 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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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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Updates related to Educator Preparation Program Management
New: Unpack Chapter 228: Understanding the New Evidence Figure and Records Retention
The Unpack Chapter 228: Understanding the New Evidence Figure and Records Retention video has been posted to the Program Provider Resources page under EPP Training Events & Materials. The short video walks through the Evidence Figure adopted in Chapter 228 effective September 1, 2024. EPPs may direct questions related to the Chapter 228 adoption effective September 1, 2024, to Preparation Programs in the TEA Help Desk.
New: TEA Certificate Deactivation & Reactivation Documents Have Been Updated
The Certificate Deactivation & Reactivation documents and templates have been updated to reflect the current TAC. They are posted on the Program Provider Resources page under Forms and Documentation. If you have any questions, please submit a Help Desk Ticket to the Data Reporting Help Desk tile on the TEA website.
New: Updated Process for Requesting Changes to EPP Staff
We have streamlined and automated the process for EPPs to request changes to the Legal Authority, Backup Legal Authority, Primary Point of Contact (for district & ESC EPPs), and Title II/Trewon contacts. The EPP Change Requests Form is located on the Program Provider Resources page under Forms & Documentation. EPPs can now complete the form and submit it directly to TEA through the Smartsheet. Once the contact has been updated, the EPP staff will receive an email confirmation. EPPs who have questions about the process should submit a Help Desk ticket to the Preparation Programs Help Desk tile on the TEA website.
Reminder: EPP ASEP Technology Fee Invoices
TEA will be distributing to EPPs the ASEP Technology Fee invoices for Academic Year 2024-2025, on October 21, 2025. This fee is assessed for each candidate who was admitted to your EPP on or after September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2025. The number of candidates is taken from the number of individuals reported as admitted by your EPP in ECOS. Additionally, similar to last year, admissions for the prior year who were added this year via a data fix will be included in the count. This is because they were not included in the prior year’s invoice.
The invoice will have payment information, including information about how to pay using ACH and how to submit a payment by mail. Credit cards are not accepted. Please note that ACH payment is preferred.
TEA will send the invoices to the EPP Legal Authority via email. We will also send notifications to Backup Legal Authorities and Certification Officers, to the extent that they are listed in our Contact List. Payment is due 30 days after receipt of the invoice. The Texas Administrative Code at 19 TAC §229.9 includes additional information about the ASEP Technology Fee.
Reminder: LBB Reporting
Educator preparation programs at public colleges and universities are required to report certification rates of teacher education graduates to the LBB. Information about LBB reporting was sent out to public colleges and universities who had not yet completed this reporting on Tuesday, September 30, 2025. Please review that email for steps, supports, and deadlines.
Detailed guidance for using the Educator Certification Online System (ECOS) to upload and retrieve your certification rate is available in the Technical Manual.
Remember, this reporting is only for public colleges and universities – if your EPP is not at a public college or university, your EPP does not complete the LBB reporting process.
Updates related to Educator Standards and Certification Testing
Reminder: Texas Test of Educator Proficiency (T-TEP) Stakeholder Advisory Committee Update
Congratulations to the following educator preparation program individuals who were selected to serve on the T-TEP Stakeholder Advisory Committee (TSAC):
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Amy Simmons (UT-Austin)
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Christina Puente, Ed.D. (Lone Star College)
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Diann Huber (iTeach)
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Dr. Beverly Sande (PVAMU)
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Eric Branscome (East TAMU)
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Irene Chacon (ResponsiveEd)
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Jodie Wakefield (240 Certification)
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Karla Hamilton (Teach Us)
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Lupita Hinojosa (Region 4)
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Mandi Nelson (Tarleton)
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Michele R. Anderson (East TAMU)
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Rachel Scherer (Sam Houston State)
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Robin Pizzitola (TAMU-CC)
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Suzanne Bettencourt (TAMU)
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Theresa Garfield (TAMU-SA)
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Veronica Estrada (UTRGV)
Updates related to Insight to Impact
New: TEA Names New Data Governance Committee Members
The Insight to Impact Dashboard Team has just selected its Data Governance Committee Members! The committee members will serve two-year terms and partake in activities that include quarterly 60-minute meetings, some offline work, and follow-up meetings scheduled as needed.
The mission of the DGC is to establish a robust pathway for collecting, defining, synthesizing, and prioritizing the requests of I2I educator preparation program dashboard users so that dashboards are strategically developed and updated to provide the most useful and usable data for program improvement. Members are privy to the latest updates and developments with the dashboards, while also serving as a liaison between TEA and the EPP field.
TEA welcomes their expertise and insight to inform updates, communications, training, scheduling, and materials provided to the educator preparation program community related to the I2I dashboards. The I2I Dashboards Team would like to thank the previous members for their service and welcome the new class of 16 to the committee!
Check out the list of new members and start connecting!
Reminder: Dashboards Sign-up Event Rescheduled to October 23
On Wednesday, October 1, the I2I Dashboards Team planned to host an Insight to Impact (I2I) Dashboards Sign-up Event to grant the education preparation program (EPP) community access to the dashboards. However, due to some unforeseen technical difficulties, the event had to be cancelled. The I2I Dashboards Team apologizes for any inconvenience the cancellation might have caused.
Fortunately, those still searching for access to the I2I Dashboards needn’t look any further. On October 23, from 3-4 p.m. CT, there will be another session for members of the EPP community who would like to learn more about the steps in the process of receiving access, including dedicated time to request access to the dashboards, roles pertinent to their work and time with our team to troubleshoot issues.
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. Register here now!
Reminder: I2I Dashboards User Survey Released
Since user feedback for the Insight to Impact (I2I) Dashboards is essential to TEA’s mission of strategically developing and updating the dashboards, the I2I Dashboards Team is requesting your input through a quick user survey. Although it will only take a few minutes to complete, it will immensely help the team in its pursuit to provide the most useful and usable data for program improvement.
Updates related to agency initiatives and
New: CSOTTE 2025
It was wonderful to see our EPP colleagues at CSOTTE this year. Thank you to folks that stopped by TEA Office Hours to say “hi” and to all who reached out to TEA staff with questions and input throughout our two days at the conference. Please feel free to reach out to TEA staff at any time, as needed. If you’re not quite sure who to reach out to, your TEA assigned specialist and/or Preparation Programs in the TEA Help Desk can link you to the correct person to address your questions or to receive your feedback.
New: Save the Date—SBEC Rulemaking for HB 2 Implementation: Stakeholder Feedback Session
Please save the date to provide critical feedback regarding draft policy for SBEC rulemaking pertaining to the implementation of HB 2. The session will center discussion of key proposals pertaining to TAC Chapters 228, 227 and 230. The first opportunity will occur on October 30, 2025, from 1:30-3:30 pm. You may register here.
Webinars: Thank you so much for attending our PREP webinars! So far, we have had over 1,000 participants in the PREP webinars. We still have some upcoming PREP webinars for PREP Preservice Residency, PREP Grow Your Own, as well as the Texas Strategic Staffing grant. Please visit the LASO 4 webpage to register for those opportunities.
New: LASO 4 PREP Office Hours
New: Effective Preparation Framework (EPF) Highlighted Practices Collection
We invite EPPs to showcase innovative and impactful EPF-aligned practices that support the development of effective and resilient educators. By submitting examples through the form, your program can contribute to the EPF Resource Library, an upcoming curated collection of tools and strategies that enhance clinical practice, support candidate assessment, and strengthen partnerships with K–12 districts.
Showcase your program’s success!
We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from .
Q: Will TEA consider reviewing the EPP requirement for non-teaching positions requiring internships— specifically, School Counselors? Right now, there is a “live observation” requirement for EPPs. This can not only be intrusive to our K-12 students (in session with an EPP student school counseling intern, then having another random-to-them EPP adult coming to observe), but also an ethical concern regarding confidentiality. [19 TAC §228.117(b)]
A: 19 TAC §228.117(b)(4) provides that the field supervisor may conduct formal observations, pre-observation conferences, and post-observation conferences either in-person or virtually.
Q: If an initial certification candidate entered (admitted) the EPP before 9/1/24 and started their clinical teaching in August 2024 (for example, 8/10/2024), would they fall under the legacy/old rule for observations?
A: For the purposes of observations in ASEP, the beginning and end dates of the clinical experience are important. The ASEP Manual states: Beginning in the 2025-2026 academic year, only individuals with clinical experiences that began on or after 9/1/2024 will be included in the evaluation of Indicator 4a.
Per 19 TAC §229.4(a)(4)(A) For clinical experiences that ended in 2024-2025 and are being evaluated in 2024-2025 ASEP data, the legacy observation counts are the standard. For clinical experiences that end in 2025-2026 and will be evaluated in 2025-2026 ASEP data, the updated observation counts are the standard. In the example above, clinical teaching began prior to 9/1/2024, ended in the 2024-2025 academic year, and are being evaluated in the 2024-2025 ASEP data. That means that it will be evaluated under the legacy observation counts.
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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