Acceptance Process

The acceptance process for ECAP could not have been easier!

First, you submit an application and your college transcripts, along with a very low application fee.

Next, you complete an online interview, which was a series a questions related to the teaching environment.

Then, you need to take your certification tests (the scariest part! see below!).  The registration for these tests are done here.  The tests normally run about $120 each.

HOPEFULLY you pass (fingers*crossed for you!), and then you receive you ECAP acceptance letter! (I did! Yay!)  After that it's a whirlwind summer of ECAP training and job hunting (the hardest part! See here!!)


The "Scariest Part" to me, through the whole acceptance process, was the aspect of taking a certification test when I had no prior knowledge of anything education/school system/classroom-wise.  AND NO ONE TO HELP ME STUDY BUT MYSELF! The scary feeling only intensified when I went and bought my 700+ page study guide for the Generalist 4-8 exam.....I stressed, stressed, and stressed...and then stressed some more! I was sure I was going to fail, and of course, I had to take the test during a rogue ice/snow week in Texas. Not only was I stressed to the max (my whole future depended on...well as dramatic as that sounds...my whole future professional life depended on it!) but of course as I was walking up to the building to take the test, I slipped on ice and totally fell down---great omen before a test, let me tell you.

During the test, which took me about four & a half hours (computer based), I kept telling myself I was capable of passing and I could SO DO THIS! (Besides, if I had passed a class in college where I was failing, had to learn hieroglyphics, and then made a 101 on the final exam....well anything after that is cake!)  After four & a half grueling hours, I emerged from the test feeling beaten and bruised confident that I failed and did anything close to passing.  It was excruciating to wait for the test scores, it felt like months, years, and eons....it was probably only a couple of weeks.  I cannot tell you how quick my heart beat when I saw an email saying that my "test results were now available online."  I winced as I clicked the link and logged in....then voila! I looked at my score and it was really, really, really good! I received the equivalent of a 97% on the test! After that, I remember screaming and running through my house telling everyone how I passed!

I still have to take the ESL  and PPR test, January 28 and February 4, respectively.  Going into these tests, I'm trying not to stress as much and just going through the review books during my lunch or conference periods! I think having been in the classroom for five months now it makes me feel a tad more confident in my ability to answer common sense classroom questions.....hopefully....wish me luck and send me positive thoughts anyway! (c: