Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES)
Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test (BTLPT)
Texas Examinations for Master Teachers (TExMaT)
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has developed assessments for each educator certificate, called Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES). All initial certification candidates must pass at least two state exams—a content and a pedagogy exam. Some initial certification candidates must pass more than two exams: Candidates seeking bilingual certification must take the Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test (BTLPT) in addition to their content and pedagogy exams. Candidates seeking special education certification must take two content exams and a pedagogy exam. Candidates who are seeking a professional certification, such as Principal, Reading Specialist, School Librarian, or School Counselor, must pass one TExES. To determine which state assessments are required for a certificate, candidates should check their degree or certification plan, view the School of Education (SoE) bulletin board in the hallway outside Bayou 1231, or ask an SoE Academic Adviser.
Initial certification candidates at UHCL may register to take their state assessments on any of the test administration dates under the following conditions:
Must have an approved degree or certification plan on file in the School of Education that matches the state assessments for which they are registering.
Must be admitted to the Teacher Education Program.
Initial certification candidates and professional certification candidates should register online, using their TEA ID number. A candidate's TEA number is found at www.tea.state.tx.us. Most initial certification candidates will need to set up an account with TEA and then update their personal profile page. To register, log onto the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Web site at www.texes.ets.org and set up a New User account. Use the exact personal information for this account as in the TEA account. Follow directions for registering for an exam, using TEA ID number retrieved from TEA account.
If the candidate does not see the appropriate TExES listed when registering, call the UHCL School of Education's Office of State Assessments at 281-283-3609. If the candidate has any other problems registering, call the Educational Testing Services (ETS) at 1-800-205-2626.
All test registrations are to be done online, unless test taker has no way of paying the test fees electronically, in which case registration may be done by telephone at 800-205-2626.
The following aids are available to students to prepare for the state assessments:
Library. The UHCL Neumann Library has the ETS TExES study guides on reserve for candidates' use. The library also has TExES study guides other than those published by ETS. The curriculum library contains textbooks for all grade levels and most subject areas, which candidates may find useful in preparing for content exams.
Review Sessions/Tutoring. Faculty often work with candidates to help prepare them for the state assessments through individual tutoring sessions.
Practice Tests. Practice tests are administered in the course TCED 4010 (Senior Seminar). They are also administered by SoE's Office of State Assessments about once a month. See Schedule for Practice State Assessments for specific dates.
TExES are administered two ways:
As paper-based tests (PBT)
As computer-administered tests (CAT)
The paper-based test dates for the 2012-2013 academic year are:
November 3, 2012
June 8, 2013
Dates for computer-administered tests are disclosed when registering.
For advising about teacher or professional certification, contact the SOE Advising Office.
