Certification and Testing
Certification and Testing
TAMUK annually provides the Texas Education Agency and State Board for Educator Certification information about our programs.Click here to learn more about our accreditation status and performance.
Policies
- Fingerprint and Background Check
Pursuant to the Texas Education Code [19 TAC §227.1(b)(1)], candidates must undergo a criminal history background check prior to employment as an educator; and Pursuant to the [19 TAC §227.1(b)(2)], candidates must undergo a criminal history background check prior to clinical teaching.
Preliminary Evaluation of Teacher Eligibility
Per HB 1508 effective September 1, 2017, all applicants to teacher preparation should be aware of the following:
- An individual who has been convicted of an offense may be ineligible for issuance of an occupational license upon completion of an educational program.
- A person may request a criminal history evaluation letter regarding the personal eligibility for a license issued by the licensing authority.
To learn more about the requirements involved in a Preliminary History Criminal Evaluation, please contact the Certification Coordinator or visit https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/investigations.
Passing Scores Required Before Student Teaching
Effective January 1, 2020, all candidates accepted into the undergraduate traditional educator preparation program will be required to pass the content area exam for the grade level and subject area of the teaching certificate & STR (if applicable to certificate) sought to qualify for admission to student teaching according to established deadlines:
April 15th for fall semester student teaching and October 15th for spring semester student teaching.
Passing Scores Required Before Internship
Click here for Test Attempt Limit informationAs of September 1, 2015, candidates for all certification areas will be limited to five (5) total attempts on any certification test.
Grounds for Dismissal from the Educator Preparation Program
TAC §228.20(h) All EPPs shall have a published exit policy for dismissal of candidates that is reviewed and signed by candidates upon admission.
Texas A&M University-Kingsville is committed to educating, graduating, and certifying candidates who will be effective educators. Evidence of potential effectiveness includes academic, dispositional, professional, and personal qualities. Teacher candidates are carefully assessed throughout the educator preparation program for teaching dispositions as well as teaching skills and successful course completion. If a candidate’s major or overall GPA falls below the required GPA or other issues arise concerning a candidate’s fitness, ability, and/or demonstration of the ability to teach, the teacher candidate may be dismissed from the program.
Reasons candidates may be removed from the Educator Preparation Program may include, but not be limited to, the following, at the discretion of a committee consisting of faculty and EPP representatives:
- Failure to maintain a minimum 2.75 grade point average both overall and in major area of study.
- Standard of Conduct/Educator Code of Ethics violation.
- Failure to make continual progress towards program completion/being inactive for more than 1 year (including no communication with the EPP Staff).
- Failure to earn a minimum of a “C” in all teacher education courses.
- Failure to become certified within five years of graduation/finishing.
- Failure to follow all attendance, dress code, and other guidelines.
- After finishing the program, a significant change in the standards or test requirements for the certification field in which the student prepared and the candidate has not successfully completed all required certification testing.
- School/district requests that the candidate be removed from a field/clinical teaching assignment.
TAMUK Certification Office
The TAMUK Certification Office serves current and former TAMUK students who are in the process of preparing for their educator certification exams, including the TExES and PASL. To best utilize our website, begin with the Getting Started section for information on setting up your TEAL Account, current testing policies, and information about required certification exams.
TEAL Educator Account Access
WHAT IS TEAL?
Every student who is admitted to an Education Preparation Program must create an Educator Profile through the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Educator Certification Online System (ECOS). TEAL is your personal gateway into TEA’s system where you will apply for teaching certificates, renew your certificates, print copies of your certificates, and view the certification exams you have taken. Whenever the Texas Education Agency needs to contact you, they will use the contact information contained in your profile, so it is important that you keep your phone number, home address, and email address current.
Complete STEPS 1 and 2 to establish your TEAL Educator Account. Read the instructions carefully.
STEP 1 — Creating Your Educator Account
Go to https://tea.texas.gov/ and click TEAL Login at the top of the main page.
Click Request New User Account.
Enter required information on the TEAL user information page. You must enter the name in TEAL as it exists on your Texas Driver's License/State ID card. Do not use nicknames (example: "Bill" vs. "William") or other variations. Also, capitalize the first letter of your first and last name and make the rest lower case. For example: Jane Doe; Not JANE DOE or jane doe.
Select "Educator" for the Organization Type, enter your Social Security Number and birth year. Please make sure you enter your Social Security Number accurately. If you do not have a Social Security Number, please contact Samantha LaRue at Samantha.larue@tamuk.edu or call 361-593-4172.
Enter your phone number and address. It is recommended that you use whatever address is tied to your debit and/or credit cards. This address can be updated at any time if you move.
Click Submit.
You will be assigned a username—be sure to write it down in a secure location—and prompted to create a password. Your password must meet the TEAL security requirements listed on that page. Then, you will be prompted to set up answers to three security questions. The answers to your security questions will be used to reset your password if needed.
After completing the security questions, you should see the Self-Service menu on the left side of your screen and a link that reads View My Educator Certification Account with your TEA ID number beneath it on the right side of the screen. If you do not see the "View My Educator Certification Account link", complete the additional steps below. If you do see the link, continue to Step 2 – Educator Profile Setup.
Complete the following additional steps if you see the "Apply for Access" link instead of the "View My Educator Certification Account" link after logging on to TEAL.
From the Self-Service menu, click My Application Accounts.
Then click Request New Account.
Click on ECOSEducator.
Enter your Social Security Number and birth year, then click Create.
The system should display a confirmation message in green. If an error message is displayed, you will need to file a Help Desk Ticket with TEA. You will click on the "TEAL Access" tile to submit the ticket. Let them know the specific error message you receive.
If you receive the green confirmation message, click back on the Applications tab and click Refresh Links. You should now see the "View My Educator Certification Account" link with your TEA ID number listed beneath it. Proceed to Step 2 – Educator Profile Setup.
STEP 2 — Educator Profile Setup
Click on the "View my Educator Certification Account" link above your TEA ID number to navigate into your TEAL Educator Profile.
You will need to fill in any field that has a RED asterisk (*) next to it. Fields that are grayed out can only be changed by a TEA administrator.
Make sure that the following fields has been filled in:
Gender
Phone Number
Ethnicity/Race (click on ‘Select/Update Ethnicity’ to choose from a list of options)
Driver License Number
Driver License State (state that issued your license)
Mailing Address (leave foreign address blank if you are a US citizen)
Billing Address (leave foreign address blank if you are a US citizen)
After all fields are updated, click Continue at the bottom of the page.
You are now in your TEAL Educator Profile! On the left, you will see a menu with various options, including Applications. At the end of your graduating semester, if you have completed all requirements and passed your certification exams, you will navigate back to this screen and use the Applications tab to apply for certification. You will also use this profile to renew your educator certificates every five years, or add additional certifications for any exams you complete beyond your initial certification program. Do not apply for certification until you meet all eligibility requirements. A list of requirements can be found at https://coe.unt.edu/educator-preparation-office/educator-certification along with instructions for how to apply for certification at the end of your graduating semester.
You will not use your Educator Profile to register for your certification exams. You will need to create a testing account to register for all of your certification exams.
Texas Administrative Code, §230.21(e) specifies the state laws for certification requirements, including certification exams, which TAMUK must abide by. All candidates for either an initial teaching certificate or an advanced professional certificate are required by Texas law to pass all certification exams aligned with the certification being sought. The TAMUK Educator Preparation Program cannot recommend a candidate for any certificate until they have passed all their tests.
All certification candidates should be aware that standards for certification are revised by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) periodically. This means that certification exams and certificate requirements also change. While TAMUK endeavors to communicate all upcoming changes to current and former students via email and on the Certification Office webpage, it is the responsibility of each certification candidate to stay current on exam changes and certification requirements.
Required Certification Exams
Teacher Candidates: Each certification program has a specific set of exams that are required for certification, as determined by the State Board for Educator Certification. The TAMUK Educator Preparation Program has specific exam policies and deadlines in place to help ensure candidates will complete exam requirements prior to program completion.
Advanced certification candidates will take the TExES exam directly related to the certificate they are seeking (ie. Principal as Instructional Leader, Superintendent, Educational Diagnostician, School Counselor, or Reading Specialist). Principal candidates must also successfully complete the PASL exam for certification.
Exam approval is required before a candidate will be able to register for any official certification exam. In order to receive test approval for the TExES or PASL exam required by their certification program, candidates should identify and follow the steps below as they relate to their certification program. Please be advised: TAMUK can only grant exam approval for exams directly related to each candidate’s certification program. After a candidate has graduated and earned their initial certificate, the Texas Education Agency does allow “certification by exam” for teachers who wish to become certified in additional areas.
Teacher Candidates must complete all of the following steps in order to receive approval to take their required TExES certification exams:
Complete the current Testing Requirements provided by the Certification Office which includes specific study time requirements, completion of modules (flashcards, quizzes, etc) and achieving a score of 90 or higher on each of the TExES practice exams required for your certification program.
Candidates who do not achieve a 90 or higher on the practice exam will receive additional requirements to complete in preparation to retake the practice test.
Advanced Certificate Candidates (Principal, Superintendent, Reading Specialist, School Counselor, and Educational Diagnostician) are granted exam approval after they have been fully admitted by their program area and have met any program-specific requirements for exam approval. You should correspond directly with your program advisor about your requirements. Your program advisor will submit your approval to test to the Certification Office, who will then grant you final test approval.
All teacher candidates must pass their actual TExES content and STR, if applicable prior to beginning Clinical Teaching.
Clinical Teaching Semester Exam Deadline
Fall Semester April 15th
Spring Semester October 15th
All candidates should complete any remaining exam requirements during Clinical Teaching in order to ensure they will be eligible for certification upon graduation. Candidates may graduate without passing their required exams but will not be eligible for certification until all exams have been passed, as this is a state requirement.
Current law states that a candidate for any certificate is limited to five (5) total attempts to pass each of their required certification exams. Candidates who are unsuccessful after their fifth attempt must request additional attempts through a test-limit waiver submitted to the Texas Education Agency.
TAMUK candidates will receive test approval for their first exam attempt after completing the requirements listed on the TExES Testing Approval Requirements form. Candidates who do not pass their actual certification exams will be granted successive testing attempts based upon additional remediation requirements established by the Certification Office.
Study Tips
Download the preparation manual for your exam at https://www.tx.nesinc.com/ under the “Prepare” menu and familiarize yourself with the content covered in each domain and competency on your exam.
Ask yourself, “How well do I know the content?” Using a Likert Scale of 0—5, where 0 is not at all and 5 is Very Well, rate your confidence for each domain and competency.
Determine what resources and materials you already have on hand to help you study for this content. Then, determine what you might need to help you study (Flashcards? Practice Exams? A study group?) . Begin acquiring the materials you need!
Establish study deadlines for yourself and focus your studying on the areas you feel least confident with.
Take a practice exam prior to your actual test! This will help you get an idea of what the test will look like and will also give you an idea of what areas you still need to focus on. While passing a practice exam is not a guarantee that you will successfully pass the actual exam, it is a good measure of your knowledge, and can be used to help guide your studying even further!
Be sure to get plenty of sleep the night before you take your exam.
Eat a healthy breakfast.
Relax and be confident!! Don’t second guess yourself!
Study Materials and Resources
Test Prep Resources - Preparation manuals, tutorials and other materials to help you prepare for your exams. (https://www.tx.nesinc.com/)
Interactive Practice Exam - Full-length practice exam available for PPR EC-12 and Science of Teaching Reading. (https://www.tx.nesinc.com)
Certify Teacher - Offers access to interactive practice exams to TAMUK students for a discounted price. Students must 1.) sign up using their TAMUK email address 2.) agree to be added to the control panel and 3.) use the promo code TAMUK4728 to receive the discount. (https://www.certifyteacher.com)
NOTE: Must use TAMUK student email for discount code to work.
240 Tutoring - Provides in-depth review, flashcards, and interactive practice questions. Email Samantha.larue@tamuk.edu for the subscription link to receive the discounted rate.
Passage Preparation - Provides courses for a fee that help candidates prepare for their certification exams. (https://passagepreparation.com/states/texas/)
Search Quizlet.com for the name of your exam to find free flashcards and other materials others have used to help prepare for the TExES exams.
You may also want to check out study books from the TAMUK Certification Office or purchase your own from one of the following reputable companies:
MoMetrix (https://www.mometrix.com/) some books are available for checkout through the Certification Office.
Pass the TExES (https://www.passthetexes.com/)
Free TExES Practice Tests (https://texestest.org/texes/practice-tests)
Contact Information:
Samantha N. LaRue
Administrative Associate III
College of Education & Human Performance
Texas A&M University – Kingsville
Rhode Hall – 112
O: (361) 593-4172
E: Samantha.Larue@tamuk.edu
Texas A&M University – Kingsville
Rhode Hall – 112C
O: (361) 593-2894
E: maria.canales@tamuk.edu