What Is TELPAS Alternate? A Brief Guide to TELPAS Alt

Every emergent bilingual student in Texas has their English language proficiency assessed each year. For most students in grades 2–12 that means the two online TELPAS tests. For a small number of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, those tests are not an appropriate way to show what they can do, even with accommodations. TELPAS Alternate exists so that these students' English language development is still assessed, in a way that fits them.

TELPAS Alternate is for emergent bilingual students in grades 2–12 who have the most significant cognitive disabilities.

The decision is made by the student's ARD committee (the admission, review and dismissal committee that plans a student's special education services) in conjunction with the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC), which oversees services for emergent bilingual students. The decision is individual. Having a disability, even a significant one, does not on its own mean a student takes TELPAS Alternate; many students receiving special education services take the regular online tests, with the accommodations they need. For those students, the regular TELPAS practice tests apply, starting with TELPAS practice for grade 2.

Kindergarten and grade 1 students are not part of TELPAS Alternate. At those grades all students are rated holistically by their teachers, as explained in TELPAS in kindergarten and first grade.

TELPAS Alternate is a holistic assessment based on an Observable Behaviors Inventory. Rather than answering test questions, the student is assessed on behaviors that show how they understand and use English, as observed in their everyday learning, across listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Because the assessment rests on observation over time, the people who work with the student regularly are central to it. If you want to know how it is carried out for your child, including who completes the inventory and what kinds of evidence they draw on, ask the school. Those details are best heard from the people doing it.

TELPAS Alternate reports results on five levels, not the four used by the regular TELPAS. In order, they are Awareness, Imitation, Early Independence, Developing Independence and Basic Fluency. TEA describes each level in its TELPAS Alternate proficiency level descriptors.

The levels describe stages of English language development that make sense for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. They are not the same scale as the four TELPAS ratings, Beginning to Advanced High, and the two should not be compared directly.

TELPAS Alternate uses the same spring window as the rest of TELPAS. In 2027 the TELPAS testing window runs from February 15 to March 26. Your district will share your child's results. In 2026–27 and 2027–28, TELPAS Alternate keeps its current inventory and levels while Texas moves to new English Language Proficiency Standards; TEA plans a new version for 2028–29.

Families of students who take TELPAS Alternate are usually already in close contact with the school through the ARD process. That relationship is the right place for TELPAS questions too. Useful questions include:

This site does not include practice for TELPAS Alternate. An observation-based inventory is not something a practice test can or should prepare a student for. TEA's TELPAS page at tea.texas.gov/assessment-and-accountability/telpas links to the official TELPAS Alternate resources. This site is independent and not connected to TEA.

• Why did the ARD committee and LPAC decide TELPAS Alternate was the right assessment for my child, and how often is that reviewed?
• Who observes my child for the inventory, and over what period?
• What level was my child at last year, and what does it say about their English?
• How do the results shape the language support in my child's plan?
• How do the TELPAS reclassification criteria apply to my child?