 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.
You may subscribe to the newsletter or access previous editions
using the links below:
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Topic
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Description
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Event Date & Time
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ASEP Reporting 2025-2026 Webinar
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The annual ASEP Reporting Webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, August 4, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. CST. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the webinar. We encourage participation from Certification Officers, ASEP reporting staff, and any other EPP personnel involved in collecting, reviewing, or submitting ASEP data. Please feel free to share the registration information with anyone in your EPP who has responsibilities related to ASEP reporting or data management.
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Insight to Impact Dashboards July Training
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The I2I Dashboards Team will host its latest training, aimed to assist EPPs with improved data comprehension, analysis and application. The goal is to create a supportive community where EPPs can routinely share and tackle problems, provide insights and solutions, and receive value and benefits from the data.
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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: Charter School Closures
The following charter schools are officially closing on the Effective Date and thus are no longer acceptable placements for candidates completing field-based experiences (FBE) or clinical experiences:
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Bridgeway Preparatory Academy
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Meadowland Charter District
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Two Dimensions Preparatory Academy
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Goodwater Montessori School
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These LEAs will no longer appear in the drop-down menus for clinical experience records or intern/probationary certificate recommendation screens as of the Effective Date of closure. If your program has incomplete records that require access to one of these schools for data entry, please submit a help desk ticket to Preparation Programs and the Educator Preparation team will assist you with your request.
New: Limited Time Remaining to Complete Attestation of Compliance with State Law
Revisions adopted to TAC Chapter 228 [§228.31(e)] require all Texas EPPs to attest to compliance with certain coursework prohibitions and requirements, as statutorily required in TEC §21.0442(b)(3) since July 2025. The rule requires this attestation of compliance by September 1, 2026.
TEA sent this attestation document via Qualtrics to all Legal Authorities (or for ESC/District/Charter EPPs, the Primary Point of Contact) earlier in July. Reach out to EPPreview@tea.texas.gov if you need the link or if your link has expired.
Reminder: Residency Candidates on PREP Allotment Pages in ECOS
To ensure candidates appear on an LEA’s PREP Allotment page, EPPs must first create a Clinical Experience Record (CER). Candidates will not appear on the EPP PREP page until the LEA assigns both a PREP Allotment status and a campus assignment. EPPs should add these clinical experience records by August 1, 2026, to allow LEAs sufficient time to review and assign allotment status for each candidate.
Before creating CERs, EPPs should review and update enrollment records to ensure accurate candidate data and reporting. Keeping enrollment records current helps prevent data discrepancies and reduces the need for corrections later in the reporting process.
Updates related to ASEP Reporting 2025-2026
Reminder: Principal and Teacher Survey Roster Review
Each year, the Educator Data, Research, and Strategy (EDRS) team shares the teacher and principal survey rosters for EPPs to review. The rosters will be shared with EPP Legal Authorities, via ShareFile, in late July or early August. TEA will share additional updates about data sharing and roster review in August and September in this newsletter.
Updated: Countdown to ASEP Reporting 2025-2026
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, 2026. 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 3 ASEP Tasks 7/27-7/31/2026: Complete all admission reporting.
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Each year TEA invoices each EPP for each unique admission. To do this accurately, we ask that you verify that each candidate admitted in 9/1/2025-8/31/2026 has an accurate admission record, and includes 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 also view their admissions in ECOS. The steps are as follows:
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Go to ASEP>Maintain Admissions in your greenscreen.
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Select 2025-26 Reporting Year and click the green Search button. You will see all candidates admitted for 2025-2026.
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At the bottom of the page, you will see “Click Here to download the data in comma delimited format (Excel sheet)
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Reminder: Admission records for candidates admitted in 2025-2026 cannot be created after 8/31/2026 except for candidates admitted in the last week of August beginning August 25, 2026. Those records can be entered until ECOS locks the ASEP reporting year on 9/15/2026 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 9/1/2025 and 8/25/2026, the deadline for ensuring that their admission records are complete and correct is 8/31/2026.
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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 7/20-24/2026:
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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 use the EPP Change Request Form to update the contact information.
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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 that 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):
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Your LBB contact if you are a college or university.
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The staff that manages your data.
To verify contacts with TEA, please submit a Help Desk ticket to the Preparation Programs tile.
Reminder: Week 1 ASEP Tasks 7/13-17/2026:
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 four staff members:
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Trinity Bankhead
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Rebecca Bunting
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Jennifer Gonzalez
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Lorrie Ayers, Director
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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 2024-2025. 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 2025-2026 webinar on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 10:00 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 the PREP Program Allotment
Reminder: 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. Reminder that the school system partner is responsible for submission of this document. Please be in communication with your school system partners to ensure compliance with this requirement. As of July 15, 2026, there are over 700 incomplete partnership agreements that have been submitted, and we need your help!
DID YOU KNOW?
EPPs offering residency routes may have partnerships with school systems that have chosen to participate in the PREP Allotment, as well as school systems that are not participating in the PREP Allotment. There has been some confusion regarding the Enhanced Standard Certificate earned by residency candidates. If candidates meet the TAC Chapter 228 requirements for residency, they are exempt from the PPR certification exam and are eligible for the Enhanced Standard Certificate. Beginning with the 2027-2028 academic year, all candidates seeking an Enhanced Standard Certificate must meet all requirements of the PREP Residency Allotment, including the Content Academy requirements regardless of the candidate's participation in a paid or unpaid residency placement. (Note: Residency programs should be, at minimum, piloting Content Academy requirements during the 2027-2028 academic year with full implementation occurring during 2028-2029.) If an EPP has a candidate in an unpaid, non-PREP Allotment placement yet meets all the requirements, they are exempt from the PPR certification exam and are eligible for the Enhanced Standard Certificate.
Updates related to Insight to Impact
Reminder: Sign Up for July's Insight to Impact Dashboards Training
The Insight to Impact (I2I) Dashboards Team will bring you the latest in a series of training designed to shine a spotlight on the solutions that the I2I dashboards enable Educator Preparation Programs (EPP) to accomplish throughout Texas.
On Thursday, July 30, 2026, from 3:00-4:00 PM CST, the I2I Dashboards Team will host its latest training, aimed to assist EPPs with improved data comprehension, analysis and application. The goal is to create a supportive community where EPPs can routinely share and tackle problems, provide insights and solutions, and receive value and benefits from the data.
Please register in advance to attend the training.
Updates related to agency initiatives and opportunities
Reminder: EPP PREP Content extends a thank you to the EPP Faculty Fellows and Expert Reviewers
This summer, educator preparation faculty and subject matter experts from across Texas have partnered with TEA to review the new EPP PREP content. Through multiple rounds of review, participants are providing feedback on course content, assessments, and implementation considerations to help ensure the materials are rigorous, practice-based, and responsive to the needs of educator preparation programs.
This review process is being facilitated by Deans for Impact, which is coordinating reviewer engagement and synthesizing feedback throughout the summer and early fall. The expertise and perspective of our EPP Faculty Fellows and Expert Reviewers are invaluable as we work to strengthen educator preparation and support future educators across the state. We extend our sincere appreciation to the following individuals for their time, expertise, and commitment to this work:
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Dr. Leah Carruth, Angelo State University
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Dr. R Malatesha Joshi, Texas A&M University
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Sara Meeks, Dallas College
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Dr. Nancy Reis, University of Houston
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Dr. Robin Griffith, Texas Christian University
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Dr. Chase Young, Sam Houston State University
- Michelle Wagoner, ESC 19
- Dr. Joanna Neel, University of Texas-Tyler
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Dr. Melissa Wicker, Tarleton
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Dr. Lacy Brice , Texas Tech University
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Dr. Tina Valenzuela, Sam Houston State University
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Dr. Shea Culpepper, University of Houston
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Marco Delgado, University of Texas – El Paso
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Dr. Cathery Yeh, University of Texas -Austin
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Dr. Cynthia Lackey, Angelo State
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June Conti, YES Prep Teaching Excellence
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Dr. Gayle Warmbrodt, City Teaching Alliance Dallas College
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Dr. Antonio Fierro
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Dr. Erin Washburn
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Dr. Sarah Powell
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Dr. Jennifer McCray
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Dr. Janell Blunt
Thank you for helping shape the future of educator preparation in Texas.
We take this space to highlight questions that we have heard from EPPs.
Q: Who requests ECOS access for those at an EPP - the employee at the EPP, the Legal Authority, or TEA?
A: The employee who needs access must submit the ECOS access request through their own TEAL account. Neither the EPP's Primary Approver, Alternate Approver, Legal Authority nor TEA can submit the request on the employee's behalf.
- Create a TEAL account if they do not already have one.
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Log in to TEAL and navigate to My Application Accounts.
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Select Request New Account and choose ECOSEntities.
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Request the appropriate ECOS role(s) needed for their job responsibilities.
- Submit the request for approval.
Important: Employees should use their official EPP email address when creating their TEAL account and requesting ECOS access. Personal email addresses should not be used for EPP ECOS access requests.
After the employee submits the request, it is routed to the EPP's Primary Approver or Alternate Approver for review and approval. Once approved by the EPP, the request is routed to TEA for final approval and processing. Access is not granted until all required approvals have been completed.
The role of the Primary Approver and Alternate Approver is to review and approve access requests submitted by EPP staff. They do not create TEAL accounts or initiate ECOS access requests for employees. Likewise, TEA cannot create an account or request access on behalf of an employee. All ECOS access requests and role modification requests must be initiated by the individual who requires access.
Q: Where can I find step-by-step instructions for entering my data into ASEP/ECOS?
A: Detailed step-by-step instructions, screenshots, examples, and reporting guidance can be found in the EPP Data Reporting Manual. This manual serves as the primary resource for EPPs and provides guidance on entering, updating, and reporting data in ASEP/ECOS, including information related to candidates, finishers, clinical experiences, test approvals, and annual reporting requirements.
If you are unsure how to report a specific data element, first review the relevant section of the EPP Data Reporting Manual, as it contains the most comprehensive and up-to-date guidance available for ASEP/ECOS reporting.
The manual also includes explanations of reporting timelines, data submission expectations, frequently used fields, and examples designed to help EPP staff accurately report data and avoid common reporting errors. Because reporting requirements may change from year to year, EPPs should always refer to the current version of the manual when entering or reviewing data.
Q: Who is my assigned education specialist?
Your best source for information and support at the TEA.
As an Educator Preparation Program, your main point of contact is your Education Specialist.
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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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