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Students

Certification

In accordance with Section 668.43 of the Federal Register, teachHOUSTON has not determined whether preparation by the teachHOUSTON program will prepare you for certification in any state but Texas. However Texas has reciprocity agreements with many states that facilitate acquiring teacher certification elsewhere once you have it in Texas.

In order to become a certified teacher, preservice teachers must complete the appropriate content area coursework, (TAC 228.41), a minimum of 150 coursework hours from an approved Educator Preparation Program (EPP), and 50 field-based experience hours (FBEs) prior to Student Teaching or residency. These requirements must be met prior to beginning clinical teaching or a residency.

Additionally, all candidates must pass the TExES Content Exam for the level and major in which they wish to teach, as well as the TExES Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) 160 exam for the grade level they wish to teach. Formal admission and institutional approval are required to register for TExES exams. For this reason, all teachHOUSTON students must complete qualifying exams to gain approval for TExES exams. Review the links below to go over the (1) program benchmarks, (2) formal admission process, and (3) the process for completing certification exams.

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Program Benchmarks
Program Benchmarks

Formal Admission
Formal Admission

Certification Exam Checklist
Certification Exam Checklist

Mandatory Criminal Background Check

According to TAC 227.1, it is a mandatory requirement for teacher preparation candidates/students to complete a comprehensive criminal background check. This is a prerequisite for completing field-based experiences. District partners will most likely perform the background check on behalf of potential candidates. Failure to pass the criminal background check will result in immediate ineligibility for field-based components of teachHOUSTON. Applicants/students who are found to be ineligible will be withdrawn from consideration for the program.

teachHOUSTON Exit Policy

Once students are formally admitted to the teachHOUSTON program, they may choose to exit the program without completing certification. Students may also be removed from the teachHOUSTON program by a candidate selection committee composed of teachHOUSTON faculty.

To formally exit the program and complete your degree without certification, please contact Karen McIntush at kemcintu@central.uh.edu for instructions on the steps to take to complete the process. Please review the teachHOUSTON Exit Policy below.

19 TAC §228.20(h) requires all Educator Preparation Programs to have an exit policy for the dismissal of candidates published, reviewed, and signed by candidates when they are admitted to the program.

Dismissal from the Educator Preparation Program

A candidate may be removed from the Educator Preparation Program in the event he/she demonstrates behavior not consistent with the professional and ethical expectations of an educator in Texas. Dismissal from the program may be based on grounds including but not limited to:

  1. Failure to meet coursework requirements.
  2. Failure to abide by policies and/or procedures established by the University of Houston Educator Preparation Program and/or program requirements established by the State Board for Educator Certification as published in the Texas Administrative Code.
  3. Any action deemed a violation of the Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators, and/or;
  4. Any action deemed a violation of the University of Houston Student Code of Conduct; and/or;
  5. Any action deemed a violation of school district and/or campus policy during field-based experiences or clinical teaching or internship.

Dismissal from the program is determined by a committee comprised of the program faculty. This may occur at any time. If a candidate is dismissed from the College of Education, he or she will also be automatically dismissed from the Educator Preparation Program. All decisions of dismissal can be appealed through college policies.

Withdrawal from the Educator Preparation Program

A candidate who decides to voluntarily withdraw from the Educator Preparation Program needs to send a written notice of that intent from a University of Houston email account. The candidate also needs to submit a signed Graduation without Certification Contract. Withdrawal from the College of Education translates to withdrawal from the Educator Preparation Program.