Almost all the states in the United States has an education agency who make it a point that they provide parents and the public at large with a system that they can use to verify the authenticity of public school teachers in the state. The quality of information that one can pull out varies from state to state. This article will cover ways on how to lookup a teacher in Texas.

A teacher can be described as someone who instructs or who teaches others especially children as their profession. All the states expect that teachers be licensed and certified. No one would like to leave the education of their children in the hands of an unqualified individual. Hence the need to verify their credentials.

At the same time there is no way for the public to do a people search for disciplinary actions or histories on public school teachers in the United States. There is no database online in most states that offers searchable list of disciplinary measures netted to teachers. Only a few states are able to post publicly documents that states why a teacher had their credentials revoked or suspended.

It might happen that you are looking to hire a teacher and are looking to find out if the individual has a valid teaching qualification.

The State Board for Educator Certification

The information that is presented on this website, which is secured, is the official qualifications of educator’s certification. It is also backed by the Texas Education Code, section 21.053 (a). This law calls for all educators to present their qualifications before being employment by school district.

To search from their website:

• Go to the State Board for Educator Certification
• On the search bar that you find there, enter the first and last name of the person you want to look up and press ‘Search’.
• The name that you are searching with should match the one in the sites database. This is essential especially for women who were listed under their maiden name.
• This will return all information there is from the site’s database for you.
• If the results give you more than one outcome, select the one you want, to be able to view the certification
• The middle name can prove quite helpful for searches on common names.

Once all this is done, you will get the correct certification. Possible information that you will find on it include:

• Specific grade level
• Subject certifications
• Effective date
• Expiration date
• Status of certification

National Association of State Directors of Teachers Education and Certification

The National Association of State Directors of Teachers Education and Certification is a non-profit organization that gathers information on teachers who have faced disciplinary measures and put it in a nationwide database. This data is only made accessible to state education agencies. All the states are members of this organization.

However, this information cannot be accessed by the general public.

Educator Certificate Verification

The Educator Certification Online System (ECOS) is an online tool design for educators so they can have access to their certification account whereby they can apply or verify their certification. Before an educator can have access to their certification account, they must use a secure log in from the Texas Education Agency Login (TEAL).

For those who have or once had an educator certificate and are looking to verify it, they can do so using the Educator Lookup option before setting up their account. Those who fail to confirm their information will encounter delays. After you have verified your details, you can then proceed to set up your TEAL account. To verify your certification:

• Visit the TEA website.
• Click on the ‘TEAL Login’ found at the top of the page.
• Fill in your username and password details that you used to set up your Educator Certification Online System account.
• Once you have logged in, go to ‘Access Applications’ located in the self-service menu.
• Go to the link ‘View My Educator Account’ and click on it.
• This will reveal the ‘Educator Profile Setup’ screen where you can update any details that need changing.
• After finishing, you can click on ‘Continue’.
• Go to ‘View Certificates’ which is half way down the menu on the left of the screen.
• You will find the ‘Official Certificate’ under it, click on it.
• After viewing the certificate, you can also print it.
• It would be a good idea to print as many copies as possible if you are looking to apply for a number of teaching posts.

For ways on how to lookup a teacher in Texas, you can start with the ideas suggested above. With these ideas you can make sure that the education of children in Texas is in the right hands. Those who are looking to verify their certifications can also do so with ease and avoid delays on applications.