas Test of Educator Proficiency (T-TEP) Stakeholder Advisory Committee Application
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Application period is now open and will close EOD Monday, September 15, 2025
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EOD Monday,
September 15, 2025
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Updates related to Educator Preparation Program Management
New: Foreign Credential Evaluations (FCE) Changes
The revised Certification Based on Credentials from Another Country webpage is now live. Please note that TEA has removed the previously specified list of recognized companies for foreign credential evaluations (FCEs). Applicants may now use any organization that is a current member of either the Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc. (AICE), or the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES). This update provides applicants with greater flexibility while maintaining high standards for credential evaluation.
If the foreign credential evaluation (FCE) is issued by an organization that is a current member of either NACES or AICE, it is eligible for review. Applicants who were previously not accepted solely because their evaluator was not on the former recognized list may now be reconsidered under this updated guidance.
EPPs who have already admitted individuals using an FCE from a company on the previous list can proceed with those individuals and do not need to request a new or different FCE. However, going forward, we ask that EPPs transition to requiring and accepting FCEs from companies that are members of NACES or AICE. This process aligns with that being used for individuals completing the out-of-country credentials review process with the team in TEA’s Educator Certification Division.
The Program Provider Resources page will also be updated this Friday, August 22, 2025! Be on the lookout for the changes to our page. We are excited to unveil our new page!
Countdown to ASEP Reporting 2024-2025
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 2024-2025 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.
New: Week 6 ASEP Task Reminders 8/18-22/2025: Enter all Observations
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Verify that all of the observations completed in 2024-2025 (9/1-8/31) have been entered into ECOS. Observations for the 2024-2025 year are entered into the Clinical Experience Record (CER). There is an updated functionality that will allow EPPs to add observations that are associated with any clinical experience that has an end date in the 2024-2025 year, along with any clinical experience that began in the 2024-2025 year but has not yet ended. 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 are trying 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 2024-2025 Forms. Submit forms securely to the Data Reporting Help Desk.
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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.
Reminder: Week 5 ASEP Tasks 8/11-15/2025: 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 2024-2025 has a Clinical Experience Record.
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Ensure that all cooperating teachers, mentor teachers, and site supervisors are entered to create the Clinical Experience Record.
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 2024-2025 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page if you need assistance with downloading records from ECOS.
Reminder: Week 4 ASEP Task Reminders 8/4-8/2025: Update the Finisher Records List.
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Verify that all 2024-2025 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 2024-2025, 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 2024-2025 list that are no longer actively enrolled. This data was provided to you in your Sharefile folder in April 2025.
Reminder: Week 3 ASEP Tasks 7/28-8/1/2025-Complete all Admission Reporting
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Verify that each candidate admitted 9/1/2024-8/31/2025 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 2024-2025 Technical Manual located on the Program Provider Resources page of the TEA website.
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EPPs can view their admissions in ECOS. Additionally, you can download admission data in ECOS into a spreadsheet to help verify the admission data that has been reported to date. To do so, go to ASEP > Maintain Admissions in your ECOS Entities greenscreen. Select 2024-25 Reporting Year and click the green Search button. You will see all candidates admitted for 2024-2025. At the bottom of the page, you will see “Click Here to download the data in comma delimited format (Excel sheet). Remember: Admission records for candidates admitted in 2024-2025 cannot be created after 8/31/2025 except for candidates admitted in the last week of August beginning August 25, 2025. Those records can be entered until ECOS locks the ASEP reporting year on 9/15/2025 but should be entered within seven days of the date of formal or contingency admission per 19 TAC §227.17 or 19 TAC §227.15, respectively. This means that for all candidates admitted between 9/1/2024 and 8/25/2025, the deadline for ensuring that their admission records are complete and correct is 8/31/2025.
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Be sure to review the 2024-2025 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page. It is located under Forms and Documents. This is a helpful resource as it provides step-by-step instructions for completing admission reporting.
Reminder: Week 2 ASEP Tasks 7/21-25/2025:
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Ensure that TEA has your updated EPP Contact Information.
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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 submit a Help Desk ticket to the Preparation Programs tile, 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:
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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):
- Your LBB contact if you are a college or university.
- The staff that manages your data.
To verify and/or update contacts with TEA, please submit a Help Desk ticket to the Preparation Programs tile.
Reminder: Week 1 ASEP Tasks 7/14-18/2025:
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 Education Specialist Assignments list is published on the Program Provider Resources page under Forms and Documents. Your Education Specialist is one of five staff members:
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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 2024-2025 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 2023-2024. 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 was subject to an informal review, we encourage you to review your processes and reach out to your assigned Education Specialist early and proactively seek support.
5. Register for the ASEP Reporting 2024-2025 webinar on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at 10 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.
Updates related to Educator Standards and Certification Testing
Reminder: 185 Deafblind EC-12 and 186 Special Education Specialist EC-12 Exam Preparation Resources Available Now
Interactive Practice Tests are now available for the new 185 Deafblind EC-12 and 186 Special Education Specialist EC-12 launching in September 2025. More information can be found on the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program website.
In addition to these resources, the TEA Educator Testing website houses additional resources, including informational one-pagers, framework overview webinars, constructed response overview webinars, and other related resources.
Reminder: Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental (TX165) Framework Overview Webinar
The 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Framework Overview Webinar will guide programs through an overview of the updated Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 exam framework, closely examine shifts to the exam format, requirements, and timeline, and provide programs an opportunity to exchange resources and discuss course/curriculum problems of practice via Padlet. TEA staff will facilitate this webinar twice, once during each of the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters. Registration is now open for the Fall 2025 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Framework Overview Webinar scheduled for Thursday, August 21, 2025, from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm CST via Zoom.
Programs are encouraged to attend the webinar that best suits their availability. We strongly encourage those faculty or staff who will be responsible for supporting students or making programmatic changes to attend.
Updates related to Insight to Impact
New: Insight to Impact Dashboards Team to Host August Sign-up Event
On Thursday, August 28, from 10-11 a.m. CT, the I2I Dashboards Team will host the next Dashboards Sign-up Event to help guide the EPP community through the process of requesting access to the I2I dashboards. This event was designed for EPP employees who do not yet have access to the I2I dashboards and would like direct support in the process.
This webinar will be the second in a quarterly cadence of sign-up events that will provide the EPP community with the opportunity to learn more about the steps in the process, including dedicated time to request access to the dashboards and roles pertinent to their work and time with our team to troubleshoot issues.
Use this registration link for the sign-up event and feel free to share this invitation widely with your EPP community to ensure that all who are eligible and would benefit from using dashboard data to make programmatic decisions have appropriate access. For those who missed the first sign-up event in June and would like to follow along with the video, please feel free to click here for the recording.
New: I2I Dashboards Team to Host Information Session on Observation Dashboard If you're interested in learning about the development process and project updates for the upcoming EPP Clinical Experience Observation Dashboard, you're in luck! The Insight to Impact Dashboards (I2I) Team is hosting an information session immediately after the I2I Dashboards Sign-up and Access Event from 11 a.m. until noon on Thursday, August 28.
In addition to the information presented at the meeting, the I2I Team will be available for a Q&A session for all those attending. We look forward to seeing you there! Click here to register now!
We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from .
Q: Do field supervisors need to hold an active certificate that matches the certification category of the intern/clinical teacher they supervise? [19 TAC §228.101(a)(8)]
A: No. 19 TAC §228.101(a)(8)-(9) requires that field supervisors hold a valid certification in the class in which supervision is provided or hold at least a master’s degree in the academic area or field related to the certification class.
A: For candidates completing clinical teaching or an internship, 19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)(B)-(C) requires at least the first informal observation must be in person, and all remaining informal observations may be conducted virtually, either synchronously or asynchronously.
For nonteacher candidates, all informal observations may be conducted virtually, either synchronously or asynchronously. [19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)(C)]
For residency candidates, 19 §228.101(b)(7)(A) specifies that field supervisors must conduct all informal observations in person.
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.
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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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