TEA Notifications
Educator Testing Transition
The Texas Educator Certification Examination Program has transitioned from ETS to Pearson effective September 1, 2018. Information concerning this change can be found at this location. If you previously had a testing account with ETS, it will be necessary to set up a new testing account with Pearson Vue before you can register to take any exams.
Changes to Retake Wait Time
Effective May 24, 2020, the retest wait time between exam attempts has decreased from 45 days to 30 days.
New Exam Requirement for Classroom Grade Levels that include PreK-6
A new Science of Teacher Reading exam (#293), will be required for all candidates recommended for certification after 12/30/20 in the following fields: PreK-3, EC-6 Core Subjects, 4-8 Core Subjects, 4-8 ELAR, and 4-8 ELAR/SS. Any candidate who has not been recommended by the program at the time will be required by state law to take and pass the #293 to be eligible at that point.
Changes to Principal Exam #068
Extensive changes have been made to the Principal Certification Examination. See below for TEA & Program Updates for additional information see below.
Changes to the 5 Attempt Limit have Taken Effect
Current Texas Education Code §21.048 limits candidates to four (4) attempts to retake any educator certification examination. This means that candidates are limited to a total of five attempts for any one given exam. The five attempts include the first initial attempt to pass the examination and four retakes. A subsection of the law, which previously counted all attempts of the same examination taken before September 1, 2015 as only one attempt, has expired. Effective September 1, 2018, ALL attempts of the same examination now count toward the five attempt testing limit regardless of when the examination was first attempted.
Candidate who did not test prior to 09/01/2015 will not be impacted by the changes. All attempts for these candidates have always been included in the overall attempt count
Principal Exam #068 Has Expired
The last time Principal candidates could use the now retired Principal Certification exam (TExES Exam #068) for certification purposes was October 31, 2019. Candidates seeking Principal Certification must now take the new replacement exam (#268 – Principal as Instructional Leader) as well as complete the Performance Assessment for School Leaders (#368 – PASL) which is a field-based assessment.
Previous program completers should contact the Principal Program Coordinator in the Department of Educational Leadership and Technology for more information concerning program and testing requirements needed to gain approval for both the PAIL and the PASL.
Program Notifications
Candidates who have not taken and passed certification exams and/or applied for certification within a timely manner of program completion run the risk of losing passed exams and certification eligibility due to unpredictable changes in state law and rules. Candidates may be required to repeat or complete additional coursework, pass practice exams and/or engage the services of an outside test preparation program, especially if the State replaces an expired exam with a new replacement exam, and/or changes certification standards.
It is the responsibility of candidates who have not completed certification requirements at the time of program completion to stay abreast and informed of any testing and certification changes that are implemented at the state level by reviewing the TEA and EPS websites.