TELPAS Reclassification Criteria: A Guide for Families

When a student who is learning English shows that their English is strong enough to take full part in grade-level learning without language support, their school can reclassify them as English proficient. Families sometimes hear this called exiting, or exit from emergent bilingual status, and the rules are often called the Texas English learner exit criteria.

A reclassified student no longer takes TELPAS each spring. Reclassification is not the end of attention, though. Schools monitor reclassified students for two years afterwards, to check that they keep doing well in English-only instruction and to step in with support if they do not. Ask your school how that monitoring works.

In Texas, reclassification decisions are made by each school's Language Proficiency Assessment Committee, the LPAC. The LPAC is the same committee that oversees a student's identification as an emergent bilingual student, their program placement and their annual review.

The LPAC applies the state's criteria. It does not reclassify a student because of one strong result, and it does not hold back a student who meets every criterion without a reason. If you want to know where your child stands, the LPAC, usually through the campus bilingual or ESL coordinator, is the place to ask.

TEA's reclassification criteria chart (updated February 2025) sets out what a student must show. For grades 1 through 12 there are three parts, and a student needs all three.

Under that chart, no student can be reclassified in pre-kindergarten or kindergarten, so the earliest point is grade 1. That is changing: in July 2026, TEA told districts that from the 2026–27 school year, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students must be offered the chance to show English proficiency each year, and that a modified chart and guidance will follow.

• TELPAS: a TELPAS composite rating of Advanced High.
• Reading: a qualifying result on the state-approved reading assessment for the student's grade (see the table below).
• Teacher evaluation: a Subjective Teacher Evaluation, in which a teacher assesses the student's English in the classroom.

The reading criterion depends on the grade. In most grades it is the STAAR test the student already takes. In grades 1–2 and 11–12, where there is no STAAR reading test, it is a norm-referenced test from an approved list; the chart names the Iowa Assessments Form F.

For STAAR, any of the three passing performance levels counts: Approaches Grade Level, Meets Grade Level or Masters Grade Level. For the Iowa test, the student needs to score at the 40th percentile or above on each part.

The Subjective Teacher Evaluation is the classroom side of the decision. A teacher who knows the student evaluates their English as it shows up in real schoolwork. It exists because a test captures a few hours and a teacher has seen months.

This is also the part families can most usefully ask about. If your child has an Advanced High composite and a qualifying reading result, ask the school what the teacher evaluation found, and if it was not favorable, what the teacher saw and what would change it.

The TELPAS criterion is the composite rating, not any single domain. Each of the four domains counts for 25 percent of the composite, so a student cannot reach Advanced High on the strength of reading alone. In practice, the domain that holds students back is often the TELPAS writing test or TELPAS speaking, because these are the most demanding to produce on demand.

That is the main reason to look at the domain ratings, not just the composite, every year. If a student is Advanced High in three domains and Advanced in the fourth, everyone knows where the effort should go. In grades 2–12, the scale scores help too: Advanced High starts at 1600 in every grade cluster, so a domain at 1590 is a much smaller step than one at 1530.

Focused practice in the weaker domain helps. The free TELPAS practice tests on this site are organized by grade and domain, for example TELPAS writing practice for grades 6–7.

In grade 1, TELPAS ratings come from teachers' holistic ratings in kindergarten and grade 1 rather than an online test, but the criterion is the same: an Advanced High composite.

TELPAS and STAAR are both given in the spring, so the information the LPAC needs comes together after spring testing. The exact timing of reviews and decisions is set locally, and districts communicate them in their own way.

A typical sequence looks like this, though your district's calendar is the one that counts:

• Spring: the student takes TELPAS during the TELPAS state testing window, and STAAR or the Iowa test as applicable.
• After testing: results arrive at the district. Your district will share your child's results with you.
• LPAC review: the committee looks at the TELPAS composite, the reading result and the teacher evaluation.
• Decision and notice: the school tells the family the outcome.
• Afterwards: a reclassified student is monitored for two years, and the school watches their progress.

You do not need to wait for the school to raise reclassification. When the TELPAS report arrives, look at the composite and at each domain. If your child is close, ask the school three direct questions: where does my child stand on each criterion, what is the gap on the ones not yet met, and what support will they get to close it.

If your child receives special education services, ask how the criteria apply to them, as the LPAC works together with the ARD committee for these students. From 2026–27, students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who take STAAR Alternate 2 go through a standardized alternative reclassification process.

And keep the reports. Two or three years side by side tell you far more about progress than any one of them.

The criteria above follow TEA's reclassification criteria chart, updated in February 2025, which is published on the Texas English Learners Portal (txel.org). Criteria can be revised, and some already are being revised: in July 2026, TEA announced changes from the 2026–27 school year, including the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten change above and an end to requiring parental approval before a student who meets the criteria is reclassified (the school sends the family a notice instead), and it has proposed matching amendments to the state rules. Check the current chart or ask your district if a decision depends on the detail. This site is independent and not connected to TEA.