Filing for Educator Certification
During the final semester of your 1-year paid internship or one semester (490 hours) of unpaid clinical/student teaching, you must contact the Office of Education Certification and Academic Services to verify that all requirements were met and to receive information about applying for certification via the Texas Education Agency.
CERTIFICATE APPLICATION PROCEDURES
The Texas Educator Agency (TEA) and State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) have established a totally paperless, online process for filing for educator certification in Texas.
If you have questions or difficulty with regard to the TEA web page, you may phone 1.512.936.8400. If you have any questions about East Texas A&M, you may contact Bob Nottingham (Certification Advisor) or our general office number at 903.886.5630.
Please read all “Requirements” and “Procedures” (below) prior to accessing the SBEC online web page.
After completing ALL certification plan requirements, students must apply for the teaching certificate online at the TEA website.
Requirements that must be met prior to filing for certification:
- Continued admission and retention in the Alternative Certification Program.
- Completing all program requirements, including teaching assignments, required GPAs, and appropriate tests.
- Recommendation from the University Field Supervisor, Mentor Teacher and Principal where the candidate taught during their teaching assignment. The letter must include grade level and subject taught, how long you have taught at this school and a statement recommending you for certification. Failure to receive a recommendation will result in dismissal from the Alternative Certification Program.*
*NOTE: Your University Field Supervisor will facilitate this process and obtain the required information and signatures. This process should be completed during the last visit of your teaching assignment. Recommendation from your University Field Supervisor, Mentor Teacher and Principal is required for certification.
Application Procedures:
- Go to the TEA website and log in to or establish your TEAL account. (Click on “Create New TEAL account” if you are a first-time user.)
- Choose East Texas A&M University (Alternative if seeking “certification only” or if all your master's classes have not been completed yet, or Post Bac if seeking a degree [all classes complete and you will be graduating] and certification at the same time).
- Pay appropriate fees to TEA.
- Complete all requirements for the national criminal history background check/fingerprinting (if applicable).
You will receive an email confirmation from TEA once the University verifies all requirements have been met and completes its recommendation. This can be checked on-line. Once all activities have successfully been performed, TEA will process the issuing of the certificate. The certificate will be issued and placed on the TEA website under the “Official Record for Educator Certificates”.
Note: Records that are not fully processed within 60 days may be deleted. If deleted, you will be required to file again through TEA Online. However, you are only required to pay once for the same certification.