2019-2020 Industry-Based Certifications for Public School Accountability

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is releasing the updated list of industry-based certifications to be used for public school accountability. The new list of industry-based certifications is scheduled to go into effect for the 2019-2020 school-year and will apply to school accountability ratings in August 2021. To view the updated list, click here.

To develop this list, TEA requested feedback from stakeholders across Texas on recommendations for additions to the current state-approved list of 73 industry-based certifications. TEA received over 4,000 responses containing 1,319 unique credentials. The recommended credentials were sent to the 28 Texas Workforce Development Boards to determine industry value and approximately 1,000 industry representatives responded to the survey. 

All submitted credentials were reviewed for the evaluation criteria for industry-based certifications including: 1) industry valued; 2) 3rd party provider; 3) capstone; 4) attainable by a high school student; and 5) portable.

A preliminary public comment period was held from January 4 through February 15, 2019.  Over 2,100 comments were received and reviewed. As the new list is reviewed, please make note of the following:

• Business, Marketing and Finance clusters have been aligned together.  In addition, Government & Public Administration has been aligned with the Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security career cluster. 
• Industry-Based Certifications are valuable in multiple career clusters.  An example of this is the Autodesk AutoCAD certification which aligns with several careers. If the certification is earned, a district should report the certification regardless of the primary cluster identified on the list.
• 1 page documents will be created to show detailed information relating to each certification.

The updated list and documentation can be found at the following website: https://tea.texas.gov/cte

If you have additional questions regarding the 2019-2020 Industry-Based Certification List for Public School Accountability process, contact Avery Barrera at avery.barrera@tea.texas.gov or Ryan Merritt at ryan.merritt@tea.texas.gov.