 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
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Description
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Event Date & Time
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Core EC EC-6 (491) Framework Overview and Application Process Webinar
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The 491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process Webinar will guide programs through an overview of the updated Core EC-6 exam framework, closely examine application requirements and timeline, and provide programs an opportunity to explore how the new exam is aligned and different from the older Core Subjects EC-6 exam. TEA staff will facilitate this webinar several times throughout the Fall semester. We strongly encourage those faculty or staff who will be responsible for completing the program’s application to attend.
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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
Reminder: 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).
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 9 Final ASEP Task Reminder 9/8-12/2025: Make Any Final Corrections and Submit Your Affidavit
Submit with confidence that your EPP has gotten everything perfect and ready to go. Submit your affidavit to the Educator Testing and Preparation Programs Help Desk. Be sure to name your affidavit according to the instructions on the Affidavit template.
The observation dataset for your EPP can be found in your ShareFile folder. Please follow the ShareFile Access Instructions for directions on how to access ShareFile. This dataset is only current as of the end of the day, September 1, 2025. Updates to your observation list after that time are not captured in this data.
This dataset considers all Request for Exception (RFE) forms submitted, approved, and processed by 09/01/2025.
For a complete record of all observations that you have entered into the Educator Certification Online System (ECOS), including those that you have added after 9/1/2025, please download your observation records from ECOS.
Reminder: Week 8 ASEP Tasks 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: Test Development Exam Launch Overview
The following table contains information related to upcoming certification exam transitions and launch dates. Exam resources, including exam one-pagers, will be linked as they become available.
Exam Launch Reminders and Resources
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186 Special Education Specialist EC-12
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165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental
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Core Subjects Redesign, Phase 1
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Core with Fine Arts/Health/PE
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Core with Special Education
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Texas Test of Educator Proficiency (T-TEP) (pending SBEC action)
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Core Subjects Redesign, Phase 2
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Core with Bilingual Education Spanish
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187 Bilingual Special Education
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Reminder: 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.
Reminder: 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 was September 1, 2026.
Reminder: Texas Test of Educator Proficiency (T-TEP) Stakeholder Advisory Committee Application Deadline
We invite you to apply for the Texas Test of Educator Proficiency (T-TEP) Stakeholder Advisory Committee. Stakeholder engagement is critical to the development of T-TEP, and TSAC is a key opportunity for relevant Texas stakeholders to provide valuable feedback.
TSAC members will attend virtual sessions and provide feedback on assessment materials and implementation resources and policies throughout the development of T-TEP.
This application will close EOD Monday, September 15, 2025. Selected committee members will receive email notification no later than EOD Friday, October 3, 2025. The TSAC application can be accessed here.
Reminder: Core EC-6 (491) Framework Overview and Application Process Fall 2025 Webinar
As we approach the September 2027 launch of the updated Core EC-6 certificate and aligned certification exam, we are excited to announce a modified application process for programs and a series of upcoming webinars to guide programs through an overview of updated exam frameworks and review application requirements.
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Programs that currently offer the Core Subjects EC-6 certificates will need to meet the following requirements to offer the new Core EC-6 certificate and approve candidates for the aligned exam:
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Attend (or view the recording) the 491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process Webinar and submit the webinar exit ticket.
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Complete and submit an attestation or amendment request.
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Must have an accreditation status of Accredited.
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There is no fee for this application.
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Application materials will be shared when they become available following the webinar.
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Programs that do not currently offer the current Core Subjects EC-6 certificate will need to meet the following requirements to offer the new Core EC-6 certificate and approve candidates for the aligned exam:
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Attend (or view the recording) the Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process Webinar and submit the webinar exit ticket.
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Complete and submit an application for a new certification field.
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Must have an accreditation status of Accredited.
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There is a $500 fee for this application.
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Application materials will be shared when they become available following the webinar.
Please review the information below for additional details on the Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process Webinar and reach out to your assigned Education Specialist with any questions.
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The 491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process Webinar will guide programs through an overview of the updated Core EC-6 exam framework, provide programs an opportunity to explore the exam crosswalk, and closely examine program application requirements and timeline.
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This webinar will not discuss program accountability and the new Core EC-6 certificate; TEA staff will provide more information on this topic at a later date.
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TEA staff will facilitate this webinar several times throughout the Fall semester. Programs are encouraged to attend the webinar that best suits their availability. Dates, times, and registration links for each webinar can be found below.
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This webinar is intended for Core EC-6 faculty staff, certification officers, and/or other individuals responsible for the development and implementation of the new 491 Core EC-6 certificate beginning 9/1/2027. Programs are highly encouraged to attend one of the four 491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process Webinars in Fall 2025.
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Attestations or amendment applications of programs that attend one of the webinars offered will be prioritized for review by the Educator Preparation team.
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While staff highly encourage attendance, programs that cannot attend one of the Fall 2025 webinars offered will have an opportunity to view a recording of the webinar and submit the application webinar exit ticket in addition to application materials. A recorded version of the 491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process Webinar will be posted to the TEA website no earlier than Spring 2026.
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491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process September Webinar
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Thursday, September 25, 2025
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1:00-3:00 pm CST via Zoom
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Register Here
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491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process October Webinar
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Thursday, October 23, 2025
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10:30 am-12:30 pm CST via Zoom
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Register Here
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491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process November Webinar
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Thursday, November 20, 2025
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11:00 am-1:00 pm CST via Zoom
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Register Here
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491 Core EC-6 Framework Overview and Application Process December Webinar
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Wednesday, December 11, 2024
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2:00-4:00 pm CST, via Zoom
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Register Here
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Updates related to Insight to Impact
Reminder: 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.
Reminder: 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: Is the requirement for 3 informal observations per semester in effect for nonteacher candidates? [19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)(A)]
A: Yes. Per 19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)(A), 3 informal observations are required each semester in which the candidate is completing the practicum for the non-teacher certificate class. All informal observations for non-teacher candidates can be conducted virtually, either synchronously or asynchronously.
Q: If a practicum is over the course of 3 semesters, does a nonteacher candidate receive 3 informal observations each semester, for a total of 9 over the course of the practicum? [19 TAC §228.101(b)(5)]
A: Per 19 TAC §228.101(b)(5), candidates completing a practicum assignment must receive at least 3 informal observations per semester. Therefore, if the practicum is 3 semesters long, the candidate would receive 9 informal observations.
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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