Admission

If you are enrolled or planning to enroll in a State Board for Educator Certification-approved EPP or planning to take a certification examination, you may request a preliminary criminal history evaluation letter regarding your potential ineligibility for certification due to a conviction or deferred adjudication for a felony or misdemeanor offense.

A preliminary criminal history evaluation is a nonmandatory, nonbinding evaluation of an individual’s self-reported criminal history. In addition, the agency obtains your name-based Texas criminal history information. The service is provided for a nonrefundable fee. You will receive an evaluation letter by email from agency staff advising of your potential ineligibility for educator certification.

You are eligible to request a preliminary criminal history evaluation if you:

• are enrolled or are planning to enroll in an EPP
• are planning to take a certification exam for initial educator certification
• and have reason to believe that you may be ineligible for educator certification due to a conviction or deferred adjudication for a felony or misdemeanor offense.

You are not eligible for a preliminary evaluation of your criminal history if you do not have a conviction or deferred adjudication for a felony or misdemeanor offense.

Criteria to apply

GPA

GPA minimum requirements are based on your first registered term at SFA:

• Must have and maintain 2.5 overall GPA or last 60 hours (including transfer hours).
  • SFA does not allow admission to the EPP with a GPA of less than the criteria listed above.

Credit hours

You must have a minimum of 12 credit hours completed in teaching field with required GPA with these exceptions:

• Mathematics and Science (grades 4-8) certifications must have 15 credit hours completed in the teaching field.
• Chemistry, Life Sciences, Mathematics and Physical Science (grades 7-12) certifications must have 15 credit hours completed in the teaching field.

Testing

Successful completion of the EPP screening instrument is required.

Additionally, you must achieve the following scores on the Texas Success Initiative test completion or proper exemption. 

TSI score requirements for EPP:

• Reading score: 351
• Writing score: 363 and 4 on the essay
  • An essay score of 5 or higher results in a passing writing score regardless of the multiple-choice score.

To be eligible, these score cannot be older than five years.

Expectations

• Adherence to the Texas Educator Code of Ethics found in the Texas Administrative Code Chapter 247.223
• Agreement with Professional Dispositions Statement for Educator Preparation

Admission procedures

• Log in to mySFA.
• Click on the "Academics" tab.
• Locate the "Educator Preparation" box.
• Select "Apply to Educator Preparation" link.

If you do not meet all the requirements for admission to the EPP, your application will not be processed and the system will not allow you to proceed. An error message will direct you to speak with your academic advisor.

Once you have successfully completed the application, you will receive a message that the application has been successfully submitted. All communications from the EPP will be through mySFA email. It is your responsibility to regularly check your email account.

You will receive a conditional acceptance email after admission criteria has been verified. You must agree to and complete each step of the acceptance form:

• Admission date
• Preliminary criminal history evaluation information
• General criminal background check, fingerprinting and IDs required for TExES testing information
• Code of ethics
• Information regarding EPP and TEA fees
• Initial Candidate Disposition Survey
• Creation of TEA Educator Account if applicable (some applicants will have a TEA ID before applying to the EPP)
• Electronic signature

Allow up to five business days for the finalization of your EPP acceptance.

Admission criteria

• Have a bachelor’s degree
  • GPA must be 2.5 or higher overall or on your last 60 hours.
  • SFA does not allow admission to the EPP with a GPA of less than the criteria listed above.
  • If you earned your degree outside the U.S., you must submit an official transcript evaluation by an approved entity with equivalent report.
• Demonstrate English language proficiency by one of the following:
  • completion of an undergraduate degree or a graduate degree at an accredited institution of higher education in the U.S., not including U.S. territories
  • completion of an undergraduate or graduate degree earned at an institution of higher education in a country outside the U.S. approved by the State Board for Educator certification
  • or verification of minimum scaled scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language exam. View required scores.
• Prove content knowledge requirements through one of the options below:
  • Option 1 (content hours) — You must have earned 12 hours (15 hours if you are seeking Mathematics, Life Science or Physical Science certification) in the in the SFA-approved content area and grade level (see below) that you want to teach.
  • Option 2 (Pre-Admission Content Test exam) — Register, take and pass the appropriate PACT exam in the SFA-approved content area and grade level (see below) that you want to teach. View PACT test registration and preparation information.
• Participate in an admissions screening
• Read and adhere to the Texas Educator Code of Ethics found in the Texas Administrative Code Chapter 247.2
• Read and agree to the Professional Dispositions Statement for Educator Preparation

Admission procedures

To be admitted to the Post Baccalaureate Initial Certification program, you must meet each of the criteria below. The GPA requirements and adherence to the Texas Educator Code of Ethics must be maintained throughout the program. The code of ethics can be found in the Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 247.2.

Applications are completed online at ApplyTexas.

Admission requirements are subject to change by action of the State Board of Educator Certification or by the SFA Professional Educators’ Council.

SFA does not admit candidates to the PBIC program on a probationary, provisional or contingency basis.

Admission criteria

Educational Diagnostician (grades EC-12), Principal as Instructional Leader (grades EC-12), Reading Specialist (grades EC-12), School Counselor (grades EC-12), Superintendent (grades EC-12), Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (grades EC-12)

The following applies to all candidates in this category:

• The applicant must hold, at a minimum, a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher education that at the time was accredited or otherwise approved by an accrediting organization recognized by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).
  • GPA must be 2.5 or higher overall or on an applicant’s last 60 hours.
    • In rare cases, a non-teacher certificate program coordinator may use an applicant’s work, business, or career experience for the demonstration of achievement equivalent to the academic achievement represented by the GPA requirement.  The program coordinator will use program admission documents to determine eligibility and notify the Certification Coordinator via email of the decision to allow admission to the EPP with a GPA of less than 2.5.
  • If the degree was earned out-of-country, an official transcript evaluation by an approved entity with equivalent report must be submitted.
  • The SFA EPP does not allow admission on a contingency basis.
• Demonstrate English language proficiency by one of the following:
  • Completion of an undergraduate degree or a graduate degree at an accredited institution of higher education in the U.S., not including U.S. territories.
  • Completion of an undergraduate or a graduate degree earned at an institution of higher education in a country outside the U.S. approved by the State Board for Educator Certification.
  • Verification of minimum scaled scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language exam. View required scores.
• A non-refundable fee of $100 will be charged to the student’s mySFA student account for each EPP application submitted.
• A non-refundable fee of $35 will be charged to the student’s mySFA student account for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Accountability System for Educator Preparation (ASEP) technology fee.

See the EPP Handbook for additional admission criteria.