 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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Topic
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Description
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Event Date & Time
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LEA Training for Data Managers for PREP Allotment
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This session is designed for LEA data managers who will support PREP Allotment programs in the 2026–2027 academic year.
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EPP Training for Data Managers for PREP Allotment
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This required session for participating EPPs will focus on system updates related to the PREP Allotment, including data entry, validation, and reporting changes.
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Insight to Impact Dashboards Sign-up Event
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The I2I Dashboards Team will host a Dashboards Sign-up Event to grant the education preparation program (EPP) community access to the dashboards.
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165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Exam Constructed Response Item (CRI) Deep Dive Webinar
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The webinar will provide an in-depth look into the exam’s newly developed constructed response items (CRIs). *Please review the 165 BESS EC-12 Exam Preparation Manual before the webinar.*
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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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187 Bilingual Special Education
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Texas Test of Educator Proficiency (T-TEP) (pending SBEC action)
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Updated one pager anticipated Summer 2026
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- Core EC-6
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Core with Fine Arts/Health/PE
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Core with Bilingual Education Spanish
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Core with ESL
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Updates related to Educator Preparation Program Management
New: Update to Certificate Issuance
Educator certificates will no longer be issued automatically and will not be issued until the SEMARC check is complete. SEMAC (Statewide Educator Misconduct and Accountability Clearinghouse) will be integrated into the DNHR (Do Not Hire Registry), and LEAs will see corresponding updates in the DNHR upload results file. These updates are intended to provide more comprehensive background check information and help prevent individuals with reportable conduct from moving between agencies.
EPPs and candidates should expect a delay of several days while the check is completed. Candidates will receive an email confirmation once their certificate is issued, and EPPs can verify certificate validity through their green screen system or through Certificate Lookup. EPPs should review and update their internal procedures to account for this delay when recommending certificates. If it has been several days and the certificate has not been issued, the candidate may contact Educator Fingerprinting at 512-936-8400 option 3 or through the Fingerprinting Help Desk.
New: HB 2 Certification Fee Waiver Eligibility
Under House Bill 2, the $78 certification application fee may be waived only if all the following criteria are met:
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The candidate is pursuing certification in an eligible Special Education or Bilingual Education field, and
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The candidate took one of the qualifying certification exams as a first attempt on or after June 4, 2025:
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161 – Special Education EC–12
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163 – Special Education Supplemental
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186 – Special Education Specialist EC–12
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181 – Teacher of Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing EC–12
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182 – Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments Supplemental
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185 – Deafblind EC–12
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072 - Texas Assessment of Sign Communications (TASC)
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073 - Texas Assessment of Sign Communications - American Sign Language (TASC-ASL)
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164 - Bilingual Education Supplemental
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190 - Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test (BTLPT) - Spanish
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184 - American Sign Language (ASL) EC-12
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073 - Texas Assessment of Sign Communications - American Sign Language (TASC-ASL)
Only candidates who completed one of the qualifying special education or bilingual education exams listed above for the first time on or after June 4, 2025, are eligible for the HB 2 certification application fee waiver. Exams completed before this date do not qualify, even if they were required for program completion. A candidate’s certification application fee waiver is fully executed based on receiving the online recommendation from the educator preparation program.
Please remind your candidates that they no longer need to submit a Help Desk Ticket to Educator Certification for the HB 2 Fee Waiver. If you and your candidates see the status of “Pending” in the fee column, that is an indication that the fee waiver will be processed once the EPP recommendation for certification is received.
Reminder: TEA Website Makeover
The TEA website has been updated. You may have noticed a new look and may also have noticed that some links are broken or appear to be reorganized in new places. Thank you for your patience as we are testing and repairing those links. EPPs may want to bookmark the Program Provider Resources page. Please reach out to the Help Desk if you need assistance.
Updates related to the PREP Program Allotment
New: Partnership Agreement Completion Deadline
Thank you to everyone who worked with your school system partners to complete the partnership agreements required for participation in the PREP Allotment programs. Due to requests from both school systems and EPPs, TEA allowed a draft agreement to be uploaded. However, for funding to be approved for distribution in 2026-2027, fully executed written agreements (MOUs) must be submitted by August 5, 2026. Please be in communication with your school system partners to ensure compliance with this requirement.
Reminder: HB 2 Implementation Webinars Available Online
Over the past month, TEA Staff has held 6 webinars to assist EPPs with the implementation of changes required as part of House Bill 2 and the PREP Allotment. The presentation materials and video recordings of these webinars will be available soon on the PREP Allotment website.
Reminder: Intent to Apply to offer PREP Routes in 27-28
Thank you to everyone who attended the recent webinars on the PREP Residency, PREP Traditional and PREP Preservice Alternative routes. As you will recall, programs will be required to submit an Intent to Apply to offer the routes in 27-28 (including programs currently offering a residency route).
A link to the Intent to Apply is currently anticipated to be sent to the EPP’s legal authority (or primary point of contact for ESC/District/Charter EPPs) on June 26th, 2026. For current questions regarding PREP route approval, contact EPPreview@tea.texas.gov.
Reminder: Training for User Interfaces
With the upcoming implementation of PREP Allotment Residency and Grow Your Own certification route, updates to the reporting system for data entry, validations, and reporting have been completed. TEA Staff will host a training for LEAs and EPPs who will be participating in a PREP Allotment program for the 2026-2027 academic year.
While EPPs are not required to attend both sessions, it is recommended that you reach out to your partner school systems to encourage them to register and attend the LEA-facing training. Attendance is mandatory for EPPs participating in the PREP Allotment.
LEA Training for Data Managers for PREP Allotment
EPP Training for Data Managers for PREP Allotment
Updates related to Educator Standards and Certification Testing
New: 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Exam Constructed Response Item Deep Dive Webinar
The webinar held on July 10, 2026, at 1:00 pm will provide participants with an overview of the constructed response items (CRIs) included on the new 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental exam, including some sample exhibits and constructed response items, and their aligned scoring rubrics. Participants will use session time to work in small groups to review and analyze sample candidate responses to identify the qualities and characteristics of a strong CRI response. This will serve as the final CRI Deep Dive Webinar before the launch of the redesigned 165 BESS EC-12 exam. It is strongly recommended that participants review the preparation manual before the webinar.
Please register to attend the 165 Bilingual Education Spanish Supplemental EC-12 Exam CRI Deep Dive and Preparation Manual Overview Webinar. We look to see you there!
New: English as a Second Language Supplemental EC-12 Exam (254) Framework Overview Webinar
Thank you to the 58 participants who attended the first English as a Second Language Supplemental EC-12 Exam (254) Framework Overview Webinar on Friday, June 12th! This webinar provided participants with an overview of the new English as a Second Language Supplemental EC-12 Exam (254) exam and walked participants through the new exam framework. Participants received information about each domain and closely examined shifts to the exam format and new content fields. Participants were also provided with the opportunity to reflect and ask questions via Padlet.
As a reminder, resources for the 254 ESL Supplemental EC-12 exam including the framework, framework crosswalk, and exam one-pager, will be accessible on the Educator Testing webpage. Once all the resources are available, an update will be posted in the EPP Newsletter. Thank you again for participating!
Updates related to Insight to Impact
New: Employment and Retention Treasure Hunt Winner Announced
Recently, the I2I Team hosted a training on how to get the most out of the Employment and Retention Dashboard. To ensure that the lesson stuck, the team created a fun, interactive “treasure hunt” for EPP staff to practice finding actionable insights about their respective programs.
University of Texas at San Antonio Assistant Director of Assessment and Program Accountability, Dr. Jessica McConnell, is the first treasure hunt winner to repeat. But Region 14 Education Service Center Administrator Certification Coordinator & TIA Consultant Michael Cano is the latest to locate his data treasure!
Check out this blog to learn what he finds most valuable about the I2I Dashboards.
Reminder: Secure Your Seat for June’s I2I Sign-up Session
On Thursday, June 25, 2026, from 2:00 – 3:00 PM CST, the I2I Dashboards Team will host a Dashboards Sign-up Event to help guide the EPP community through the process of requesting access to the I2I dashboards. This event is 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 latest 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 would like to follow along with the video from a previous sign-up event, please feel free to click here for the recording.
Updates related to agency initiatives and opportunities
Reminder: EPF Aligned Practices Website is Now Live
We’re excited to announce that the EPF Aligned Practices website is officially live! This new resource brings together valuable, field-informed practices submitted by EPPs to support alignment with Effective Preparation Framework and strengthen teacher preparation across the state.
We invite all EPPs to explore the site and take advantage of the shared tools, strategies, and examples. As this is a growing resource, we encourage you to continue contributing; if your program has aligned practices or materials to share, please submit them for consideration to be added to the site.
We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from EPPs.
Q: How does my EPP update our Legal Authority, Backup Legal Authority, Certification Officer, or other staff contacts?
A: TEA has streamlined and automated the process for EPPs to request updates to contacts, including the Legal Authority, Backup Legal Authority, Primary Point of Contact (for district and ESC EPPs), Certification Officer, and Title II/Trewon contacts The EPP Change Requests Form is located on the Program Provider Resources page under Forms & Documentation. Once the update is processed, EPP staff will receive an email confirmation.
Q: We have candidates who applied and paid for their standard certificate but should have selected enhanced standard because they completed a residency. What should they do?
A: Before we can transfer the fee to the Enhanced Standard certificate application, the candidate will need to apply for the Enhanced Standard certificate. Please instruct the candidate to log into their TEAL account and complete the application for the "Enhanced Standard Certificate Texas Program" without paying the fee again. Once they have successfully completed the enhanced application, they should submit a Help Desk Ticket to the Educator Certification team to complete the fee transfer.
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 Education Specialist Assignments.
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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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