19 Tex. Admin. Code § 227.10 - Admission Criteria
(a) The educator
preparation program (EPP) delivering educator preparation shall require the
following minimum criteria of all applicants seeking initial certification in
any class of certificate, unless specified otherwise, prior to admission to the
program.
(1) For a university undergraduate or
post-baccalaureate program, an applicant shall be enrolled in an accredited
institution of higher education (IHE).
(2) For an alternative certification program
or post-baccalaureate program, an applicant shall have, at a minimum, a
bachelor's degree earned from and conferred by an accredited IHE.
(3) For an undergraduate university program,
alternative certification program, or post-baccalaureate program, to be
eligible for admission into an EPP, an applicant shall have a grade point
average (GPA) of at least 2.5 before admission.
(A) The GPA shall be calculated from an
official transcript as follows:
(i) 2.5 on
all coursework previously attempted by the person at an accredited IHE:
(I) at which the applicant is currently
enrolled (undergraduate university program formal admission, alternative
certification program contingency admission, or post-baccalaureate program
contingency admission); or
(II)
from which the most recent bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited IHE
was conferred (alternative certification program formal admission or
post-baccalaureate program formal admission); or
(ii) 2.5 in the last 60 semester credit hours
on all coursework previously attempted by the person at an accredited IHE:
(I) at which the applicant is currently
enrolled (undergraduate university program formal admission, alternative
certification program contingency admission, or post-baccalaureate program
contingency admission). If an applicant has less than 60 semester credit hours
on the official transcript from the accredited IHE at which the applicant is
currently enrolled, the EPP shall use grades from all coursework previously
attempted by a person at the most recent accredited institution(s) of higher
education, starting with the most recent coursework from the official
transcript(s), to calculate a GPA for the last 60 semester credit hours;
or
(II) from which the most recent
bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited IHE was conferred. If an
applicant has hours beyond the most recent degree, an EPP may use grades from
the most recent 60 hours of coursework from an accredited IHE (alternative
certification program formal admission or post-baccalaureate program formal
admission).
(B) In accordance with the Texas Education
Code, (TEC), §21.0441(b), an exception to the minimum GPA requirement may
be granted by the program director only in extraordinary circumstances and may
not be used by a program to admit more than 10% of any incoming class of
candidates. An applicant is eligible for this exception if:
(i) documentation and certification from the
program director that an applicant's work, business, or career experience
demonstrates achievement equivalent to the academic achievement represented by
the GPA requirement; and
(ii) in
accordance with the TEC, §
21.0441(a)(2)(B),
an applicant must pass an appropriate content certification examination as
specified in paragraph (4)(C) of this subsection for each subject in which the
applicant seeks certification prior to admission. In accordance with the TEC,
§
21.0441(b),
applicants who do not meet the minimum GPA requirement and have previously been
admitted into an EPP may request permission to register for an appropriate
content certification examination if the applicant is not seeking admission to
the same EPP that previously granted test approval for a certification
examination in the same certification class.
(C) An applicant who is seeking a career and
technical education (CTE) certificate that does not require a degree from an
accredited IHE is exempt from the minimum GPA requirement.
(D) An applicant who does not meet the
minimum GPA requirement and is seeking certification in a class other than
classroom teacher must perform at or above a score equivalent to a 2.5 GPA on
the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytic Writing sections of
the GRE® (Graduate Record Examinations) revised General Test. The State
Board for Educator Certification will use equivalency scores established by the
Educational Testing Service, and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will publish
those equivalency scores annually on the TEA website.
(4) For an applicant who will be seeking an
initial certificate in the classroom teacher class of certificate, the
applicant shall have successfully completed, prior to admission, at least:
(A) a minimum of 12 semester credit hours in
the subject-specific content area for the certification sought, unless
certification sought is for mathematics or science at or above Grade 7;
or
(B) 15 semester credit hours in
the subject-specific content area for the certification sought if the
certification sought is for mathematics or science at or above Grade 7;
or
(C) a passing score on the
appropriate content certification examination as specified in the figure
provided in this subparagraph.
(5) For an
applicant who will be seeking an initial certificate in a class other than
classroom teacher, the applicant shall meet the minimum requirements for
admission described in Chapter 239 of this title (relating to Student Services
Certificates); Chapter 241 of this title (relating to Certification as
Principal); and Chapter 242 of this title (relating to Superintendent
Certificate). If an applicant has not met the minimum certification, degree,
and/or experience requirement(s) for issuance of a standard certificate prior
to admission, the EPP shall inform the applicant in writing of any deficiency
prior to admission.
(6) An
applicant must demonstrate basic skills in reading, written communication, and
mathematics by meeting the requirements of the Texas Success Initiative under
the rules established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)
in Part 1, Chapter 4, Subchapter C, of this title (relating to Texas Success
Initiative), including one of the requirements established by §
4.54 of this title (relating to
Exemptions, Exceptions, and Waivers).
(7) An applicant must demonstrate the English
language proficiency skills as specified in §
230.11 of this title (relating to
General Requirements).
(A) An applicant for
CTE certification that does not require a bachelor's degree from an accredited
IHE may satisfy the English language proficiency requirement with an
associate's degree or high school diploma or the equivalent that was earned at
an accredited IHE or an accredited high school in the United States.
(B) An applicant to a university
undergraduate program that leads to a bachelor's degree may satisfy the English
language proficiency requirement by meeting the English language proficiency
requirement of the accredited IHE at which the applicant is enrolled.
(8) An applicant must submit an
application and participate in either an interview or other screening
instrument to determine if the EPP applicant's knowledge, experience, skills,
and aptitude are appropriate for the certification sought.
(9) An applicant must fulfill any other
academic criteria for admission that are published and applied consistently to
all EPP applicants.
(b)
An EPP may adopt admission requirements in addition to and not in conflict with
those required in this section.
(c)
An EPP may not admit an applicant who:
(1)
has been reported as completing all EPP requirements by another EPP in the same
certification category or class, unless the applicant only needs certification
examination approval; or
(2) has
been employed for three years in a public school under a permit, intern, or
probationary certificate as specified in Chapter 230, Subchapter D, of this
title (relating to Types and Classes of Certificates Issued), unless the
applicant is seeking clinical teaching that may lead to the issuance of an
initial standard certificate.
(d) An EPP may admit an applicant for CTE
certification who has met the experience and preparation requirements specified
in Chapter 230 of this title (relating to Professional Educator Preparation and
Certification) and Chapter 233 of this title (relating to Categories of
Classroom Teaching Certificates).
(e) An EPP may admit an applicant for the
Trade and Industrial Workforce Training: Grades 6-12 certification who has met
the following requirements:
(1) has been
issued a high school diploma or a postsecondary credential, certificate, or
degree;
(2) has seven years of
full-time wage-earning experience within the preceding 10 years in an approved
occupation for which instruction is offered;
(3) holds with respect to that occupation a
current license, certificate, or registration, as applicable, issued by a
nationally recognized accrediting agency based on a recognized test or
measurement; and
(4) within the
period described by paragraph (2) of this subsection, has not been the subject
of a complaint filed with a licensing entity or other agency that regulates the
occupation of the person, other than a complaint that was determined baseless
or unfounded by that entity or agency.
(f) An EPP may admit an applicant who has met
the minimum academic criteria through credentials from outside the United
States that are determined to be equivalent to those required by this section
using the procedures and standards specified in Chapter 245 of this title
(relating to Certification of Educators from Other Countries). An EPP at an
entity that is accredited by an accrediting organization recognized by the
THECB may use its own foreign credential evaluation service to meet the
requirement described in §
245.10(a)(2) of
this title (relating to Application Procedures), if the entity is in good
standing with its accrediting organization.
(g) An applicant is eligible to enroll in an
EPP for the purpose of completing the course of instruction, defined in §
228.45(b) of
this title (relating to Coursework and Training Requirements for Early
Childhood: Prekindergarten-Grade 3 Certification, that is required for the
issuance of an Early Childhood: Prekindergarten-Grade 3 certificate if the
individual holds a valid standard, provisional, or one-year certificate
specified in §
230.31 of this title (relating to
Types of Certificates) in one of the following certificate categories:
(1) Bilingual Generalist: Early
Childhood-Grade 4;
(2) Bilingual
Generalist: Early Childhood-Grade 6;
(3) Core Subjects: Early Childhood-Grade
6;
(4) Core/Fine Arts/Physical
Education/Health with the Science of Teaching Reading: Early Childhood-Grade
6;
(5) Core/Special Education with
the Science of Teaching Reading: Early Childhood-Grade 6;
(6) Core/Bilingual Education Spanish with the
Science of Teaching Reading: Early Childhood-Grade 6;
(7) Core/English as a Second Language
Supplemental with the Science of Teaching Reading: Early Childhood-Grade
6;
(8) Core with the Science of
Teaching Reading: Early Childhood-Grade 6;
(9) Early Childhood Education;
(10) Elementary--General;
(11) Elementary--General (Grades
1-6);
(12) Elementary--General
(Grades 1-8);
(13) Elementary Early
Childhood Education (Prekindergarten-Grade 6);
(14) Elementary Self-Contained (Grades
1-8);
(15) English as a Second
Language Generalist: Early Childhood-Grade 4;
(16) English as a Second Language Generalist:
Early Childhood-Grade 6;
(17)
Generalist: Early Childhood-Grade 4;
(18) Generalist: Early Childhood-Grade
6;
(19) Kindergarten;
(20) Prekindergarten-Grade
5--General;
(21)
Prekindergarten-Grade 6--General; or
(22) Teacher of Young
Children--General.
Notes
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