 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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Event Date & Time
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Core EC-6 (TX491) Framework Overview Webinar
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The Core EC-6 (TX491) Framework Overview Webinar will guide programs through an overview of the updated Core EC-6 exam framework and closely examine shifts to the exam format and added content, requirements, and timeline.
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Thursday, September 25, 2025,
1:00 pm - 3:00 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: Observation Data Distribution
The observation datasets were shared with EPP Legal Authorities, via ShareFile, on September 2, 2025. EPPs have the option to review their data and submit a request for exception (RFE) form, as needed. More information about the procedure to evaluate the frequency and duration of field observations indicator is available in the ASEP Manual.
EPPs may report observation, student growth, teacher survey, and principal survey ASEP exceptions within a single RFE form.
As a reminder, all 2024-2025 ASEP data, including the RFE submissions, must be reported to TEA by Monday, September 15, 2025 at 5:00 PM (CDT).
Reminder: ASEP Data Distribution
The student growth rosters were shared with EPP Legal Authorities, via ShareFile, on August 25, 2025. EPPs have the option to review their data and submit a request for exception (RFE) form, as needed. More information about the procedure to develop the student growth indicator is available in the ASEP Manual.
We would like to note that the RFE forms were changed this year from PDF to Excel to improve user experience and streamline data reporting. With the changes to the RFE form, EPPs are able to enter student growth, teacher survey, principal survey, and observation ASEP exceptions within a single form.
In early September 2025, TEA will share the Year-to-Date Observation datasets.
Please note the deadline for RFE submission is September 15, 2025. RFEs must be submitted by 5:00 PM (CDT) on September 15th, and will not be accepted after that date.
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 8 ASEP Task Reminders 9/1-5/2025 Review all Your Data
Compare your final EPP data with the data sets from TEA just to be sure you have not forgotten anything or anyone in your reports. Your final data sets were sent out on Tuesday, September 2, 2025. Make any final corrections if needed. Reach out to your assigned specialist with any questions or issues.
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Observations! Every observation for every candidate in clinical teaching, an internship, or a practicum that occurred between 9/1/2024 and 8/31/2025 must be reported. Failure to properly report observations is the #1 reason why EPPs end up in an Informal Review. Save yourself this headache by ensuring that every observation is entered into ECOS before 9/15/2025.
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Finishers! Specifically, if a candidate finished in one certificate classification but had records for additional certificates on the Finisher Records List, the other certificates must be removed from 2024-2025, or the candidate will carry forward as Other Enrolled into 2025-2026.
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Applied Data! Please ensure that your numbers reflect the total number of applicants to all of your programs this year. Ensure that the total number applied is greater than or equal to the total admitted.
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Admissions! Every candidate with an admission date in 2024-2025 must have an admission record. This requirement applies to all certificate classes and categories.
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Requests for Exception (RFEs)! Please review the teacher and principal survey, observations, and apply for RFEs now, rather than waiting until the final week to complete RFEs.
Reminder: Week 7 ASEP Tasks 8/25-29/2025: Report your Applied Data
Use the Applied portal in ECOS Entities > ASEP > Annual Performance Report to report the number of individuals that applied to any of the programs within your EPP in 2024-2025 (from 9/1/2024-8/31/2025). 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 2024-2025 ASEP locks on September 15. Be sure to review the 2024-2025 Technical Manual on the Program Provider Resources page if you need assistance using the Applied portal.
Reminder: Week 6 ASEP Tasks 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
New: 186 Special Education Specialist EC-12
Candidates taking the 186 Special Education Specialist Exam through September 28, 2025, can expect their scores to report on October 10, 2025. Scheduled score reporting dates can be found on the Pearson Scores page.
New: 161 Special Education EC-12 or 163 Special Education Supplemental exam
161 and 163 are no longer offered. The last day to apply and recommend candidates using the 161 Special Education EC-12 or 163 Special Education Supplemental exam is September 1, 2026.
New: Core EC-6 (TX491) Framework Overview Webinar
The 491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview Webinar will guide programs through an overview of the updated Core EC-6 exam framework, closely examine shifts to the exam format, new content fields, and exam development timeline, and provide programs an opportunity to ask exam-related questions via Padlet. Registration is now open for the Fall 2025 491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview Webinar scheduled for Thursday, September 25, 2025, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm CST via Zoom. We strongly encourage those faculty or staff who will be responsible for supporting students or making programmatic changes to attend.
Please be advised that TEA staff will facilitate additional webinars at a future date that will discuss certificate application requirements for the new exam offerings and aligned certificate pathways, program accountability, and constructed response items.
New: 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Framework Overview Webinar Overview Follow-up
Thank you to the 60 participants who attended the second 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Framework Overview Webinar on Thursday, August 21st! This webinar provided participants with an overview of the updated exam format, content shifts, and discussed the exam framework crosswalk which highlights key similarities and differences between the new and old exams. Participants were able to gauge their knowledge about pertinent dates and information regarding the new exam and then were provided the opportunity to reflect and ask questions via Padlet.
As a reminder, resources for the 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 exam, including the framework, framework crosswalk, recording of the framework webinar, and exam one-pager can be found on the Educator Standards and Testing webpage as they become available.
Reminder: Online Representative Exams for 185 Deafblind EC-12 and 186 Special Education Specialist EC-12
Ahead of the September 2025 launch of both the 185 Deafblind EC-12 and 186 Special Education Specialist EC-12 exams, a new, interactive format for Representative Exams is now available. All EPPs need to be onboarded into this new system. Please contact texas.support@pearson.com for assistance with account setup. Deafblind EC–12 (185) and Special Education Specialist EC–12 (186) are currently the only fields available in this new online format. EPPs can still purchase Representative Exams for other available examination fields in a PDF format.
Updates related to Insight to Impact
New: I2I Spotlight: How Dashboards Inform Continuous Improvement
Having served in a variety of roles in the education preparation program (EPP) community, Executive Director of Early Childhood Education and Teaching (ECET) and Alternative Teacher Certification Program (ACTP), Rebecca Saiz of Lone Star College has learned to incorporate the Insight to Impact (I2I) Dashboards into her data routines to assist with the development of continuous improvement plans with EPP program coordinators and administrators.
Check out this EPP spotlight to learn more about how incorporating the dashboards has freed up her team to dedicate time elsewhere at her EPP.
New: Video: Observation Dashboard Information Session
Last week, the Insight to Impact Dashboards Team hosted an information session on the development process and project updates of the Observation Dashboard. Although still in production, you can learn more about the progress the team is making in this latest video.
We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from .
Q: Do the informal observation requirements apply to all candidates, or just those candidates who were identified as needing improvement during a previous formal observation? [19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)- (7)]
A: Per 19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)-(7), all candidates completing clinical teaching, internship, or practicum must receive at least 3 informal observations per semester of clinical experience in addition to the required formal observations. Residency candidates must receive at least 4 informal observations per semester.
Q: Can multiple EPP staff members provide informal observations to a given candidate, if they all meet the requirements for a field supervisor? [19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)-(7)]
A: Yes. Per 19 TAC §228.101(b)(1), any of the field supervisors qualified and trained to support candidates in a specific certificate class may conduct field supervision for a given candidate, including conducting informal observations for candidates in that class. The EPP may assign multiple field supervisors to support a candidate. There is no rule in place that requires the EPP to assign only one field supervisor to a candidate.
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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