Roadmap for the New Texas Certification Exam

Built on Two Years of AI Scenario-Based Learning Work

Over the last two years, our work at Enabling Learning has focused on using AI to design and refine scenario-based learning activities for bilingual and ESL teachers. We have been:

• Creating realistic classroom scenarios in Spanish that mirror the kinds of decisions teachers make every day.
• Using rich, contextual prompts so activities reflect authentic school settings and student needs.
• Employing multiple AI models to verify information and improve the accuracy and consistency of feedback.
• Developing evaluation systems that assess both pedagogical competency and target-language proficiency simultaneously, because effective bilingual teaching requires demonstrating what you know through the language you teach in.

One of the key characteristics of the new 165 exam is its emphasis on using Spanish in context, in real classroom scenarios, not just as general language proficiency. Because we have been working in this direction for several years, we are well prepared to support candidates as this new exam launches.

These same AI-supported, scenario-based approaches will continue to grow in our current BTLPT course and will form the foundation of our future 165 exam preparation materials. Our AI systems already evaluate candidates on a dual axis: how well they apply instructional strategies and how effectively they communicate in academic Spanish. This is precisely the integrated model that the new exam demands.

Introducing Praxitude AI: Our Next-Generation Scenario Platform

Over the past year, the dual-axis, scenario-based work described above has grown into its own dedicated platform: Praxitude AI. Praxitude AI is a next-generation scenario proficiency platform that evaluates professional competence and target-language proficiency simultaneously, in realistic classroom and workplace scenarios. It is built on the same educational principles as our BTLPT course, with a deeper and more flexible architecture designed specifically for the kind of integrated, dual-axis assessment the new TExES 165 demands.

For bilingual education, Praxitude AI already includes:

• Full coverage of all six TExES 165 competencies with production-ready scenarios.
• Realistic bilingual classroom scenarios generated on demand and reviewed by human experts.
• Dual-axis evaluation that scores each student response on both professional decision making and academic Spanish proficiency at the same time.
• A faculty dashboard with progress tracking by competency, group reports, and configurable assignment paths.
• Praxis Notes, our anti-hallucination AI feedback system that grounds every comment in the actual student response.
• Flexible deployment for individual candidates, university cohorts, and educator preparation programs.

Praxitude AI is now live and ready for institutional partners. Universities and educator preparation programs that want to begin preparing for the integrated, scenario-based design of the new 165 exam can request early access today by visiting praxitude.ai.

Importantly, Praxitude AI does not replace our current Enabling Learning courses. Our BTLPT course will remain available and supported throughout the entire 2026 to 2027 transition period, exactly as we promise below. Praxitude AI is the next-generation companion for institutions and candidates who want the most advanced 165 preparation as soon as the new exam launches, while Enabling Learning continues to be the home of our broader catalog of TExES preparation courses.

Major Changes to Texas Bilingual Certification Exams (2026 to 2028)

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is consolidating the current bilingual certification exams into a single, comprehensive test: TExES 165 Bilingual Education: Spanish Supplemental.

Key Transition Dates

• Spring 2026 (completed): TEA published the official preparation manual for the 165 exam on March 6, 2026, including sample questions for every subtest and the official scoring rubrics for the speaking and writing assignments.
• June 17, 2026 (completed): Registration opened. Candidates can now register for the 165 exam for testing appointments beginning September 1, 2026.
• Summer 2026 (in progress): TEA releases representative and practice exams for the 165 exam (not yet published as of July 2026). Pearson already lists the passing standard: 240 on each subtest.
• September 1, 2026: New TExES 165 exam launches.
• September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027: Overlap period. Candidates may choose to take either the new 165 exam or the current 164 and 190 exams.
• August 31, 2027: Last day to take the current 164 and 190 exams.
• September 1, 2027: All candidates seeking Bilingual Education: Spanish Supplemental certification must take the new 165 exam.
• August 31, 2028: Last day to apply for certification or recommend candidates using scores from exams 164 and 190.

This transition moves from two separate exams (pedagogy plus language proficiency) to one integrated exam that assesses:

• Academic Spanish proficiency (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) integrated with instructional methodology.
• Foundations of bilingual education and instructional practice.
• Knowledge of TEKS (SLAR and ELAR) and the ELPS.
• Linguistically responsive, research-based instruction and assessment.
• Family and community engagement to support bilingualism, biliteracy, and multiculturalism.

New Exam Structure: Three Subtests

The new TExES 165 is organized into three subtests, each with its own test code. The first attempt is the full exam in a single session (about 5 hours of total appointment time, $136). Candidates who do not pass every subtest then retake only the subtest or subtests they missed ($70 each, after a 30-day waiting period). A passing score of 240 on each subtest is required:

• Subtest 1 (Test 166): Listening and Speaking in Spanish; 36 selected-response questions plus 4 spoken constructed-response assignments; 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Subtest 2 (Test 167): Reading and Writing in Spanish; 36 selected-response questions plus 1 written constructed-response assignment; 1 hour 45 minutes.
• Subtest 3 (Test 168): Foundations of Bilingual Education and Instructional Practice; 48 selected-response questions; 1 hour 15 minutes.

Dates and exam details are based on current TEA transition guidance, the official 165 exam framework, and Pearson’s published test information, last verified July 8, 2026. They are subject to adjustment if the state updates its implementation timeline.

Our Commitment to Current and Future Candidates

We recognize that many candidates are already preparing for the current BTLPT (190) and Bilingual Supplemental (164) exams, while new candidates will enter programs after the 165 exam launches. For that reason:

• The current BTLPT online course will remain available and will be updated, rather than removed.
• We will support both individual users and institutional partners (universities and school districts) through the full transition period.
• Candidates preparing for 164 or 190 will continue to receive high-quality practice and feedback aligned with those exams, while we gradually introduce content aligned with the 165 structure.
• Institutional partners that have already purchased seats with us will be able to deploy those seats on either the current Enabling Learning track or the new Praxitude AI track for the 165 exam, at no additional cost.

AI-Powered Learning: What Our BTLPT Course Offers Today

Our BTLPT preparation course already includes a fully operational AI Learning Model that personalizes practice, evaluates performance, and tracks growth across all four language domains. Here is what candidates experience:

Speaking and Oral Practice

• AI generates unlimited unique classroom scenarios on demand: conversations with principals, parents, and colleagues; formulating questions; expressing opinions on educational topics; and delivering mini lessons aligned with bilingual classroom contexts.
• Candidates record their spoken responses directly in the browser with a live waveform display, and the system transcribes their audio using AI speech recognition.
• Each response is evaluated against our own rubric, on the three criteria the exam measures: task fulfillment, organization and development, and language use (grammar, vocabulary, fluency).
• Feedback includes a score on the BTLPT scale, specific strengths, areas for improvement with quoted excerpts and corrections, and a model response for comparison.

Writing Practice

• Twelve task types covering professional correspondence (to parents, administrators, colleagues), lesson plans aligned with real Texas TEKS objectives, and argumentative essays on bilingual education topics.
• Lesson plan tasks draw from a curated pool of 39 authentic TEKS objectives across mathematics, science, social studies, and Spanish language arts for grades 3 through 5, so each practice attempt presents a different standard.
• Writing is evaluated on the BTLPT 100 to 300 scale with a three-criterion rubric (fulfillment, organization, language), and candidates receive a fully corrected version of their text along with detailed narrative feedback.
• The writing environment simulates exam conditions: spellcheck and autocorrect are disabled, and accent helper buttons are provided for Spanish characters.

Accent and Orthographic Mastery

• A dedicated practice module with 200+ high-frequency Spanish words commonly used in BTLPT writing contexts, organized by category (educational terminology, connectors, verb forms, academic vocabulary, contextual pairs like él/el and más/mas).
• Every word is presented in sentence context, and the system uses adaptive difficulty: words the candidate struggles with appear more frequently, while mastered words appear less often.
• A personal dashboard tracks mastery per word, overall accuracy, and progress toward a course completion gate.

Full Practice Exams

• Three complete exam versions simulate the full BTLPT experience across listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with timed sections, audio playback, and automatic recording.
• Exams can be paused and resumed at any point; progress is saved automatically so candidates never lose their work.
• All speaking and writing responses are stored for AI evaluation and instructor review.

AI Evaluation and Instructor Oversight

• All constructed responses (oral and written) are evaluated by advanced AI models using our own rubrics, built around the criteria the BTLPT measures, providing immediate, detailed feedback.
• For institutional partners, a professor dashboard allows instructors to review student submissions, listen to audio recordings, read AI-generated evaluations, and override or supplement AI scores with their own assessments.
• Every response is evaluated on two dimensions simultaneously: professional competency (instructional decision making, knowledge of standards) and target-language proficiency (academic register, accuracy, communicative effectiveness in Spanish).

This dual-axis approach, assessing pedagogy and language together in realistic classroom scenarios, directly mirrors the integrated nature of the new 165 exam. The same AI foundations live on inside our BTLPT course on Enabling Learning and inside our next-generation Praxitude AI platform, and the modular design of our evaluation systems allows us to adapt to the new exam structure as soon as official materials are released.

Our AI-Powered Learning Cycle: candidates begin with a baseline assessment, practice across all four language domains, receive AI-evaluated feedback aligned with BTLPT rubrics, track their progress, and the system adapts to focus on their areas of growth.

Enabling Learning Roadmap (2026 to 2028)

Phase 1, January 2026 (Completed): Updated BTLPT and Bilingual Supplemental Courses with AI Support

• Updated the existing BTLPT course to include AI-based activity tracking and feedback.
• Introduced AI-generated personalized activities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing in academic Spanish.
• Integrated scenario-based oral practice that reflects real bilingual classroom situations and exam-style tasks.

Phase 2, Spring and Summer 2026 (In Progress): Prototype for the New 165 Exam

• As soon as TEA releases the official preparation manual and representative and practice exams, we will begin aligning our content to the new 165 framework.
• Create prototype modules for the three subtests: Listening and Speaking in Spanish (Subtest 1), Reading and Writing in Spanish (Subtest 2), and Foundations of Bilingual Education and Instructional Practice (Subtest 3).
• Pilot these modules with partner institutions to refine tasks, rubrics, and AI feedback.
• Praxitude AI is already ahead of this phase. As of Spring 2026, our Praxitude AI platform already covers all six TExES 165 competencies with production-ready scenarios and is open for early-access institutional partners.

Because the new 165 exam is divided into subtests, our future course will allow candidates to focus on the complete exam or target specific areas: Listening and Speaking (Subtest 1), Reading and Writing (Subtest 2), or Foundations and Instructional Practice (Subtest 3), just like the structure of the actual test.

Phase 3, Fall 2026: Two-Track Delivery for the New TExES 165

When the new 165 exam launches in September 2026, candidates and institutions will have two complementary preparation tracks to choose from, depending on their needs:

• Track A: Enabling Learning All-Access Subscription. A complete 165 study course inside our All-Access subscription, with study content, practice quizzes, full timed practice exams, and digital credentials. Best for candidates and programs that want comprehensive coverage of every TExES exam in one place, alongside the 165.
• Track B: Praxitude AI Platform. Next-generation scenario-based 165 preparation with dual-axis evaluation, AI-generated bilingual classroom scenarios, and a faculty dashboard with detailed progress tracking by competency. Best for institutions that want the most advanced 165 preparation available and want to be early adopters of the next generation of bilingual teacher preparation tools.

Both tracks are supported by the same instructional design team and the same commitment to educational accuracy and bilingual integrity. Universities can choose one track or use both, depending on their cohorts and the needs of each candidate. Institutional partners with existing seats can deploy them on either track at no additional cost.

Phase 4, September 2026 to August 2028: Dual Support for Old and New Exams

• Maintain full access to the current BTLPT and Bilingual Supplemental preparation resources for candidates who still need those exams.
• Offer the new 165 course on Enabling Learning and the Praxitude AI platform for candidates entering programs after the new exam launches.
• Support institutions with both pathways so programs can transition on a schedule that fits their cohorts.

Information for Universities and School Districts

Enabling Learning partners with educator preparation programs, universities, and school districts to support preservice and in-service teachers preparing for bilingual certification. During this transition, we offer:

• Seats for cohorts and institution-wide access, with flexible enrollment that never expires.
• Administrative dashboards for program coordinators and faculty to monitor student progress and course engagement.
• Scenario-based AI practice modeled after real bilingual classroom challenges.
• Full-length online practice exams for the BTLPT and Bilingual Supplemental that mirror the structure and rigor of the official certification tests.
• Support for aligning local coursework and training with the new TExES 165 exam framework.

If you would like to learn more about institutional access or schedule a demonstration of either Enabling Learning or Praxitude AI, please use the contact form on this site, schedule a meeting with us, or visit praxitude.ai directly.

Our Promise During the Transition

The shift to the new TExES 165 Bilingual Education: Spanish Supplemental exam is an important step for bilingual education in Texas. Our promise is simple:

• We will keep our current courses available and updated.
• We will build a strong, fully aligned preparation course for the new exam.
• We will offer Praxitude AI, our next-generation scenario platform, to institutional partners and individual candidates who want the most advanced preparation for the 165 exam.
• We will use AI responsibly to personalize learning and support the development of academic Spanish and the teaching competencies required for bilingual and ESL education.
• We will walk with you (candidates and institutions) through every stage of this change.