TELPAS Proficiency Level Descriptors: The PLDs by Domain, the Five New Levels, and the 2026-2028 Transition

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

The TELPAS proficiency level descriptors (PLDs) describe what an Emergent Bilingual student can do in English at each proficiency level, in listening, speaking, reading and writing. TELPAS has used four levels, Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced and Advanced High, in TEA’s ELPS-TELPAS PLDs. For the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 transition years, TEA publishes “eligible” PLDs that use the five new ELPS level names, Pre-Production, Beginning, Intermediate, High Intermediate and Advanced, for holistically rated assessments. Only the 2024 descriptors that overlap with the 2007 ELPS may be used. This guide sets out which document applies to which students, what the descriptors say, and how TELPAS uses them.

Executive Summary

PLDs are the language behind every TELPAS rating. In kindergarten and grade 1, and for students in grades 2-12 who are eligible for a special holistic administration, trained teachers rate students directly against the PLDs. For the online tests in grades 2-12, TEA sets cut scores that correspond to the proficiency levels.

The Texas ELPS adopted in 2024 move from four levels to five and apply in classrooms from 2026-2027. TELPAS goes through two transition years before full alignment in 2028-2029, so districts work with two sets of descriptors at once: the five-level PLDs for instruction, and the eligible transition PLDs for TELPAS holistic ratings.

Key Takeaways

• PLDs describe what students can do at each level, domain by domain.
• Four TELPAS levels until the transition: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, Advanced High.
• Five new ELPS levels: Pre-Production, Beginning, Intermediate, High Intermediate, Advanced.
• 2026-2027 and 2027-2028: TEA’s eligible PLDs for holistic ratings; crossed-out text is not eligible.
• “Advanced” changes meaning: third of four on the old scale, top of five on the new one.
• Full TELPAS alignment to the 2024 ELPS in 2028-2029.

Which TELPAS PLD Document Applies

All TELPAS documents are listed on TEA’s TELPAS Resources page.

The Four TELPAS Proficiency Levels

Quick answer: TEA’s TELPAS proficiency standards define the four levels this way.

TELPAS Speaking PLDs, Old and New

Speaking shows the difference between the two scales most clearly.

The new descriptors are more concrete: they name the unit of speech (words, phrases, sentences, connected discourse) at each level. How speaking is tested and scored on the online test is in our guide to TELPAS speaking.

Listening and Writing in the Eligible PLDs

These phrases come from TEA’s grades 4-12 eligible PLDs, which contain general definitions only. The full descriptors for each level are longer; use TEA’s document when rating a student.

What “Eligible” Means During the Transition

TEA states that “during the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 school years, only the 2024 PLDs that overlap with the 2007 PLDs will be used when holistically rating students.” In the documents, “any PLD text that is crossed out in this document is not eligible to be used,” and crossed-out text “should not be considered when determining proficiency.” A rater who works from the full 2024 PLDs instead of the eligible version is rating against descriptors TELPAS does not assess yet.

How TELPAS Uses the PLDs

• Kindergarten and grade 1: teachers rate all four domains holistically against the PLDs, from classroom observation, after rater training and calibration. See TELPAS calibration.
• Grades 2-12, online: TEA converts raw scores to scale scores and sets cut scores for each rating, published in its raw score conversion tables. See TELPAS scores explained.
• Grades 2-12, special administration: students who are eligible are rated holistically against the eligible PLDs.
• In class: teachers use the PLDs to plan linguistic accommodations for each student’s level, which is how the ELPS expect them to be used. See ELPS explained.

The 2026-2028 Transition

The trap is in the names. “Advanced” is the third of four levels on the old scale and the top of five on the new one, the position “Advanced High” used to hold. Any report, template or reclassification workflow that uses level names alone needs to say which scale it means.

District Benchmark: Two Scales in One Building

Take a campus with 30 K-1 teachers who rate TELPAS holistically and 60 teachers in grades 2-12 who plan with the ELPS. In 2026-2027, the K-1 raters use TEA’s eligible five-level PLDs with crossed-out text; the grades 2-12 teachers plan with the full 2024 PLDs; and last year’s TELPAS reports still show four-level ratings. Unless the campus labels every document with its scale, a student “at Advanced” can mean two different things in the same meeting.

Common Mistakes

1. Rating with the full 2024 PLDs instead of TEA’s eligible transition version.
2. Comparing “Advanced” across years without saying which scale.
3. Using the PLDs only at rating time, instead of for daily linguistic accommodations.
4. Keeping old four-level templates in lesson plans after 2026-2027.

Recommended Actions

Immediate (this month): Give every K-1 rater TEA’s 2026-2028 eligible PLDs and retire older copies.

Medium-term (this year): Label every EB report and template with the scale it uses, four or five levels.

Long-term (strategy): Plan for full TELPAS alignment to the 2024 ELPS in 2028-2029.

Questions District Leaders Should Ask

• Which PLD document are our K-1 raters using this year?
• Do our reports say which level scale they use?
• Do teachers use the PLDs to plan accommodations, or only to rate?
• How will we explain the change from Advanced High to Advanced to families?

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the TELPAS proficiency level descriptors?

The descriptions of what Emergent Bilinguals can do in English at each proficiency level, in listening, speaking, reading and writing. TELPAS raters use them for holistic ratings, and TEA’s cut scores for the online tests correspond to the same levels.

What are the TELPAS proficiency levels?

Four under the 2007 ELPS: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced and Advanced High. The 2024 ELPS use five: Pre-Production, Beginning, Intermediate, High Intermediate and Advanced.

Which PLDs are used for TELPAS in 2026-2027?

For holistic ratings, TEA’s eligible PLDs for 2026-2027 and 2027-2028, which use the five new level names but only the descriptors that overlap with the 2007 PLDs. Crossed-out text is not eligible.

Where can I find the TELPAS PLDs?

On TEA’s TELPAS Resources page, which lists the K-1, grades 2-3 and grades 4-12 eligible PLDs for 2026-2028. All are linked in the table above.

Is Advanced the highest TELPAS level?

On the five-level 2024 ELPS scale, yes. On the four-level scale TELPAS has used, the highest is Advanced High, and Advanced is the third level.

When will TELPAS be fully aligned to the new ELPS?

In 2028-2029, after the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 transition years.

Related Resources

• ELPS Explained
• TELPAS Scores Explained
• TELPAS Speaking
• TELPAS Calibration
• TELPAS Explained
• TELPAS Testing Window 2027

Conclusion

The TELPAS PLDs are the words behind every rating. In 2026-2027 and 2027-2028, districts work with the five-level ELPS in class and TEA’s eligible transition PLDs for holistic ratings, before full alignment in 2028-2029. Using the right document, and naming the scale on every report, avoids most of the confusion the transition creates.

Sources: TEA, TELPAS Resources; TEA, ELPS-TELPAS Proficiency Level Descriptors; TEA, K-1 Eligible PLDs 2026-2028; TEA, Grades 4-12 Eligible PLDs 2026-2028; TEA, TELPAS Proficiency Standards; TEA, TELPAS Update. Verified September 28, 2026.

The Descriptors Describe How Much a Student Has Spoken

Read the new speaking descriptors from Pre-Production to Advanced and they trace a student’s practice: gestures, then memorized words, then phrases, then sentences linked with connecting words, then elaborate academic conversation. Each step is built by speaking, many times, with someone responding.

That is where most classrooms run short. In a class of twenty-five, each student gets little time to talk, and that is the Speaking Time Gap.

Some Texas districts add speaking practice that does not wait for the teacher’s turn. Telo AI is one example: five-minute sessions three times a week that adapt to each student’s level and push past one-word answers, with progress reported on a dashboard mapped to the Texas ELPS. See how that works across a school year.

The descriptors name the next level. Practice is how a student reaches it.