Texas Alternative
Teacher Certification
FAQs

You may apply at any time; iteach does not have any application deadlines.

You can go ahead and begin the iteach program as soon as you are in your last semester of your undergraduate degree. (For schools that do not use a semester model- as soon as you are within your last 12 credit hours!) The primary difference between you and a “typical” iteach candidate is that you’ll be entering as a  Contingent Candidate, one who has not yet graduated. This really only changes a couple of things:

As part of your application, you will need to submit a Letter of Completion from your academic advisor that confirms your anticipated graduation date, as well as your current official transcripts that show your coursework completed so far. Later on, you will also need to submit a second set of official transcripts after graduation that show your degree has been conferred. Once we receive those degree conferred transcripts, we can update your file to reflect that. 

Official transcripts can be emailed to transcripts@iteach.net or mailed to:  P.O. Box 1626 Denton, TX 76202.

Yes, if you are a candidate with an undergraduate degree from outside of the U.S., there are a few extra steps you will need to take to apply to iteach.

1. If you haven’t already, you will need to have your transcripts evaluated by a Foreign Credential Review service. You can find the list of TEA-Approved agencies here: https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/certification/out-of-state-certification/certification-based-on-credentials-from-another-country You will submit your credential review instead of official transcripts. It can be sent to us at transcripts@iteach.net
2. You may need to take the TOEFL iBT exam. Unless your undergraduate degree is from an English speaking country, and unless you have a graduate degree from an English speaking country, you will need the TOEFL iBT. We will accept your best score report, but we require the following minimum scores: (send to admissions@iteach.net )
   1. Speaking: 24
   2. Listening: 22
   3. Reading: 22
   4. Writing: 21

For more information, please see the TEA website: https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/certification/out-of-state-certification/certification-based-on-credentials-from-another-country 

As always, please let us know if you have any questions, we are happy to help.

If you enroll with our monthly payment plan, your total cost is $4399. We will take $99 of that at enrollment, and then $99 of that every month while you are working on your pre-hire coursework and exams. When your Field Experience starts, we take whatever remains of that balance and divide it into ten equal monthly payments, so that you are paid in full around the same time you are receiving your Standard Certificate. This plan also includes free access to Passage Preparation, an excellent resource for TExES exam preparation.

No, iteach is not an institution of higher education. Therefore, the program does not qualify for financial aid.

You can complete all of your instructional coursework within as little as three months. The entire iteach program, including your teaching residency, is designed to be completed within one school year. However, you have two full school years to find a teaching position as long as you are enrolled in the iteach program. Once hired, you must complete all program requirements during your two-semester field experience.

The State of Texas does require that all candidates have a minimum GPA of 2.5. However, that calculation can be made one of two ways. We can either take a look at your undergraduate coursework as a whole, or use the most recent 60 hours of coursework you have completed. Graduate courses taken at an accredited college or university may be included in your calculation for your GPA in your last 60 hours of coursework.

If you do not meet the minimum GPA requirement, you will need to take additional courses at any university or college of your choice to raise your last 60 hours GPA to the 2.5 requirement.  The courses do not have to be in anything specific. Select classes based on what would be helpful for you in the field of teaching.  For example, courses that pertain to the subject area you would like to teach or education courses.

iteach determines the subject (content area) you are eligible to teach when we review your application. You qualify to teach a content area if you meet one of these criteria: 

• Have an undergraduate or graduate degree in a content area you would like to teach, OR
• You provide college transcripts showing you have taken at least 15 hours of courses in English, Math, Science or Social Studies (to teach grades 4-8 in those subjects), OR
• You provide transcripts showing you have taken at least 12 hours of English, Math, Science and Social Studies (to teach EC-6 CORE, 4-8 CORE or EC-12 Special Education)

You can take your iteach content test once you are enrolled in our program or once you have completed test preparation in your desired content area. To teach outside of your identified content area, you must submit a request to iteach to take a TExES content exam in your desired content area.

The State of Texas requires us to base your initial content area upon your college credit hours.  

If you want to test in the area you were identified for, you will request test approval from your homepage.  Log into your account and scroll down the page to the testing section.  You will click on a box that says Test Info/Request Test Approval.  

You are not required to test in the content area identified for enrollment.  You may test in other content areas by following the steps outlined on your homepage:

You can be approved for a one-time test approval in a content test outside of your identified area for enrollment only by first completing PassagePreparation.com test preparation. Once the review is complete, submit a test request to testing@iteach.net along with completion documentation. 

iteach shall determine the readiness of each candidate to take the appropriate certification exam. A 2nd test approval may be provided after review, but will be on a case by case basis.

Once you request test approval, you will receive an email from us (within 2-3 business days) with your approval, so that you can sign up through Pearson, www.tx.nesinc.com, for your test.

Yes, if you would like to teach in a content area outside of what was identified, you must submit a request to iteach to take a TExES content exam in your desired content area and successfully pass your exam.

The State of Texas requires you to have 30 total hours of classroom observation. If needed, up to 15 hours of those are able to be completed online, using the Teaching Channel. 

If you have previous classroom experience within the last two calendar years and at a TEA-Approved school as an aide, a paraprofessional, a long-term substitute (same classroom for at least 30 days) or a teacher of record, you can use your own hours to fulfill this requirement. No need to seek out other instructors during your planning periods, or anything like that. 

Please check Module 3 of Course 5000 for both your Observation Log Template and examples of completed templates. These are especially helpful if you are logging previous hours spent in the classroom. You will upload your completed Observation Log as part of your coursework in Course 5300.

If you plan to use the Teaching Channel to log your hours, we recommend using the “uncut classroom” videos. They are long videos that show entire lessons. You get to see the teacher open the class while students enter and settle in, the entirety of the lesson and discussion, as well as how the teacher closes the lesson, reviews their work, and dismisses the class. Make sure that you always access the Teaching Channel through the link at the top of your iteach homepage, so that you do not get asked to pay for your access.

All Public and Charter schools are approved for field experience. If you intend to complete your field experience at a private school, you can use the link below to search for the name of the school. If the name of the school populates based on your search, then it is approved for field experience. If the name of the school does not populate, that means that it is not approved for field experience.

http://www.tepsac.org/app/index.html#/search/schools

All iteach coursework does not need to be completed to be hired. In Texas, candidates must complete courses 5000-5300 to be hired.

You can now apply for your standard teaching certificate through your TEA account and then iteach will process the recommendation. Please allow 5-7 business days for the recommendation.

It is possible, and sometimes wise, to take multiple content area exams prior to beginning your field experience. It can expand your marketability and allow for hire in multiple areas. However, the content area in which you are hired for your Field Experience must match a content area you tested in, which will then be the content area you are certified in. iteach cannot recommend you for your initial certification in multiple content areas. 

HOWEVER- Once you have earned your Standard Certificate and are finished with our program, the State of Texas allows you to add content areas to your existing certificate simply by taking and passing content area exams directly through the state! If you have passed content area exams before being certified, you can simply have those added to your Standard Certificate through the TEA.

Before you are able to take the PPR, all instructional courses through 5600 must be completed.  You also must have passed all content area exams for your certification area. You will then receive course 5800, the PPR review.  This course will be located under Residency and Diagnostics on the right hand side of your homepage. Once that is completed/passed you may request approval for the PPR test.

iteach does accept applicants that are transferring from another certification program. However our policies will differ, and could impact your admittance/your path to certification with us. A few things to keep in mind for admission: 

• We will need new, original, Official Transcripts that include your degree and GPA. You must have a 2.5 overall/graduating GPA of 2.5 or 2.5 in your most recent 60 hours.
• We do check your account with TEA, which includes your entire testing history, TExES and TX PACT exams, all passed and failed. If you have multiple failures on your testing record or low test scores, this could cause an issue with acceptance. While we do check this in the TEA database, we will need you to send us your official Testing History PDF from the Pearson Website. (you can download the file once you log in!)
• Prior certificates held: If you have taught on an Emergency, Probationary and/or Intern certificate, these years will affect your TEA “years of service”. If you have taught on a certificate, our admissions department will need to know why you were unable to complete your certification during your previous field experience.
• Program release: iTeach will provide a program transfer form that you and your previous program will need to complete and return, which ensures that you are being released from your previous program in good standing.

Please understand that admission is not guaranteed. Once you are released from your current program, under state regulations, you are unable to return to that program. You may refer to our website to review all admission requirements. https://www.iteach.net/texas-teacher-admission-requirements/ A complete application review will be conducted once you have applied to iteach and you have provided all necessary admission documents for review.