Texas Alternative
Teacher Certification
FAQs

The total cost of the program is $4,949.

To enroll in the program you will pay a $99 enrollment fee which is applied toward your total program balance. Each month that you are enrolled in the program prior to your field experience you will pay an additional $99 toward your total balance.

Once the field experience begins, your payments will increase in order to pay your balance in full by the end of the two semesters. iteach will divide your total remaining balance at that time into 8-10 equal payments to complete your payment plan.

You can apply to the iteach program for free at any time. If accepted, it only costs $99 to enroll and that fee is applied toward your total program balance.

To begin your two-semester field experience, you must first complete all items on your enrolled checklist. The enrolled checklist can be found on the iteach account home page. In Texas, the enrolled checklist includes:

• Set up your payment plan
• Complete pre-hire courses, TCTX 5100-5300*
• Pass TExES content test(s) matching your content area of certification

Please remember that simply being hired does not initiate a field experience. To begin field experience, you must meet all requirements listed within your enrolled checklist and then have your Statement of Eligibility form submitted to the iteach office by the semester deadline.
*Courses subject to change, please login to your account for the most up to date information.

You could be hired and teaching with full-time pay and benefits in as little as 8 weeks! The full iteach Texas program is designed to be completed within 12-18 months.

Once you enroll, you will have a period of 2 years to secure employment and meet the requirements to begin your field experience. After you submit the Statement of Eligibility form to verify that you are hired, you will have 4 months to complete your remaining pedagogical coursework and 2 school semesters to complete your field experience and fulfill any remaining program and certification requirements.

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.

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

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.

The Texas Education Agency requires iteach to identify a content area(s) for enrollment. iteach will use one of the following methods to identify your content area(s) for enrollment in the order below:

• Passed TExES exam. We will review any previously passed TExES exams and use current/valid passed TExES tests as the area of enrollment.  
• Passed Pre-Admission Content Test (PACT)
• Academic Major in a Certification Field. For single-subject certification areas, an academic major in a certification field OR a minimum of 24 hours, 12 of which are upper-division. We will review your transcripts to confirm you have the required hours for a certification area of enrollment;
• 15 Hours for Middle School Single Subjects. For 4-8 Single Subject content areas (Math, English Language Arts and Reading, Science and Social Studies) candidates must have 15 hours in the content area. Only courses identified as English, Math, Science, and Social Studies courses by the college will be used in the evaluation process for these hours;
• Combination of 12 Hours for EC-6 Core Subjects, 4-8 Core Subjects, or EC-12 Special Education.
• English may include composition, literature, technical writing, creative writing
• Math must be college math or higher
• Science may include biology, chemistry, physics, geology, physical geography, earth science, astronomy
• Social Studies may include history, government, economics, geography

You can take your identified content area test once you are enrolled in the program and have successfully completed all necessary test preparation. To test outside of your identified content area, you will need to pass a PACT exam and successfully complete the corresponding test preparation.

To request test approval in your identified content area, simply login to your iteach account and click the blue “Test Info/Request Test Approval” button in the Content Areas and Testing section. Then, click “Request Approval”, choose your identified content area on the menu, and click “Submit.”

To request test approval outside of your identified content area, you should email testing@iteach.net to determine what PACT test and test prep materials are necessary to qualify.

Yes, it is possible to request test approval outside of your identified content area. You should email our testing team at testing@iteach.net to determine what steps are required to request approval in the area(s) you are interested in.

The State of Texas requires you to complete 50 total hours of classroom observation before beginning your field experience/residency. At least 25 of these observation hours must come from you observing other certified educators in person. The remaining observation hours can come from any combination of the following:

• Personal experience at a TEA-approved school as an aide, a paraprofessional, or a full-time teacher of record since beginning the program and within the last 2 calendar years (up to 25 hours)
• Personal experience at a TEA-approved school as a long-term substitute teacher in the same classroom for 30 or more days within the last 2 calendar years (up to 15 hours)
• Video observations completed via iteach partner Teaching Channel (up to 25 hours)

Module 3 of Course 5000 contains both your Observation Log Template and examples of completed templates to assist you in understanding expectations. You will submit your completed Observation Log as part of your coursework in Course 5300.

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. Once you begin your field experience, you will have a four-month deadline to complete your remaining coursework.

You can apply for your standard teaching certificate as soon as your iteach “residency” checklist is complete. You should apply within your TEA account, and iteach will recommend you after you have applied and paid the application fee. Please allow 5-7 business days for the recommendation to be submitted.

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. 

Once you have earned your Standard Certificate by completing the program, the State of Texas will allow you to add content areas to your existing certificate simply by taking and passing the corresponding content area exams.

To be eligible to request PPR approval, you must complete all of the following:

• All regular instructional coursework through 5600 completed and passed
• Course 5800 for PPR review completed and passed
• All content area exams passed for your area of certification

iteach does accept applicants that are transferring from another certification program. However, our policies may 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 via transfer is not guaranteed. You may refer to our website to review all admission requirements. A complete application review will be conducted once you have applied to iteach and provided all necessary admission documents for review.