TELPAS Calibration: A Guide for Holistic Raters (2026–27)

Calibration is how TEA checks that a teacher can apply the proficiency level descriptors (PLDs) accurately and consistently before rating real students. After completing the online holistic rating training, you rate a set of sample students in a monitored session. Your ratings are compared with the established ratings, and the summary page tells you whether you passed or failed and how many responses were correct out of the total.

It matters because holistic ratings are the TELPAS result for the students you rate. TEA's manual states that teachers are not authorized to serve as TELPAS raters unless they have successfully completed calibration activities at least once.

Campus coordinators, working with district coordinators, designate raters and assign them students. Holistic rating covers two groups:

• All emergent bilingual students in kindergarten and grade 1, rated in listening, speaking, reading and writing. See how TELPAS works in K–1.
• Students in grades 2–12 who meet the eligibility requirements for a special administration. They are rated holistically in listening, speaking and writing, and take reading on paper. Writing ratings for these students come from an assembled writing collection, described in the TELPAS writing guide.
• If your students in grades 2–12 take the regular online tests, you do not rate them and do not need rater calibration for them.

These are the dates in the 2026–2027 TELPAS Rater Manual. Your district will set its own deadlines inside them, so check with your campus coordinator. For the online test dates, see TELPAS test dates.

The training is in TEA's Learning Management System (LMS). It stays open until the end of the TELPAS window, but raters should finish their training before the first day of testing. Separately, campus coordinators run test administrator training on test security and procedures, and you sign the Oath of Test Security and Confidentiality.

Training is specific to grade bands, and you are assigned the band that matches the students you will rate. If you rate several bands within grades 2–12, you complete the training and practice activities for the band where you have the most emergent bilingual students and review the practice in the others. If your bands include K–1, you complete K–1 and at least one band within grades 2–12. For grades 2–12, listening and speaking training and calibration are separate from writing.

New raters must complete the assigned trainings and the separate practice activities before they can access calibration. Returning raters should retake the training each year, and TEA strongly encourages them to take the basic modules again this year because of the transition-year PLDs. The training can be done alone or in a group.

Campus coordinators schedule the sessions. New raters are required to calibrate successfully; returning raters should calibrate too. What to expect:

• Calibration must be done in a monitored setting. You get the passcode once you have logged in for the session, and you access calibration sets only during it.
• Most raters need 1–2 hours per calibration set.
• Headphones are required for the listening and speaking domains.
• You may use a copy of the transition-year PLDs and blank scratch paper if you ask. Both are destroyed at the end.
• After entering the passcode you read a statement and affirm that you will work independently. No collaborating and no discussing responses.
• You begin with set 1. If you pass, a certificate is available to print straight away. Keep a copy and give one to the proctor.

If you are unsuccessful on set 1, you will be told how to proceed to set 2. Only a pass earns the certificate of completion in LMS.

If you have not calibrated successfully by the end of set 2, you may still be authorized to rate at the discretion of your district coordinator. In that case, your campus coordinator is required to provide rating support so that your students are rated consistently with the PLDs.

On passing scores: the Rater Manual does not publish one. TEA's Paper and Holistic Test Administration Information does give one for grades 2–12 special administrations. In listening and speaking you rate six sample students and must rate at least four correctly. In writing, each set has 10 writing collections and you must rate at least seven correctly.

New English Language Proficiency Standards took effect in classrooms in 2026–27. For 2026–27 and 2027–28, TELPAS keeps its current four ratings, but holistic raters use transition-year documents that contain only the 2024 PLDs that overlap with the 2007 PLDs. Crossed-out text in those documents is not used for rating.

Each 2024 level maps to one of the four ratings you enter. More detail is in our guide to TELPAS proficiency level descriptors.

There is no shortcut, and looking for one is a test security problem. Good preparation is the same as preparing to rate well:

• Finish every training module and practice activity for your band, not just the minimum to unlock calibration.
• Read the transition-year PLD document for your band closely, including which text is crossed out and how each 2024 level maps to a rating.
• Rate the level at which the student performs most consistently, not their best moment or their worst.
• Look at the whole performance against the descriptors before settling on a level, rather than reacting to one feature such as a single error.
• Compare each sample student with the PLDs, not with the other students in the set.
• Keep the PLDs in front of you during the session and use them.
• Book a time when you can concentrate for 1–2 hours, bring headphones, and work on your own.

TELPAS calibration activities are secure materials. The manual states that it is a serious testing violation to record, discuss or share answers from the rating practice and calibration activities. That includes keeping notes on calibration sets, passing around answer sheets and comparing answers with colleagues. Penalties can include action against an educator's certificate.

Collaboration is encouraged when you rate your own students, especially for a student near the border between two levels. Calibration is the exception: it must be done individually.

Base ratings on observations across social and academic settings over time, and do not factor in other abilities or characteristics. Academic language proficiency is not the same as academic achievement. Make copies of the PLDs for each student and use them for notes, and complete all ratings for one student before moving on.

Record ratings on the TELPAS Student Rating Roster. Once student information is on it, it is confidential, and you return it to your campus coordinator signed and dated. Ratings are entered in TIDE through the Holistic Ratings Upload template, and everything must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. CT on March 26, 2027. Raters assigned to enter data in TIDE receive separate access and training. The full requirements are in the 2026–2027 TELPAS Rater Manual.