The Texas Examinations of Educator Standards 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. The TExES Educator Standards, based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, form the foundation for the TExES tests.
Jessica Powell
940-369-8601
Texas Administrative Code, §230.21(e) specifies the laws for educator testing which UNT must abide by. All certification candidates need to be aware that current law limits the number of attempts that can be made for each exam. Students will have a total of five attempts (initial, and 4 retakes) on each of their required certification exams. Candidates who are unsuccessful after their fifth attempt must request additional attempts through a test-limit waiver.
Members of the military and their spouses may be eligible for certain fee waivers in regards to certification expenses. Currently, UNT has no programs that offer assistance with the expense of your exams or certification fees. It is the student's responsibility to secure funding for exams, fingerprinting, and application fees related to the certification process.
All Undergraduate and Post-Baccalaureate candidates are granted test approval for their certification exams upon admission to the Teacher Education program. Candidates in professional programs (i.e. Principal, Superintendent, School Counseling, School Librarian, or Educational Diagnostician) will receive test approval after certain program requirements have been satisfied (please visit with your program advisor for more information). UNT will only grant test approval for exams directly related to your certification program. If a district wishes to hire you for an area not associated with your certification program, you must wait until you have graduated and obtained your initial teaching certificate before you will be eligible to take additional exams. There is no exception to this policy. Candidates do not need to provide UNT with their testing results, as the TExES Success Office automatically receives them.
Candidates for certification are ineligible to be certified if they have not passed all required exams, including any supplemental exams that were part of their program at UNT. It is in a candidate’s best interest to complete all testing prior to graduation. Students who graduate and do not pass all of their certification exams or do not apply for certification before exams expire will not receive automatic approval to the new exams. If you are a former student whose program or exams have expired, please read Former Students/Expired Exams section under Exam Registration for more information about the process to request test approval.
All candidates should be aware of the costs associated with certification upon admission to the Teacher Education program. The cost for TExES certification exams ranges from $116 - $200 per exam. (NOTE: Principal candidates should be aware that there is an additional $375 Performance Assessment for School Leaders (PASL) in additional to their TExES certification exam.) Candidates can locate the cost of their TExES certification exams by going to http://tx.nesinc.com and locating the required exams under the Exams menu. Candidates who are not sure which exams are required for their program should download their program-specific Testing Plan from the Getting Started menu.
Undergraduate students must take their content and all applicable supplemental (Science of Teaching Reading, ESL, Bilingual, BTLPT, or Special Education EC-12) PRACTICE exams prior to any observations courses (i.e. prior to PDS 1, EDCI 4500, EDSE 4840, etc.). Practice exams can be scheduled using the calendar on this page. Students must take their REAL content and all applicable supplemental exams the semester prior to Clinical Teaching (i.e. during PDS 1, EDCI 4500, EDSE 4840, etc.). Students must take their REAL pedagogy (PPR EC-12) exam during their Clinical Teaching semester.
Post-Baccalaureate students should take their practice exams prior to their real exam. Students will take their REAL content and all applicable supplemental exams the semester prior to Clinical Teaching, and will take their REAL pedagogy exam during their Clinical Teaching semester. If you are planning to complete Practicum in place of Clinical Teaching, please contact your program advisor about the testing requirements related to the issuance of Intern and Probationary certification. You will not be eligible for Practicum if you have not completed the appropriate exam requirements
Students who are unsuccessful in their testing attempts will receive an email from the TExES Success Office with information about how to gain test approval for their next attempt. UNT must manually grant test approval between attempts. Please wait for our office to contact you before you reach out with questions; we will likely address all questions in our correspondence to you.
UNT’s policy for granting successive test attempts is based upon a tiered remediation system. Students must complete all remediation as detailed in our correspondence to you in order to satisfy requirements and be released for an additional attempt.
TExES Preparation Manuals - Provides a breakdown of the exams, strategies for taking the exams, and sample questions with rationales. Each certification exam has it's own Preparation Manual.
TExES Student Profile Worksheet - Designed to gather information that may help you prepare for your certification exams.
TEKS Standards - The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills are the standards that your state certification exams are testing you over. Do you know what TEKS you will be responsible to teach or how to align them to each grade level? Being familiar with the TEKS will not only help you on your exams, but will help prepare you for your teaching career.
240 Tutoring - Online, comprehensive study guides, flashcards, and practice exams that are guaranteed to prepare a student for their certification exams. Email coe-tso@unt.edu for an invite to the site and receive a discount of the normal price. You must use your UNT email address. Students who ask for the discount will pay a monthly subscription of $20 and will have access to every study guide offered by 240 Tutoring. The normal price is $39.99/mo. You can cancel at any time.
Certify Teacher - Interactive practice exams, study materials, flashcards, and more. UNT Students can receive a discount on products by using their UNT email address and the promotion code UNT4728. This code is only valid for UNT students.
Study.com — Videos, quizzes, and study guides for educator candidates in various subject areas. Email coe-tso@unt.edu for a discount code on the TEACHER’S PLAN monthly subscription price. You must use your UNT email.
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) 5e Book+Online Test Package — Package include a diagnostic test to identify areas of need, a study book, and 3 full-length practice tests that feature timed testing conditions, automatic scoring, and detailed answer explanations.
CrashCourse — Short YouTube videos on various subjects such as history, science, and economics.
Khan Academy — Free online review and study for subjects in Math, History, Grammar, Science, and more.
PPR EC-12 Video Review — Video with 40 sample PPR EC-12 exam questions and answer rationales. Take the quiz along with the narrator, pausing after each question and answer choice is given, then resume play after you have selected your answer to hear the correct answer choice and rationale.
Interactive Practice Exams — Interactive exam simulation featuring sample exam questions, comprehensive, immediate feedback on your performance, and a realistic online experience similar to an actual computer-administered testing environment. $10 fee applies to all practice exams.
T-CERT - Texas Certification Exam Review created to help TExES candidates pass their certification exams. $30 for 60 day access to all modules on the site. Current modules include: Core EC-6, Math 4-8, Math 7-12, Science 4-8, Science 7-12, Social Studies 7-12, PPR EC-12, Special Education EC-12, ESL Supplemental, and BTLPT.
Quizlet - Learning tools and flashcards for a variety of TExES exams. Search by your exam name and number (ex. TExES Core Subjects EC-6 291) to find various resources.
StudyBlue - Create, share, and study flashcards for any subject. StudyBlue is the largest crowdsourced study library, with over 400 million flashcards, notes, and study guides created by other students around the world.
Mometrix - Offers a selection of study guides and flash cards for TExES certification exams.
Mometrix Academy - Use the free TExES practice test questions for select exams to get a better understanding of the TExES exam.
Pass the TExES - Offers books and e-books for a wide selection of TExES certification exams.
IRIS - Modules and topics covering information about assessment, dyslexia, reading comprehension, and more.
The TExES Advising Office has study books available that students may check out at no charge to help them prepare for their exams. Due to limited availability, students are asked to only check materials out for 30 days at a time. Student who need the materials longer may ask for an extension if there is not a waiting list. Please call or email to find out if your book is available.
TExES Core Subjects EC-6 (291) Book + Online Practice Exams – Package contains study book with all five subject areas, online diagnostic test to identify areas of need, and two full-length practice exams that feature automatic timing and scoring, as well as diagnostic feedback on every question.
240 Tutoring Subject Area Videos – Videos to help prepare for the ELAR, Math, Social Studies, and Science domains of the Core Subjects EC-6 exam.
Texas Teacher Today: Core Subjects - Online resources, practice exams, and tutoring for the Core EC-6 exam.
Reading 101 - Over 100 short classroom-centered videos on reading subjects to help you with the ELAR section of the EC-6 exam.
Glossary of Reading Terms - Helpful terms for the ELAR portion of the Core EC-6 exams.
TExES Help: Core EC-6 ELAR and Math - Online courses designed to help you pass the Core EC-6 ELAR and Math domains.
Math Antics - Free video lessons from basic arithmetic and fractions to geometry and algebra basics.
Math Help - Videos and lessons on math subjects from 5th grade math to algebra 2.
That Tutor Guy - Video library by Stanford graduate with ten years professional tutoring experience. Lessons include middle school math, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trig, college algebra, pre-calculus, calculus, statistics, chemistry and physics.
Social Studies Review - Comprehensive review guide created by Dr. Dan Krutka to help students find study resources for most of the competencies in the Social Studies domain for the Core Subjects EC-6 exam.
CrashCourse - Short YouTube videos on various subjects such as history, science, and economics.
Five Minute Science - Texas Educator Michael Hayes presents 19 5-minute mini-reviews for the EC-6 science section. He covers topics like lab safety, the scientific method, measurement in science, energy, plate tectonics, matter, reproduction, life cycles, and more.
USGS Science Resources for Primary Grade (K-6) - Selected educational resources that may be useful to educators in primary school grade.
Kids.gov - Resources, activities, lesson plans and more for every subject.
STAAR Exams - Released test questions and answers from grades 3 through high school for Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, Biology and U.S. History.
Khan Academy - Free online review and study for subjects in Math, History, Grammar, Science, and more.
Civil Service Practice Questions - Practice questions over grammar, spelling, synonyms, reading comprehension, and arithmetic.
Texas State Historical Association - Digital gateway to Texas history through a collection of resources.
LOTE Spanish (613) Pedagogy Course - Designed to help you pass the pedagogy portion of the LOTE Spanish exam. Sample test questions are included to help you check your comprehension. A sample lesson plan and tips are available to show you how to write an effective lesson plan, and you even have the opportunity to upload your own lesson plan and receive feedback on how to improve your score.
Vicente Online - Test preparation, courses, and workshops for LOTE Spanish EC-12, LOTE French EC-12, BTLPT, and ESL/Bilingual programs.
LOTE Tutorials - Character Selector tutorial, Pearson testing center overview, sample audio files, and more.
LOTE Spanish Study Materials and Tips - Digital course and study materials, specifically designed for the pedagogy section of the exam.
TExES ESL Supplemental (154) Book + Online Practice – Package includes a study book that contains in-depth reviews of all the competencies tested on the TExES ESL Supplemental (154) exam, and two full-length practice tests offered online in a timed format with instant scoring, diagnostic feedback, and detailed explanations of answers.
TExES Bilingual Education Supplemental (164) Book + Online Practice – Package includes comprehensive review of all content categories tested on the TExES Bilingual Education Supplemental exam, diagnostic test (online and in the book) that pinpoints strengths and weaknesses to help focus study, full-length practice test (online and in the book) based on actual exam questions with answers explained in detail.
ESL Review Module - Prepared by Region 10 and presented to attendees of UNT ESL Review sessions.
Summary of ELPS - Introduction, District Responsibilities, and Student Expectations for English Language Proficiency Standards.
ELPS Proficiency Level Descriptors for Instructional Planning - Summary of each proficiency level from beginning to advanced high.
ELPS Overview and Strategies - Excellent resource for teachers working with second language learners.
Components of Language and Reading Instruction - In-depth chapter reading on language and reading.
Stages of Language Proficiency - Chart of the stages of language proficiency from pre-production to intermediate fluency.
Spanish-English Cognates - Comprehensive list of Spanish-English cognates.
ESL Printables - A website where English Language teachers exchange resources, worksheets, lesson plans, activities, etc.
BTLPT Study Materials and Tips - A reading comprehension test, a sample lesson plan, a sample essay, and a sample response to an email for the BTLPT Spanish 190 exam, as well study suggestions and tips.
BTLPT Tutorials - Character Selector tutorial, Pearson testing center overview, sample audio files, and more.
TExES Special Education EC-12 (161) Book + Online Practice – Package includes comprehensive study guide and two full-length practice exams offered online in a timed format with instant scoring, diagnostic feedback, and detailed explanations of answers.
TExES Mathematics 4-8 (115), 2nd Ed., Book + Online Practice – Package includes comprehensive review guide and two full-length practice tests (in the book and online). The online tests are offered in a timed format with automatic scoring and diagnostic feedback to help you zero in on the topics and types of questions that give you trouble now, so you can succeed on test day.
Khan Academy - Free online review and study for subjects in Math, History, Grammar, Science, and more.
USGS Educational Resources for Secondary Science Grades (7-12) - Selected resources that may be useful to educators in secondary school grades.
Best of History Websites - Quick, convenient, and reliable access to the best history-oriented resources online in a wide range of categories and has been designed to benefit history teachers
Civics Practice Test - Test your knowledge of U.S. history, culture, economics and more.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Exam - 100 questions and answers over American Government, American History, and Civics.
HistoryTeacher.net - Quizzes and resources for US History & Government, and global studies.
Texas State Historical Association - Digital gateway to Texas history through a collection of resources.
TExES Social Studies 7-12 (232) Book + Online Practice – Package includes comprehensive review of all content categories tested on the TExES Social Studies 7-12 exam, online diagnostic that pinpoints strengths and weaknesses to help focus study, and two full-length practice exams that feature timed testing, automatic scoring, and topic-level feedback.
When seeking tutoring services, you should have the following materials on hand so that your tutor can help you identify what it is you need to study: 1.) Preparation Manual for your exam, 2.) Practice Exam score report(s), and/or 3.) Previous score reports if you have taken the real TExES exam. Be aware that tutoring is a service that may incur personal expense. Speak to your program faculty or mentor teachers about other options that may be available to you. There may be teachers in the schools you are observing/clinical teaching in that may be willing to help tutor you.
TExES Exam Prep - Online one-on-one tutoring services for all certification fields.
Tutor Doctor - Private tutoring in subjects like Math, Science, English, and LOTE (Spanish and French).
Texas Teachers Today - Online courses and tutoring available for Core EC-6, LOTE Spanish, BTLPT, Bilingual and ESL Supplemental, and PPR EC-12 exams.
UNT Writing Center - Available to current students for help with structure, grammar, punctuation and more. Students who have a written component to their exams (such as ELAR 7-12, BTLPT, or LOTE exams) and struggle with writing, may wish to meet with a tutor prior to taking their TExES exam.
Computer-Administer Test Overview - Tutorial that will prepare you for how the test will be administered, and how your screen may look the day of the exam.
What to Expect - Video on what to expect from checking in on test day, to completing your exam.
Preparing for the TExES Exams - A guide on how to prepare and study for the exams.
TExES Exam Question Formats - An explanation of the types of questions you can expect to see on your certification exams.
Student's Guide to Improving Study Skills - How to assess and advance your study habits.
Understanding the Land of TExES - Three-part video series that breaks down the history, language, and culture of the TExES exams so that you can better understand your exams.
Two forms of ID
NAME ON BOTH MUST MATCH WHAT IS ON FILE WITH PEARSON
If your name does NOT match, do not register for your exam before you change your name with TEA.
Steps to Submit Name Change Request
Initial Teacher Candidates
If you graduated from UNT but did not complete certification requirements before your exams or certification program expired, please follow the steps below in order to request permission to take the new TExES certification exams.
The Director of TExES Success will review your documentation and file an appeal with the Admission, Review, and Retention Committees on your behalf. If any documentation is missing or is not appropriate, you will be asked to resubmit your request. Candidates who did not graduate from UNT or did not complete the Teacher Education Program will be denied. You will be notified by email of the decision, and provided with further instructions at that time.
Please allow 7-10 business days after your submission for processing and final review from the committees. UNT will not expedite this process.
Candidates who completed the Educational Leadership for Principal Program
If you completed the Principal program but did not take the Principal (068) exam or obtain your certification prior to 9/1/2019, please email Cheryl.Jennings@unt.edu for the requirements to obtain test approval for the new Principal as Instructional Leader (268) exam and PASL (368) assessment.
×All candidates must ensure they have established their TEAL Educator Account prior to registering for their TExES certification exam(s). Please see our TEAL Educator Account Setup instructions in the Getting Started menu if you have not already done this.
Candidates who have legally changed their name since creating their TEAL Educator Account should submit a Name Change Request to TEA before registering for their certification exam(s). Please wait for confirmation from the Texas Education Agency that your name has been updated before proceeding. If your name does not match between your ID and your registration, you will not be allowed to test and will not receive a refund.
You can check appointment availability by clicking on Exams from the blue menu bar at the top of the screen, then selecting TExES™
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 the following steps to establish your TEAL Educator Account. Read the instructions carefully. If you don’t know when you were admitted to the Teacher Education Program, contact the TExES Success Office at COE-TSO@unt.edu or 940-369-8601.
Candidates seeking Principal as Instructional Leader certification must have program approval to take the Performance Assessment for School Leaders (PASL) assessment. Please contact your advisor in Educational Leadership to determine your eligibility for the PASL. Most candidates will be eligible to register for the PASL within their Internship semester.
The PASL assessment contains three tasks requiring written commentary and submission of required documents called artifacts. A video of you facilitating a collaborative team during your internship experience is required as one of the components for Task 3. Task responses can be created throughout your clinical experience rather than at the end, allowing you to continually refine your professional practice.
You will complete tasks by entering and submitting a written response and uploading artifacts via an online submission system. Within the online system, you can:
Tasks must be submitted on or before the task submission deadline date.
For more information, please see the PASL Task Requirements and PASL Candidate and Educator Handbook.
Follow these steps to register for the PASL assessment:
Once you have registered, you will be able to access the assessment through your online account when the submission window opens. See Dates and Deadlines. To work on the assessment before then, see Prepare for the Assessment.
×Please identify the semester you intend to graduate for information about your specific testing requirements and applicable deadlines. Any student who misses the deadlines for passing exams or applying for certification will become responsible for completing the new requirements.
Please identify the semester you intend to graduate for information about your specific testing requirements and applicable deadlines. Any student who misses the deadlines for passing exams or applying for certification will become responsible for completing the new requirements.
