001Okay, good morning. Thank you for joining our webinar on reporting EPP data for the 2024-2025 reporting year. We aim to cover everything thoroughly, but we understand you may have additional questions, so please record your questions in the Q&A field and we'll respond through FAQs or personal communication after the webinar. Questions submitted through the chat will not be retained. The webinar is being recorded and the recording along with related FAQs will be available in the EPP training events and material section on the program provider resources page on the TEA website. ASEP is a term for the accountability system for educator preparation programs. Note that ASEP also happens to be the name of one of the drop-down menus in the ECOS for entities green screen. Texas Education Code TEC and Texas Administrative Code TAC require educator preparation
002programs, EPPs, to report specific information and data to the state annually, which we refer to as annual ASEP reporting or state reporting. The data reported by EPPs is used for a variety of reasons. Among those is to determine annual accreditation status for EPPs. The ASEP manual in figured 19 TAC 229.1 C outlines the data calculations and performance standards for EPP accreditation. If you are new to the EPP, it is essential to review these requirements periodically. Remember that each program within the EPP contributes to the data collected each year. So effective communication across all programs within the EPP is vital for efficient and accurate data collection and reporting processes. It is important to remember that your EPP data submitted during state reporting is complete and accurate because, as I mentioned before, your data serves various purposes.
003As stated on the previous slide, your data is used to determine the annual accreditation status of your EPP. Additionally, the technology fees paid each year by the EPP are determined based on the number of candidates admitted in all certification programs within that EPP during the reporting year. Finally, data that EPPs report is also provided to a variety of requesters, including that published on the consumer dashboards. For more insights, explore the data dashboards on the TEA website. You can find them linked on the consumer information page under the TEA website. You'll also find data published on your I2I dashboard. Please take time to review records to ensure that they are complete and accurate before data is due by 5:00 p.m. on September 15th. Let's review some relevant terms that I'll be referencing throughout this presentation. First,
004as we all know, EPP is the educator preparation program, which you are here representing today. The CDN is the unique six-digit county number that is assigned to each EPP. Every program, certificate, and class the EPP offers is under the same CDN. Your CDN is populated at the top of your screen in your ECOS for entities account. ECOS is the educator certification online system, which houses the educators data statewide, including the data reported by EPPs. TEA ID is a unique identification number assigned to candidates and educators that is used for certification and the exam registration process. The term clinical experience broadly describes clinical teaching, internship, practicum, and residency. Some roles that may be referenced here today are EPP legal authority, who is the ultimate responsible party for the EPP. This person is usually the dean, the
005director, or the owner of the EPP. All official communications are sent to the legal authority, and that individual is the person authorized to sign documents on behalf of the EPP and manage EPP staff access to ECOS for entities. An EPP in a service center or at a school district or a charter school may have a primary contact that will act in place of the legal authority. Some EPPs have identified a backup legal authority who can also assist with those duties. The certification officer typically recommends certificates. However, in many EPPs, that role may also be responsible for other areas such as admissions, test approval, and or state reporting. Some EPPs have a person whose function is specifically to report data each year. Whoever completes the state reporting for your EPP must have the ASEP update access
006in ECOS for entities. If you have new staff that need assistance establishing the correct accesses in ECOS for entities for your EPP, please have them reach out to your assigned specialist at TEA for that assistance. Our goals for this presentation are first to provide the guidance for state reporting tasks this year and identify some resources available to you for reporting 2024-2025 data. Additionally, I'll let you know about some updates that impact state reporting this year. This is also an opportunity for you to gather your thoughts and questions around state reporting and then submit those questions to TEA so that we can publish responses for the good of the group. Please ask and we will respond. Note that for the remainder of this training, I may refer to the reporting year as 24-25. Those who have
007who have attended this annual training in the past will recognize this slide. We like this slide because it nicely frames up the continuum of reporting across the reporting year. Note the gold circle represents where we are in the process today. The reporting year began on September 1st, 2024. TEA has worked closely with EPPs to facilitate a smooth reporting experience. In late March 2025, TEA provided mid-year data sets and updates to assist the EPPs with reconciling data up until that point. Those data sets were added to the EPP share file folder and program legal authorities and primary contacts were notified and given access to the folders. Additionally, this year, TEA specialists have reached out to various programs to collaboratively review their data and identify trends that may reveal areas of concern related to ASEP reporting. TEA
008continues to enhance the ECOS for entities green screen to support timely and accurate data reporting. We'll look at recent enhancements later in this presentation. Now, we are in August and state reporting for 24-25 data is approaching with a due date of September 15th as specified in TAC. If you've been consistently adding your EPP data to ECOS throughout the year, completing the state reporting task now should only require some final touches, including some quality control review for accuracy and completeness. There are a number of resources available to assist EPP staff with state reporting. The data reporting manual remains the best resource for EPP staff with detail and instruction around reporting, including useful examples and screenshots throughout the manual. You'll find the most recent version of the data reporting manual posted in the forms and documents section
009on the program provider resources webpage on the TEA website. Also, on the program provider resources page, you'll find the request for correction forms, request for exception forms, and affidavit forms your EPP will need to complete your state reporting. Additionally, the weekly newsletter will contain reminders and information related to state reporting, as well as contact information for various TEA staff who can assist you. This to To subscribe to the newsletter, use the link at the top of the most recent archived copy of the newsletter. The archives are also on the program providers resource page. For most efficient service when you need assistance during state reporting, use the TEA help desk system. This process is preferred because help desk does not cycle out tickets like our emails do and is monitored by multiple TEA staff, ensuring your
010submission won't get lost amid the avalanche of emails during state reporting time. Additionally, the help desk is secure, and if you must send files that contain candidate identifiers, you can do so with confidence. When submitting a file for review or a for a correction form or affidavit, please help us by labeling your files with short, specific names. Submit forms and inquiries to the data reporting tile. No need to notify your specialist to separately as the help desk system will automatically send us an email when your ticket arrives. Additional resources include the data sets TEA provides periodically. As mentioned previously, these are uploaded into your EPP share file, and your legal authority or primary contact has the access. For EPPs who update ECOs with data throughout the year, the mid-year data sets are a useful checkpoint.
011The end of year data sets, which will be added to the share file early in the week following Labor Day, are also useful data uh if your data is in all of ECOs by the end of August. Note if the program does not have observation records completed in ECOs by the end of August, then the end of year data sets will not provide insight about whether your observation records are complete. Your legal authority or primary contact will receive an email reminder when the end of year data sets are uploaded. EPPs recently received principal and teacher survey rosters to verify and request exceptions to the survey data if needed. The due date for the request for exceptions to survey data has been extended, and those requests are now due at TEA along with other requests for
012exception by 5:00 p.m. on September 15th, 2025. EPPs will receive student growth data in the next few weeks to verify and request exceptions to the data if needed. Again, the due date for requests for exceptions to student growth data is due at TEA along with other requests for exceptions by 5:00 p.m. on September 15th, 2025. EPPs can also generate reports in ECOs as helpful tools to review some of their data, such as an admission report to verify admission data. So, TEA will not send admission data sets to the EPP. Later in this presentation, there'll be screenshots of some of these reports. For access to data sets in share file and for efficient communication with TEA during state reporting, please keep TEA informed of any key staff changes, such as your legal authority, primary point of
013contact, and certification officer. Your assigned specialist at TEA can help with updating contact information as needed. This is an overview of what you should have completed or been in the process of completing to prepare to submit your final data by 5:00 p.m. on September 15th, 2025. First, for all programs within your EPP, such as your undergrad teacher program, post-bac principal program, school counselor program, or others, you must compile and report the total number of applicants throughout the 24-25 academic year. If you haven't tracked this data, you will need to gather and input the required data into ECOs before September 15th. We'll discuss this further on another slide. Next, you'll ensure admitted candidates have a complete and accurate admission record. Some teacher candidates uh records might be missing subject-specific contact uh content hours and the related
014GPA or SAT, ACT, GRE scores if applicable. Review and update admission records to include all required data for each candidate. You can use the upload to upload update functionality to edit multiple records, or you can make manual adjustments to the editable fields in an individual admission record. For the 24-25 reporting year, candidates in all programs within your EPP will fall into three categories: finishers, who completed all requirements in 24-25, other enrolled, who are still working on the requirements as of the close of 24-25, or removed, those who were not finishers but left the program for any reason during 24-25. You will update the enrollment status on the finisher records list in ECOs. For candidates who completed part or all of a clinical experience in 24-25, EPPs must make sure there's a clinical experience record in
015place and that all observations completed uh for that candidate during 24-25 have been entered. Observation data is recorded in ECOs as well. For candidates who completed part of a residency clinical experience in 24-25, EPPs should enter in performance gates that have been met during 24-25 reporting year. A note about residency. No candidates are residency finishers in 24-25. The first EPPs approved by the SBEC for residency were approved in December of 2024. If the residency must be a full school year, then practically speaking, no candidates can possibly finish before December 24-25, which is in the 25-26 reporting year. Okay, now let's take a moment to look at some more detail about reporting in each of the areas that we just described on that previous slide. To do so, we'll move sequentially through the process of admitting
016and preparing candidates. The first step in that process is that individuals must apply for admission into your EPP. Applicants include individuals seeking certification as teachers, principals, or ed uh educational diagnosticians, or any of the other certificate classes that your EPP may be approved to offer in any route that you offer, including the traditional undergraduate route, the post-baccalaureate route, and the alternative certification route. EPPs are required to report the number of applicants to all programs within the EPP and to disaggregate that data by gender and race or ethnicity. The annual performance report or APR screen under the A set menu in ECOs for entities green screen is used to report applicant data. Note, if you search by past years on this screen, you'll be able to view your summarized data reported for applicants, admissions, and other
017enrolled uh and finisher enrollment statuses for the selected year. TEA populates the most uh most of this information in the report from the date data you report in admissions and on the finisher records list. You can see on the screenshot that the applied column on this uh page has space for the EPP to report the applied numbers. EPPs may continue to update these numbers throughout the year as needed. New numbers will save over previous numbers. The screens under the A set menu, including this one, lock at 5:00 p.m. on September 15th each year. Once A set locks, no edits may be made to your applied numbers. Up to that time, the EPP can continuously edit the applied data. The screen is intuitive, but there are instructions at the top if you need them. Just select
018the reporting year, which will be 24-25, and populate the applied fields. To report the applied numbers, count all individuals who applied to the program in the in your EPP during the 24-25 reporting year, including applicants to the teacher undergraduate program, the teacher alternative certification program, the principal post-baccalaureate program, the superintendent alternative certification program, and so forth as applicable to your programs your EPP is approved to offer. Report all applicants to all programs within the EPP as one total all number for the EPP that is not broken out by program. Then disaggregate the all number by gender and record the numbers in rows two and three. Then complete rows four through seven by disaggregating the all number by race and ethnicity. If you do not have demographic information for one or more candidates, you still need
019to include those applicants in the all count, but would not include them in the demographic group count. In that case, your demographic group numbers would not add up to the all number, which is acceptable. Practically, the total rows of two and three cannot exceed the all number in row one. Likewise, the total number of n- uh the total of numbers in rows four through seven cannot exceed the all number in row one. For your convenience, ECOS will validate those numbers and flash an error message if your demographic group total exceeds the all number. Note, this screen will allow negative values. Please do not report negative numbers and remove any negative numbers during your quality control checks before finalizing your data. Some simple quality checks can be performed by the EPP data reporter to ensure the
020applied data is accurate and complete. Make sure all programs have provided their applicant data. Then do the math again to verify that data is accurately portrayed on the applied data screen in the annual performance report. Before finalizing your 24-25 data, remember to cross-check the applied data with the admissions data. The applied all number must be greater than or equal to the total admitted uh admitted number. Thinking practically about this, the EPP cannot admit more candidates than the number that applied. ECOS will not validate these numbers for you, so remember to check that they're right before you finalize your data just to be sure those last-minute updates to your admission list did not change the balance between the applied and the admitted numbers. You can continue to edit the applied numbers throughout the reporting year by
021writing over the previous number and saving them. The annual performance report page will lock with the other pages under the ASET menu in ECOS at 5:00 p.m. on September 15th, and the applied numbers will not be editable after that lock. The data team at TEA will collect some of the data that we're required to report each year from the admissions records you created in ECOS. Your EPP will have created admission records throughout the reporting year for applicants that met admission requirements and were admitted into your EPP. This is because there's a requirement in 19 TAC 227.17E that the admission record must be created within seven calendar days of the formal admission date for each candidate. So, at the state reporting time, the data reporter for your EPP will most likely be engaged with making sure
022these records are accurate and complete. If the EPP somehow forgot to create an admission record for a candidate that was admitted earlier in the reporting year, that record can be created up to August 31st of the reporting year. After that, a data fix request to TEA will be needed to create the admission record. There are three screens under the ASET menu that EPPs use to create and track admission records. You'll find more information about how to navigate and use these screens in the data reporting manual. The EPP must create an admission record that includes all certificates the candidate is admitted to pursue. For example, a teacher candidate that's admitted to pursue core subjects with STR EC-36 and a bilingual supplemental will have an admission record that reflects both certificates, the content and the supplemental. To
023create admission records, you have two options. Use the admissions search in uh ASET for individual in entries or prepare a CSV file to upload records for multiple candidates using the upload admissions option. ECOS will allow you to edit certain fields through the upload or manually, such as if you have to go back and add SAT or ACT scores uh for your teacher candidates if those scores were not included when the admission record was created. The screenshot on this slide depicts the admission report you can access via maintain admissions. Select the 24-25 reporting year to generate the report of all admission records created for 24-25. You can also use the ex- export the report in an Excel file that will allow you to sort, which is helpful for helpful for verifying all programs have reported admission
024data. Note uh that admission records cannot be deleted by EPP. If you create the record in error, you must send a written request to your science specialist via the TEA help desk directing us to remove the record for you. The admission record should not be deleted or changed if the candidate leaves the EPP after admission or changes certification categories. The candidate's admission record in the original category remains unchanged despite any subsequent changes to the candidate status or the certificate area. As previously mentioned, you have until August 31st to create admission records for candidates that may have fallen through the cracks and were admitted with no admission records created. You'll have until 5:00 p.m. on September 15th to create admission record for anyone admitted with an admission date in the last week of August 2024 or
025sorry, in the last week of August 2025, but should still be within that 7 days of the formal or contingency admission date. As a reminder, admission uh records are used for the technology fee assessment. Accurate data reporting ensures the EPP is charged the correct fee. To make reporting easier and to help problem-solve issues, let's look at some areas in which common errors occur. You cannot create an admission record for someone already enrolled in the same uh cert license ID in any EPP. This is an intentional restriction helps with data cleanliness. If you try to create an admission record for an already enrolled candidate, the error message will indicate the EPP's county district number where the candidate is enrolled. This allows you to contact the other EPP to resolve any record discrepancies. Another area with common
026uh errors is in the CSV file upload process. The format of the CSV file is very sensitive, so to check formatting easily, you can open your CSV file with Notepad. Straight uh straight marks, spaces, and lines are noticeable in the Notepad view. Correct any errors in Notepad and save the changes for a hassle-free upload. Also, when creating the admission record, the certificate and identifiers must agree. The cert cert license ID should be the correct cert license ID for the specific route, and the role should be appropriate for the specified certificate. For example, notice in that screenshot the candidate is admitted to an ACP offering LOTE Spanish. The route identifies the candidate as alternative- uh ly certified. The cert license ID for LOTE Spanish offered in the alternative certification route is 1262, which is different than
027cert license ID for LOTE Spanish for an undergrad or post-bac route. Finally, LOTE Spanish is a classroom teaching certificate, so 029 is the required role code. If you were to choose, for example, the role code for principal, you should get an error message when creating that record. Let's look for a moment at CSV files that are required to use the upload function in uh each of the areas in which you will report data. Since we're talking about admissions right now, we'll use an admission upload file for this example. We know that a CSV file can be a sensitive bit of business, and often EPPs will have to upload errors when formatting their CSV file. When formatting the CSV, please remember that the name and TEA ID must match. GPAs must have two decimal places. There
028can be no spaces after the data, and correct number of delimiters must be um present. Also, there should be no headers. One of the most common issues occurring is not having the correct number of delimiters. 16 delimiters must be present in the upload. And if there's no data to report, such as the SAT, GRE, or ACT scores, these columns will be empty, resulting in an error. One way to correct this is to highlight the columns without data, select number for the format. This will ensure delimiters are present without actually putting in data. Another common error is date formats for the date of birth or the admission date. To format dates, right-click on the column, choose the format, then choose custom and change the type to month or mm dd and then yyyy. If using a
029template with headers, be sure to delete the header before uploading. Another way to catch errors before uploading is to see the data in raw form. You can easily review the formatting of your file by opening the CSV spreadsheet in Notepad. In this screenshot, I've opened my CSV file with Notepad and I can see multiple errors that would have disrupted my upload. Please note that EPPs will often submit TEA files that are not uploading so that we can help troubleshoot the cause of the upload failure. The first thing we do is open in Notepad. More often than not, we're able to spot the errors. You should be able to correct the errors in Notepad view and just remember to save. Each year, TEA receives questions about reporting uh SAT, ACT, and GRE scores. Those fields are
030in the admission record but are optional becomes because some programs are not required to report those numbers. But some programs are required to report those numbers. To clarify, if your EPP requires SAT, ACT, or GRE scores for admission, you must report them. For example, a GRE score is required for a candidate with a GPA below 2.5 who is seeking admission into a non-teacher program. So, the EPP would include the GRE score in the admission record for the candidate. Additionally, for university-based EPPs, if your university requires these scores for admission into the university, then the EPP is required to report them via the EPP admission record. Thank you to Texas A&M for being my example. Some simple quality checks can be performed by the EPP data reporter to ensure the admission data is accurate and complete.
031Admission data should be reviewed early in the data reporting process to pinpoint any corrections that TEA may need to assist with. If our team gets overwhelmed in the last minute data fixes, then we cannot possibly complete every request by your reporting deadlines. Ask for an admission list from each program in your EPP and use that to cross-check that each candidate has an admission record. Export an admission report for 24-25 and look for missing data. Before finalizing your 24-25 data, remember to cross-check the admission total with the total applied number to ensure admission number is not greater than the number you reported that applied during 24-25. Candidate enrollment data must be reported by the EPP. This reporting requirement has been in effect since the 2009 to 2010 reporting year. Before that, only finishers were reported. Note,
032if you need to access the finisher list prior to 2008-2009, they are available in the archived ASAP in ECOs. Candidate enrollment records are reported on the finisher records list in ECOs. The finisher records list is one list that can be sorted for all candidates or by enrollment status of other enrolled or finisher. You can also display the candidates that were removed from the list. For your convenience, when you create the admission record for a candidate, uh I apologize. When you for your convenience, when you create the admission record for your candidate, ECOs courteously creates the enrollment record for the candidate for each of the certificates included in the admission record. The enrollment status is populated as other enrolled. On a related note, for those of you that do not already know this, the admission record
033also creates a test approval record for the candidate. The candidate status will be marked as eligible because the EPP decides when the candidate is ready for testing and when to approve it. So, if all your admission records were created as required, then updating candidate enrollment status on the finisher records list during the reporting year is an easy task. Candidates can be placed on the finisher records list in two ways. First, as previously mentioned, is by creating an admission record for that candidate. The EPP cannot add a new candidate directly onto the finisher records list without first creating an admission record for that candidate. Once the initial record is created, the EPP may update enrollment records as needed throughout the year by adding or removing certificate areas or by updating status. Second, candidates designated as other
034enrolled at the end of one reporting year will automatically roll over to the next reporting year, saving EPP staff time because they don't have to create a new enrollment list each year. There are three screens EPPs can use to manage enrollment records and generate reports. First, you can search for an individual candidate using student search and update the record manually from the resulting student maintenance screen. Second, you can generate and filter a list via maintain finishers and change candidate status for an existing record from that list. Don't forget to save. And finally, you can use the upload finishers bulk upload option to add or delete a record or to change the enrollment status for one candidate or for multiple candidates simultaneously. When reporting the enrollment status of candidates on the finisher records list, first identify
035everyone who finished requirements at any point from 9/1/2024 through 8/31/2025 and change their status to finisher. Then review all candidates listed as other enrolled and change the status to removed for any candidates that are no longer in the EPP. All other candidates who are still working on completing requirements will remain at a status of other enrolled. As a reminder, finished finisher status is not determined on whether a person has been recommended for a standard certificate or has passed a certification exam. These factors are not considered criteria for determining finisher status. You'll find the definition of a finisher or completer in 19 TAC 228 .218 and in 19 TAC 229 .210. Before we move on to the next section, let's take a minute and summarize some key actions that you'll need to take regarding reporting candidate
036enrollment on the finisher records list. First, when candidates finish your program, update their status to finisher on the finisher records list. Do this throughout the year. For example, if you have an undergraduate teacher program with fall graduates that complete requirements and are recommended for standard certificates in December, then change their status to finisher on the finisher records list in December before you recommend the standard certificate. Second, if a candidate changes the certificate sought, include including content area or route, update the finisher records list to reflect the new certificate and then remove the previous certificate. If a candidate adds another certificate area, add another row to the candidate's record with the additional certificate. And finally, if candidates leave your program, remove them from your finisher records list. Inactive candidates will continue to roll over on the
037finisher records list each year if you do not remove them, which clutters the other enrolled list with inaccurate data. If this is not completed throughout the year, you'll need to review records now and update them. Removing candidates as needed before 5:00 p.m. on September 15th. Note that you received a midyear data set that contained a list of candidates who have been carried on your finisher records list as other enrolled for five or more years. Pay special attention to these candidates and remove any that are no longer active in your programs. Remember, inactive candidates will continue to roll over on the finisher records list each year if you do not remove them. Thank you to those EPPs that have worked hard to clean up their finisher records list to remove any candidates who are no longer
038in their program. Clinical experience records enable the EPP to efficiently record essential information regarding clinical experience including clinical teaching, internships, residency and practicums. EPPs are obligated to monitor and document activities around clinical experiences. Candidates who completed all or part of a clinical experience in 24-25 must have a clinical experience record in ECOs. Note that all candidates must have an admission record and must have an enrollment record on the finisher records list before the EPP can create the clinical experience records for those candidates. Additionally, candidates must have a clinical experience record for an EPP to be able to report the related observations. Any person in a program within the EPP who started or completed any part of the required clinical experience during the 2024-2025 reporting year must have a clinical experience record. There are two screens
039under the A CEP drop-down menu in ECOs that allow the EPP to create and manage clinical experience records. EPPs can create a clinical experience record for any individual candidate manually via the clinical experience records option or for one or more candidates using the bulk upload via the upload clinical experience option. To create a record manually, search on the TEA ID number of the person whose record you want to create and select add record. This option is also useful if you need to edit a record that is already in place. Note that a record cannot be edited or deleted by the EPP if there are obser- observations tied to it. To upload multiple clinical experience records, use a CSV file formatted as in the instructions on the upload clinical experience page. The clinical experience records options
040also allows the EPP to view a report of all clinical experience records created for the year. Note this report can also be exported. However, the export button for this screen is located in a different place on the screen than the export button on the screens we've already seen. Notice the green export to CSV button next to the white search field in the screenshot. There's limited editing and deleting allowed for clinical experience records. For example, once a record is tied to an observation, the EPP cannot edit or delete that record. In the interest of accurate data, if EPP staff need assistance with correcting these records, please reach out to the assigned specialist at TEA. Due to the recent enhancements in our admin screens, we may be able to make the correction for you. Please note, accuracy
041in clinical experience records matter greatly. Looking ahead to next year for 2025-2026 data, clinical experience records will be used to identify who should be counted for the observation evaluation for indicator 4A. To create a clinical experience record for a candidate, the candidate must have an admission record with the EPP and must be listed as either other enrolled or finisher on the finisher records list. The clinical experience record will pull data from various sources including candidate certificates whenever possible. Those fields cannot be edited by EPP or by TEA. The clinical experience record is linked to observations records because the observations are recorded during the candidate's clinical experience. Both the observation report and clinical experience report will share data. To create an observation report a valid clinical experience record is required. Some observation data will also be
042collected and stored within the clinical experience record. Once a clinical experience record is linked to an observation, the EPP cannot edit or delete the clinical experience record. Reach out to TEA for assistance as needed. If you need assistance using the clinical experience feature, please refer to the data reporting manual published on the program provider resources page. EPPs are strongly encouraged to create these records throughout the year due to the large volume of work that will ensue if the EPP is attempting to create both clinical experience records and observation records at the end of the reporting year. Data around field supervision is another important area that you will report. EPPs must report all formal observations conducted by field supervisors for candidates in all programs who participated in a clinical experience in uh 2024-2025. The number of
043formal observations for that candidate must meet or exceed the minimum number of required formal observations for the type of clinical experience in which the candidate participated. It is very important for EPPs that your formal observation data is reported correctly since observations completion is part of indicator four of the EPP accountability indicators identified in 19 TAC 229.4. Important note, informal observations conducted by field supervisor and observations conducted by cooperating teachers, mentors, host teachers, camper campus supervisors and site supervisors are not reported in ECOs. While field supervisors must informally observe and support candidates and supporting campus personnel are observing and providing feedback on candidate performance, those observations are not reported in ECOs. Instead, retain the evidence in the candidate's records as part of the completion documents required to be kept per the records retention requirement in 19
044TAC 228.13H. There are three screens under the A CEP menu in ECOs that EPPs will use to report and manage formal observation data. Observations can be entered manually for one candidate by searching the candidate TEA ID on the observations page. Observations for one or for multiple candidates may be uploaded using a CSV file via upload observations. Note that there is also a link in a candidate's clinical experience record that will take you to the manual observation entry screen for that specific candidate. It's important to report all formal observations conducted by the field supervisor, not just the minimum number required. For example, if the minimum required formal observations for a clinical teacher are four, but your field supervisors complete five formal observations, then report all five formal observations. And as identified on the previous slide, only
045formal observations conducted by the field supervisor should be reported in ECOs. Also remember the field supervisor that conducted the observation must be listed in your field supervisor database. If not, you will get an error message when you try to add the observation into ECOs. To access the field supervisor database, select field supervisors option on the A CEP menu. Remember that a field supervisor that is tied to an observation may not be removed from the database. You should get an error if you attempt to remove a field supervisor that is tied to an observation. TEA continues to strongly encourage EPPs to enter formal observation data as the observations are completed throughout the year to avoid losing track of that data as the year progresses and to clear any issues that may arise with entering those observations
046in advance of state reporting. EPPs have the option to allow virtual observations, but they are not obligated to do so. For teacher candidates, the EPP may allow up to two virtual observations. For non-teacher candidates, such as principals, educational diagnosticians, and so forth, all observations may be done virtually if the EPP chooses that structure. For reporting purposes, EPPs must specify in ECOs whether an observation was conducted in person or virtually. This chart provides an example of the number and observation and format of observations that you would be expected to report if your EPP allowed virtual observations for your teacher candidates in 24-25. Note the P is in-person observations and the V is virtual observations. Before implementing virtual observations for teacher candidates starting September 1st, it's important to carefully review the complete rule text starting in 19
047TAC 228.105 to understand specific requirements related to virtual observations. Certain aspects, such as the total number of required observations, might change if virtual observations are allowed. On a related note about virtual formal observations, TEA strongly encourages EPPs to provide training to field supervisors regarding conducting virtual observations and the related requirements, since field supervisors assigned to teacher candidates may not be accustomed to performing observations virtually. Also remember 750-hour clinical experience model is only for residency clinical experiences assigned by EPPs approved by the ASBEC to offer the residency route. To be successful uploading observations, it's important to understand the validations in ECOs. First, the candidate must have a record on the finisher records list for the 24-25 reporting year and must have a clinical experience record. If you attempt to add an observation and one of those
048records is missing, you'll get an error message. Error messages prevent the data from recording. Additionally, the field supervisor must be in the field supervisor database and the observation date must be within the assignment begin and end dates recorded in the clinical experience record. As a reminder, TEA created a new validation in 23-24 that allows the EPP to enter the observation in a past locked year as long as it meets the other validation requirements and the assignment end date is in the current unlocked or in a future locked year. If the clinical experience ended in a past locked year, you cannot go back and add an observation. Let's take a look at some examples of observation validations. This graphic depicts a clinical experience with a start date of August 20th, 2024 and an end date of
049August 20th, 2025. So, it could be a representation of a candidate completing a full year clinical experience now. Observation one was completed on August 30th, 2024. The validation allows the observation to be entered at any point throughout that clinical experience, but the end date of the assignment must be in the current unlocked ASIP year or in a future ASIP year that is also locked. Observations cannot be entered for clinical experiences that ended in past locked years. The reason the observation six could not be entered in this example is because it is outside of the assignment end date. This is an existing validation and it has not changed. The when the EPP attempted to enter observation seven, which occurred 9/15/2025, one or both error messages would have resulted, one flagging the observation as outside the assignment
050end date and the other flagging there is not a clinical experience record since the observation occurred in 25-26 and the clinical experience ended in 24-25, the previous locked year. The validations provide some flexibility for implementation of updated 228 observation schedule affected of 9/1/2024, which requires field supervisors to conduct the first formal observation for an intern within the first four weeks of the assignment instead of the first six weeks. Once again, the advisement is always to enter observations in the reporting year in which they occur, but if you forget one, there's still a chance that you can enter it in the next reporting year if it meets the validation requirements. As you are reviewing data during ASIP reporting season, it is important to remember these guidelines when finalizing observation data for 24-25. First, all finisher records
051need to be final. These records should be accurate and reflect the status of each candidate's enrollment in the EPP. Next, all clinical experience records need to be created and the number of formal observations entered must match the number required for the type of clinical experience reported. Lastly, all observations need to be input into ECOs and meet the requirements for virtual versus in-person, as well as meet the duration requirements for observations. Now, let's review data concerning new residency route that should also be entered in ECOs for the 24-25 year. As candidates begin their clinical experiences in residency route, EPPs should be creating a clinical experience records accordingly. The residency candidates should already have an enrollment record with a certificate area in the residency route. When creating residency clinical experience records, be sure the certificate area selected
052is a residency certificate area. For residency, the clinical experience model should be 750 hours. No other clinical experience records should use the model 750 hours. Moreover, assignment begin dates for residency clinical experience records should not precede the date the ASBEC approved your program to offer the residency route. Performance gates are also an integral part of residency data reporting. For candidates to be eligible for an enhanced standard certificate at the end of the residency, four performance gates must be recorded in sequential order. A clinical experience record must be entered before the performance gate records can be added. Practically, the performance gates dates must occur within the assignment beginning and end dates recorded in the clinical experience record. There's a validation built into ECOs that reinforces this requirement. Notice this candidate on the screen had two performance
053gates met during the 2024-25 reporting year, but will have two more recorded in the 25-26 reporting year. The enhanced standard certificate is scheduled to be released in ECOs this December as the first first cohort of residency candidates completed complete the program requirements. This would only be applicable to those EPPs who received ASBEC approval for their residency program in December 2024. It is possible these programs may have a residency completers in December of 2025. The validations that exist in ECOs for the enhanced standard certificate to be recommended are must have a status of finisher in the residency route on the finisher records list, must have four performance gates recorded in sequential order within the clinical experience assignment beginning and end dates, and last, must have passed the content pedagogy exam for the certificate area in which
054the enhanced standard certificate is being sought. The EPP will receive an error message when recommending an enhanced standard certificate if the candidate record does not reflect these requirements. Error messages stop processes, so the certificate cannot be recommended. Now we've reviewed the data that must be submitted. Let's now look at some additional areas that impact your state reporting as of 24 25. If an EPP failed to report data correctly in the past ASEP year, it may interfere with the program's ability to report related data this year. If that happens, a program may need to submit a data fix request to poor correction or a RFC to TEA to add the missing data or to correct data that was entered incorrectly in the past locked year. As a reminder, please be sure to include all records that
055should be corrected. For example, if a candidate was a finisher in 22 23, but still has 22 23, 23 24, and 24 25 records with an other enrolled status, the RFC form should request for 22 23 to be changed to finisher and the 23 24 to be changed to removed. The EPP is responsible for changing the status of any enrollment records in the current unlocked year. Thus, the EPP should change the 24 25 record to removed. When submitting your RFC form to the help desk, please name the file as the EPP CDN number underscore EPP name underscore and then the date submitted. For example, if I were submitting an RFC form on behalf of Region 4, I would name my file 101 950 underscore Region 4 underscore 08 05 2025. Thanks to Region 4 for
056being an example for us. Additionally, the EPP may need to submit a request for exception or RFE to TEA to remove a data point from the EPP data for the 24 25 reporting year. To streamline the RFE process, a new form has been created. You may find this form under the forms and documents section of the program provider resources page. Please ensure instructions are followed on the first sheet of the form and ensure all fields are populated. In the next sheet, use the drop-down in the first column to choose the type of exception requested. Complete the next two columns with the candidate's information. Then, use the drop-down in the fourth column to choose the reason for the exemption request. If choosing other reason, use the fifth column to add additional details. Please submit all requests
057and all request types on one RFE form. One form will accommodate up to 1,000 exception requests. If your EPP needs to ask for more than 1,000 exceptions, you will need to use a second form and may need to have a conversation with your assigned specialist about why so many exceptions are needed. Your specialist can help you sort through your intended request to see if they can be eliminated to save you time. Here you see an example of some proposed reasons for exception for indicator two relating to principal survey and for indicator three relating to student growth. This EPP has requested three exceptions for indicator two identifying the reasons as candidate did not work at least five months as teacher record in the academic year, candidate was not on their first year as teacher of record,
058or third other reason. For the exception request requested for indicator three, the proposed reason for the exception is recorded in the additional detail column. As student growth is a new indicator for this year, more details as to why the exception is needed will be required. Many student many situations concerning student growth will have been addressed before the student growth data sets are uploaded and shared via share file. However, there may be outlier reasons that should be considered. Again, if using other reason for the exception request, please provide thorough details as to why this exception is needed. Some request for exceptions for indicator 4A relating to field supervision and for indicator five related to the teacher survey are shown here. Request for exception for 4A are pre-populated with some common reasons including deactivated int pro pro
059ex cert, issued standard cert before complete completion of additional internship, candidate was placed on administrative leave or extended FMLA, or other reasons. Pre-populated common exception requests related to indicator five are in the second column and include the candidate did not work at least five months as the teacher of record in the academic year, candidate was not in their first year as teacher of record, or other reasons. The requester may also choose other reason if the EPP has a unique situation that is not addressed by the pre-populated exceptions. If other reason is uh chosen, be sure to include details regarding the request. Both the RFC and RFE options will be available this year during state reporting. Again, the RFC and RFE forms and related instructions are published on the program provider resources page for your convenience.
060Please remember to get the data fix request for corrections in as early as possible to give TEA staff time to make the corrections before 5:00 p.m. on September 15th. Due to unpredictable number of data fix request TEA may receive, data fix requests that are submitted after August 25th may not be processed by September 15th. TEA staff will process the request on a first come first serve basis uh and will respond to the requester when complete. All requests for exception are due to TEA by 5:00 p.m. September 15th. To finalize state reporting of your 24 25 data, the EPP will submit an affidavit verifying the data is accurate and complete. The EPP legal authority must sign the affidavit. For service center and school district EPPs, the primary contact on file at TEA will sign the affidavit.
061Affidavits are due to TEA by 5:00 p.m. on September 15th when ASEP closes. You will find a copy of the affidavit on the program provider resources page on the TEA website. This document must be submitted as a live document. So, for best results, save a copy of the document to your computer before you fill it out. Once the document is complete, sign it electronically and save it again. Submit the affidavit to the help desk at TEA. Do not send a scanned copy of the affidavit. If the document is not working for you, please check and make sure you have an updated version of Adobe. 19 TAC 228.23 requires the EPP to annually report to the aspect all names under which it was doing business during the previous year, which means the reporting year of the
062data being reported or 24 25. The DBA name or doing business as name is any name your EPP has used that is not the aspect approved name for your EPP. In the example, the Region 4 Education Service Center is the aspect approved name of the EPP, but they do business as Inspire Texas. So, their DBA name is Inspire Texas. They would report Inspire Texas as their DBA name during state reporting this year. Once again, thank you to our Region 4 team for being an example. We will use the affidavit as the vehicle in which to collect DBA information. You'll notice on the affidavit that there are fields to populate with your EPP's DBA name or names as applicable. If your EPP operated under your aspect approved name during 24 25, then you may not have
063any other DBA names. When completing the DBA information on the affidavit, if you have questions, please reach out to your assigned specialist at TEA and we will help you figure it out. Our reporting timeline is efficient. And for those programs who are keeping up with data entry throughout the year, the process should be even more efficient. Look for your end of year observation data sets in early September. If your data is final by August 31st, you can use the observation data sets to review your data and make any last minute adjustments as needed. Additionally, review your ECOS reports for admissions, clinical experiences, and enrollment data and make sure all is correct there. Your goal is to have all data complete and accurate in ECOS by 5:00 p.m. on September 15th when ASEP will lock. To
064reiterate, all data means data for all of the programs within your EPP and includes updated, accurate, and complete admission records, updated and accurate candidate enrollment status on the finisher records list, clinical experience records and formal observation data as applicable, and applied data. Additionally, your affidavit certifying your data must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on September 15th. TA education specialists will review your data to ensure all screens are populated and that your affidavit of data accuracy has been received. The 24-25 ASEP will not unlock for revisions. Please be careful and deliberate about ensuring data accuracy. Admissions, finisher records, clinical experience records, observation data, and applied data are all in the ASEP menu. After ASEP is locked, you will not be able to go back and change any of the data in the locked year. For candidates
065admitted September 1st, 2025 or later, the EPPs will be able to add admission records before the 24-25 to 25-26 rollover occurs. The records that are entered between September 1st and September 15th will not be affected by the rollover of data to the new reporting year and will be merged into the finisher records list when rolled over. Before we close today, let me highlight some key points that we felt were important enough to repeat. First, all candidates completing clinical teaching, internship, residency, or practicum, including extensions, require field supervision. Clinical experience records and observation data must be reported for candidates in clinical experiences in 24-25. Next, admission records cannot be created or updated after 8:31 of the admission year, so remember to verify admission records early before the uh in the reporting process. This should not be
066a problem because admission records are required to be created within 7 days of the candidate's formal admission date. Note here for candidate admitted in the last week of August, an admission record can be created after 30 August 31st and up to 5:00 p.m. on 9:15 when ASEP locks. The third bullet reminds us that uh ASEP for 24-25 will not unlock again after it closes on September 15th. So, please allow time before September 15th to run quality control on your data. Conduct your data reviews and quality checks at least days before September 15th to allow time for last minute additions, deletions, and corrections. Do not rely on upload status results as a quality control measure. Please check your work. While there are no while there are error messages and warning messages built into aspects of ECOS
067for your convenience, including the upload status information, we cannot possibly predict all of the things that could potentially happen to disrupt an upload, so do not rely on a successful upload status as your ultimate uh quality check. Also, please remember that specialists have limited time during state reporting as they call uh they're called to assist all EPPs, so submit data fix requests and requests for assistance with data entry issues early to ensure your needs are met before 5:00 p.m. on 9:15 deadline. Our final reminder is to report any issues within ECOS as soon as possible. TA relies on our users in the field to let us know when ECOS is not working as it should be. We can expect a slowdown periodically between September 1st through the 15th. However, if something breaks and our screens
068or data entry portals are not functioning properly, we will need to pull in our IT team in for a fix. This concludes our training for uh on 24-25 state reporting requirements. Please record your final questions in the Q&A section. Give us a few days to get the recording of this presentation, a PDF of this presentation, and the FAQs posted. We will notify you in the newsletter when all resources are posted on the program provider resources page. I hope you have a wonderful day and best wishes for an efficient and trouble-free state reporting experience.