Entrance Requirements

Hold a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education.

Your bachelor's degree must be earned and conferred by an institution of higher education that is recognized by one of the regional accrediting agencies by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Check with your institution for accreditation status.

If you have an undergraduate or graduate degree from a university or college outside of the United States, your international transcripts must be evaluated by a foreign credential evaluation service.

See international transcripts for a list of acceptable evaluation services for US equivalence for admissions into the teacher certification program.

Evaluations must include the educational degree equivalencies, overall grade point average, course-by-course analysis, and divisional course analysis (if teaching in grades 7-12). A “teacher certification” evaluation is preferred.

 

Meet grade point average (GPA) requirement of an overall GPA of at least 2.5 or at least 2.5 in the last 60 semester credit hours.

If you do not meet the minimum grade point average requirement, please complete step 1 of the admissions process and submit official or unofficial transcripts from every college or university you attended to determine your GPA. A response will be sent via email with additional instructions.

 

Demonstrate content mastery in the content area for the certification sought by meeting the prerequisite coursework requirements or submitting a passing score on the content examination through the PACT (Pre-Admission Content Test) TExES Program.

For each certification area, the program requires a minimum number of semester hours that must be completed prior to program acceptance. Please complete step 1 of the admissions process and submit official or unofficial transcripts from every college or university you attended to determine if you have met the prerequisites in your area of certification.

Please note if you do not meet the prerequisite requirements you may demonstrate content mastery by submitting a passing score on the content examination through the PACT TExES Program. Please see Pre-Admissions Content Test for more information.

 

Submit current copy of résumé.

The résumé gives us a great insight to your background and skills. An interview will be scheduled, as part of our admissions process, so we ask that you submit your résumé upon submitting your application. 

 

Must demonstrate oral communication skills in the English language.

As a teacher candidate, you must be able to communicate, listen, read, write, and comprehend the English language sufficiently to use it easily and readily in daily communication and teaching.

If you hold an undergraduate or graduate degree outside of the United States, you may have to take the TOEFL iBT exam.  The TOEFL exam measures your ability to use and understand English at the university level. It evaluates how well you combine your listening, reading, speaking and writing skills. 

How do you know if you need to complete the TOEFL exam?

• All teacher candidates must demonstrate oral communication skills in the English language.
• If you completed an undergraduate or graduate degree at a regionally accredited institution of higher education in the United States – you are exempt and not required to complete the TOEFL exam.

If not exempt from the TOEFL exam, you must submit a passing TOEFL score of 79 on the Internet-based (iBT) exam. Minimum scores required are: Speaking – 24, Listening – 22, Reading – 22 and Writing -21. (See TEA website https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/certification/out-of-state-certification/english-language-proficiency   for more information.)

For information on the TOEFL iBT test, visit ETS-TOEFL. The Destination Code (DI) for HCC is 6296.