List of Texas Teacher Certification Tests (2024)
To become a teacher in Texas, you must pass the required Texas teacher certification exams. Each grade level and subject area has its own “certificate,” which allows you to teach in the grade level and subject area you want. To receive a teaching certificate, you must pass all the required exams (content and pedagogy) for your chosen area of study.
There are various teaching certificates and exams in Texas. To make things easier, we created a list of each certification area along with its required exams.
First, let’s take care of some housekeeping to make sure you can understand everything in the tables below:
- Certification Area: The certification areas are the subjects and grade levels you can teach in Texas using that specific teaching certificate.
- Required Content Exam(s): these are the exam(s) you must take and pass in order to receive your teaching certificate. Content exams test your knowledge of the actual subject matter or “content” for your certificate (i.e. Art, History, Math, Science, etc.).
- Required Pedagogy Test(s): In addition to the content exam(s), anyone who is trying to receive their first Texas teaching certificate for a specific classroom teaching area is required to pass a Pedagogy test. If you are looking to add a supplemental certificate to an existing certificate, get certified in additional areas through examination, or become certified in non-teaching areas such as Reading Specialist or School Librarian, you may not be required to take another pedagogy test.
- Abbreviations:
- AAFCS – American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
- ACTFL – American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
- ETS – Educational Testing Services
- OPI – Oral Proficiency Interview
- PASL – Performance Assessment for School Leaders
- PPR – Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities
- STR – Science of Teaching Reading
- TExES – Texas Examinations of Educator Standards
- WPT – Writing Proficiency Test.
List of Texas Teacher Certification Tests
Below is a list of all the current certification areas and the required content and pedagogy exams for each certification area. You can use the table of contents to the left to easier jump to the certification area you are interested in.
Art
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Art: EC-12 |
TExES Art EC-12 (178) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: Visual Arts (2015) |
Bilingual Education
Computer Science and Technology Applications
Early Childhood Education
Core Subjects
Counselor
Dance
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Dance (6-12) |
TExES Dance 6-12 (279) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: K-12 Performing Arts (2021) |
Educational Diagnostician
English Language Arts & Reading (ELAR)
English as a Second Language (ESL)
Gifted and Talented
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Gifted and Talented Supplemental |
TExES Gifted and Talented Supplemental (162) |
None |
Health
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Health: EC-12 |
TExES Health EC–12 (257) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: Health Education (2119) |
Journalism
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Journalism: Grades 7-12 |
TExES Journalism 7–12 (256) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: Secondary English-Language Arts (2003) |
Junior Reserve Office Training Corps (JROTC)
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
JROTC: Grades 6-12 |
None |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) |
Languages Other Than English (LOTE)
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
American Sign Language (ASL) |
TExES American Sign Language (ASL) (184) + Texas Assessment of Sign Communication–American Sign Language (TASC–ASL) (073) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Arabic |
ACTFL: OPI – Arabic (605) + ACTFL: WPT – Arabic (600) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Chinese |
ACTFL: OPI – Chinese (Mandarin) (606) + ACTFL: WPT – Chinese (Mandarin) (601) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
French |
TExES Languages Other Than English (LOTE) French (610) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
German |
TExES Languages Other Than English (LOTE) German (611) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Hindi |
ACTFL: OPI – Hindi (622) + ACTFL: WPT – Hindi (623) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Italian |
ACTFL: OPI – Italian (624) + ACTFL: WPT – Italian (625) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Japanese |
ACTFL: OPI – Japanese (607) + ACTFL: WPT – Japanese (602) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Korean |
ACTFL: OPI– Korean (630) + ACTFL: WPT – Korean (631) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Latin |
TExES Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Latin (612) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Portuguese |
ACTFL: OPI – Portuguese (632) + ACTFL: WPT – Portuguese (633) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Russian |
ACTFL: OPI – Russian (608) + ACTFL: WPT – Russian (603) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Spanish |
TExES Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Spanish (613) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Turkish |
ACTFL: OPI – Turkish (626) + ACTFL: WPT – Turkish (627) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Vietnamese |
ACTFL: OPI – Vietnamese (609) +
ACTFL: WPT – Vietnamese (604) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: World Language (2020) |
Librarian
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
School Librarian: EC-12 |
TExES School Librarian (150) |
None |
Mathematics and Science
Music
Physical Education
Principal and Superintendent
Social Studies
Special Education
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Special Education: EC-12 |
TExES Special Education Supplemental (163) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: Special Education (2012) |
Special Education Supplemental (attaches to level of base certificate) |
TExES Special Education Supplemental (163) |
None |
Teacher of Deaf and Hard of Hearing: EC-12 |
TExES Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (181) + 072 TASC or 073 TASC-ASL (072 or 073 required for assignment but not for certification) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: Special Education (2012) |
Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments Supplemental: EC-12 |
TExES Visually Impaired (182) or TExES Braille (UEB) (283) |
None |
Speech Communications
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Speech: Grades 7-12 |
TExES Speech 7–12 (129) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: Secondary English-Language Arts (2003) |
Theatre
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Theatre: EC-12 |
TExES Theatre EC–12 (180) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: K-12 Performing Arts (2021) |
Career and Technical Education
Certification Area |
Required Content Exams |
Required Pedagogy Exams |
Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources: 6-12 |
TExES Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources 6–12 (272) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) or edTPA: Agricultural Education (2100) |
Business and Finance: 6-12 |
TExES Business and Finance 6–12 (276) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) or edTPA: Business Education (2102) |
Family and Consumer Sciences Composite: 6-12 |
AAFCS Family and Consumer Sciences, Composite (200) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) or edTPA: Family and Consumer Sciences (2117) |
Hospitality, Nutrition, and Food Sciences: 8-12 |
AAFCS Hospitality, Nutrition, and Food Science (201) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) or edTPA: Family and Consumer Sciences (2117) |
Human Development and Family Studies: 8-12 |
AAFCS Human Development and Family Studies (202) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) or edTPA: Family and Consumer Sciences (2117) |
Health Science: 6-12 |
TExES Health Science 6–12 (273) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or edTPA: K-12 Performing Arts (2021) |
Marketing: 6-12 |
TExES Marketing 6–12 (275) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) or edTPA: Business Education (2102) |
Technology Education: 6-12 |
TExES Technology Education 6–12 (171) |
TExES PPR EC-12 (160) or TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) or edTPA: Technology and Engineering Education (2143) |
Trade and Industrial Education: 6-12 |
None |
TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) |
Trade and Industrial Workforce Training: 6-12 |
None |
TExES PPR for Trade and Industrial Education 6–12 (370) |