About the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program

Computer-Administered Tests

The AAFCS Program

The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) examinations test the content area knowledge and skills of Texas educator candidates pursuing one of the state's teacher certifications in Family and Consumer Sciences.

The following examinations are currently used for Texas educator certification:

  • Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), Composite Examination (200)
  • Hospitality, Nutrition, and Food Science (HNFS) Examination (201)
  • Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) Examination (202)

The AAFCS examinations are nationally available exams. AAFCS licensed the content for these exams to Pearson, allowing Pearson to administer the exams and offer preparation materials on the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program website. Information about the purpose of these national exams is available on the AAFCS website opens in a new window.

The PACT Program

Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 227, opens in a new window requires certain candidates to take and pass a Pre-Admission Content Test (PACT) for admission into an educator preparation program. Taking a PACT is also a requirement for candidates participating in the intensive pre-service (IPS) route or pursuing a teaching assignment at some Texas charter schools.

Visit the Pre-Admission Content Test (PACT) page on this website to learn more about the purpose of these examinations and testing eligibility requirements.

The TASC and TASC–ASL™ Programs

These programs are extensions of the TExES program for certification in specific areas.

  • The Texas Assessment of Sign Communication™ (TASC™) is for candidates who plan to teach students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. The TASC assesses sign communication proficiency in one or more of several sign communication systems used in Texas classrooms.
  • The Texas Assessment of Sign Communication–American Sign Language™ (TASC–ASL™) is for candidates who plan to teach ASL as a Language other than English. The TASC–ASL assesses proficiency in American Sign Language (ASL) exclusively.
  • Both the TASC and TASC–ASL tests use an interview format.
  • Persons who are seeking the Teacher of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing certificate are not required to pass the TASC for certification, but may be required to pass the TASC or TASC–ASL to be assigned to relevant classrooms.
  • Persons who are seeking the Teacher of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing certificate to teach in a classroom in which another communication method is predominantly used, such as oral/aural or cued speech, are not required to pass the TASC or the TASC–ASL. These candidates will have their communication proficiency assessed by their EPPs.

More information about the TASC and TASC–ASL programs is available on the Exams section of this website.

The TExES™ Program

Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §230.21(a) opens in a new window requires every person seeking educator certification in Texas to perform satisfactorily on comprehensive examinations. The purpose of these examinations is to ensure that each educator has the prerequisite content and professional knowledge necessary for an entry-level position in Texas public schools. The Texas Examinations of Educator Standards™ (TExES™) program was developed for this purpose.

The TExES Educator Standards, based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), form the foundation for the TExES exams. Developing the exams was a collaborative process involving classroom teachers and other educators from public and charter schools, university and educator preparation program (EPP) faculty, representatives from professional educator organizations, content experts, and members of the community.

The TExES exams are criterion-referenced examinations designed to measure a candidate's knowledge in relation to an established criterion rather than to the performance of other candidates. All of the exams in the TExES program contain selected-response questions. Some exams also have additional types of questions (e.g., open-ended written or oral responses). For more information about individual tests and exam composition, see the information about each exam in the Exams section of this website.

Portfolio-Based Assessments

edTPA

Stanford University faculty and staff at the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) developed edTPA. They received substantive advice and feedback from teachers and teacher educators and drew from experience gained from over 25 years of developing performance-based assessments of teaching, including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Standards portfolio, and the Performance Assessment for California Teachers.

The design and review teams have included hundreds of university faculty, national subject-matter organization representatives (e.g., NCTM, NCTE, NSTA), and K–12 teachers. Stanford University is the exclusive author and owner of edTPA.

edTPA is a performance-based, subject-specific assessment and support system used by educator preparation programs throughout the United States to emphasize, measure, and support the skills and knowledge that all teachers need from Day 1 in the classroom. For each handbook field, the placement is a Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade classroom. edTPA is a subject-specific assessment that features a common architecture focused on three tasks: Planning, Instruction, and Assessment.

Aspiring teachers must prepare a portfolio of materials during their student teaching clinical experience. edTPA requires aspiring teachers to demonstrate readiness to teach through lesson plans designed to support their students' strengths and needs, engage real students in ambitious learning, analyze whether their students are learning, and adjust their instruction to become more effective. Teacher candidates submit unedited video recordings of themselves at work in a real classroom as part of a portfolio that is scored by highly trained educators. edTPA builds on decades of teacher performance assessment development and research regarding teaching skills and practices that improve student learning.

Nondiscrimination Statement

The Texas Education Agency and Pearson do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability in the administration of the testing program or the provision of related services.

Top of Page