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Overview of Texas Certification Requirements

Individuals Seeking Certification in Texas

  • For initial teacher certification in Texas, see the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website.
  • If you have taken one or more of the Praxis® Subject Assessments and are certified in a state other than Texas, you must have your credentials reviewed by the TEA. To have your credentials reviewed, see instructions on the TEA website. To send any required Praxis scores to the TEA for credential review, use score recipient code 8325.

For details on additional routes to certification, see the TEA website.

Certification as a Principal

The ETS® Performance Assessment for School Leaders (PASL) provides a solution, developed by educators for educators, for measuring a school leader candidate's application of knowledge and skills identified as relevant and important for beginning instructional leaders.

The assessment is aligned with the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL).

The assessment consists of three tasks requiring written commentary and submission of required documents called artifacts. A video of the candidate facilitating a collaborative team during their internship experience is required as one of the components for Task 3.

Texas Pre-Admission Content Tests (PACT)

Individuals who hold a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university* or are scheduled to receive a bachelor's degree before being placed in a classroom, are allowed to take a content test for purposes of admission into the following types of EPPs:

  • alternative certification programs
  • university alternative certification programs
  • university post-baccalaureate programs (without content courses)

An individual may not be placed in a classroom as a teacher of record under this section until receiving a bachelor's degree. Also, candidates may take the Texas PACT if they have never been admitted to a Texas approved EPP or are transferring to a different EPP. If a candidate is transferring to a different EPP, the candidate's current EPP must complete a Candidate Transfer Form. For all PACT inquiries, candidates should submit a Texas Education Agency (TEA) Help Desk ticket.

You must add code 8330 TX PRE-ADM CONTENT TSTS (PACT) as a score recipient so your scores will be reported to the state of Texas.

* PACT is not for use by out-of-state educators applying for certification in Texas. Out-of-state educators applying for certification in Texas must have their credentials reviewed by TEA.

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