What To Pursue?

TEA (Texas Education Agency) has proposed new rules to admission criteria for candidates applying to Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs). The proposed changes are to be implemented on January 1, 2020. You can view the proposed changes  here. 

Starting January 27, 2020

Instead of taking one exam to qualify to enroll in an EPP and to begin looking for a teaching position, candidates may be required to take 2 exams prior to teaching, aside from the PPR EC-12 exam.(Please refer to the tab section below)

Educator preparation programs may have local policies that require a candidate to pass a TX PACT exam as a requirement for admission, but those policies are local decisions. SoTex – ACP  requires candidates to take/pass the TX PACT** content exam prior to enrollment IF they do not qualify for an area you are seeking to pursue. (Please refer to the tab section below)

If a candidate wishes to take a content exam that is NOT the Special Education and Core EC-6 and does not have 12-15+ college credit hours on a specific content area(click HERE to see if you do), the candidate must take and pass the TX PACT content exam FIRST prior to enrolling South Texas Transition to Teaching-EPP. Once enrolled, the candidate will also need to take and pass the TExES*** content-specific pedagogy exam by EPP approval prior to internship. Upon completion of the required exams and the coursework training/observation hours, a candidate can start applying for a teaching position and obtain an Intern or Probationary certificate. (Please refer to the tab section below)

Since Special Education does not lend itself to a specific test subject matter, and due to broad content knowledge required for elementary education(Core Subjects EC-6), a basic skills assessment will be used in place for these 2 content areas for candidates to take through the TX PACT** route prior to enrolling in an EPP . Once enrolled, candidates will also be required to take the TExES*** Special Education EC-12 and/or the Core Subject EC-6 exams. Candidates mus comply with the EPP’s Testing Policy to obtain access to register for any exam. Once all required exams are passed and the coursework training/observation hours are completed, a candidate can start applying for a teaching position and obtain an Intern or Probationary certificate. (Please refer to the tab section below)

*Current examination process: Candidates must pass the TExES exams  prior to enrolling in an EPP program (Example: TExES Special Education EC-12, TExES Core Subjects EC-6, TExES ELA&R 4-8)

**TX PACT exam – Exam required to take prior to enrolling in an EPP by January 27

***TExES exam – Exam that may be required to take AFTER enrolling in an EPP upon determination of approval. 

5 time limit is still in place for all TExES exams.

After January 27, applicants interested in enrolling in SoTex ACP must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP:

This exam includes three subtests:

• TX PACT: Essential Academic Skills (Subtest I: Reading) (701)
• TX PACT: Essential Academic Skills (Subtest II: Writing) (702)
• TX PACT: Essential Academic Skills (Subtest III: Mathematics) (703)

Starting on January 27 Candidates must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP if the candidate does not have the 12-15+ college credit hours:

TExES 217 English Language Arts & Reading 4-8

TExES 293 Science of Teaching & Reading 

Starting on January 27 Candidates must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP if the candidate does not have the 12-15+ college credit hours in the selected content area:

Starting on January 27 Candidates must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP if the candidate does not have the 12-15+ college credit hours in the selected content area:

Starting on January 27 Candidates must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP if the candidate does not have the 12-15+ college credit hours in the selected content area:

Starting on January 27 Candidates must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP if the candidate does not have the 12-15+ college credit hours in the selected content area:

Starting on January 27 Candidates must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP if the candidate does not have the 12-15+ college credit hours in the selected content area:

Starting on January 27 Candidates must take/pass the following exam before enrolling in the EPP if the candidate does not have the 12-15+ college credit hours for the selected exams: