ESAC Works To Update Course Proctoring, ID Verification

The Texas Real Estate Commission's Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) is considering a twofold rule change that involves how courses are proctored and how their students' identities are verified.

Before that discussion, the July 8 meeting opened with members reviewing public comment and recommending the Commission propose in August changes to the course approval forms of Principles of Real Estate I and II, and Law of Agency.

Unnecessary Proctoring Requirement?

The current rule states that the final exams for qualifying real estate courses must be proctored by someone acceptable to the commission who is present at the test site or able to monitor the student using technology. Examples of a proctor include school librarians, an official testing center employee, church clergy, and college administrators.

ESAC discussed whether the proctoring requirement is necessary since students later take state and national exams, which are already under thorough security measures.

Commission staff will draft new rule language and present it to ESAC for consideration at its next meeting.

Verifying Identity

Checking photo identification is currently how education providers verify that a student taking a livestreamed course is the one registered for it. Students display their IDs on camera-ESAC discussed this being a security risk and wants to consider amending this rule to allow for other ways providers can verify a student's identity. TREC staff will present the committee new rule language at the next meeting.

Meeting Materials

Download the meeting materials and watch the livestream recording.

The next ESAC Meeting is October 7. The public is invited to attend. To submit a comment, contact General Counsel.

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