FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
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JOHN L. WINN
Commissioner of Education
F. PHILIP HANDY,
Chairman
T. WILLARD FAIR,
Vice Chairman
Members
DONNA G. CALLAWAY
JULIA L. JOHNSON
ROBERTO MARTINEZ
PHOEBE RAULERSON
LINDA K. TAYLOR
January 24, 2005
MEMORANDUM
TO:
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School District Certification Contacts
FROM
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Beverly Gregory
SUBJECT:
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Recent Rule Changes, New Initiatives, and Updates in Educator
Certification
This memorandum is sent to share with you information relating to a new certification
endorsement area in American Sign Language and a rule amendment defining qualified
personnel that were approved in January 2005 by the State Board of Education. Additional
recent information relating to the certification process is included. To ensure that all staff
in your office receive pertinent information for their duties and responsibility areas, please
advise any new employee or any other staff member to register on-line at www.fldoe.org
for receipt of official Department communications via the “Paperless Communication”
system. Documents that have been previously distributed are available in the archive
section of the paperless system.
at the spring Florida Association of School
Personnel Administrators (FASPA) meeting. As usual, we will have a full partnership
session planned to provide more extensive certification information and to answer
questions. Please contact me by email at beverly.gregory@fldoe.org or by telephone at
850/245-0431, if you need further clarification.
BEVERLY GREGORY
CHIEF, BUREAU OF EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION
325 W. GAINES STREET • SUITE 201 • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0431 • www.fldoe.org
Memorandum Certification Contacts
January 24, 2005
Page 2
New Secure On-line Applicant/Certificate Holder Address Change Function Now Available
To facilitate the implementation of Section 1012.561, Florida Statutes, created in Senate Bill 2986 in the
spring 2004 legislative session, we are pleased that the certification home page has been updated with a
new secure on-line function that allows applicants and certificate holders to update their mailing
addresses and telephone numbers. As you were advised in June 2004, this new law establishes that
beginning January 1, 2005, it is the responsibility of each educator to maintain a current mailing address
with the Department. The statute also states that an employee of a school district shall notify the
employer within 10 days of an address change and the employer in turn shall notify the Department
within 30 days. As has already been available, the district may update the Department’s mailing address
for the educator directly via the district web-based system by using the profile screen to enter an address
change. However, this new web page on-line feature will provide another means for updating an address
especially useful for educators not employed in a Florida school district.
New Certification Endorsement - American Sign Language
Rule 6A-4.02431, FAC
An endorsement in American Sign Language (ASL) was proposed for approval to the State Board of
Education to implement the requirements of Section 1007.2615, Florida Statutes. The statute required the
State Board of Education to adopt rules by January 2005 to establish certification requirements for
teachers of American Sign Language. The proposed certification standards for an endorsement in
American Sign Language were created in collaboration with and approved by the members of the ASL
task force appointed by the Commissioner. The text of the rule is attached. The rule provides for
specified courses or a valid national professional level certificate issued by the American Sign Language
Teachers Association (ASLTA) as options for certification in the American Sign Language endorsement.
The new certification code for the academic endorsement in American Sign Language is 1079/E.
It is important to note that American Sign Language courses are to be designated foreign language credit
courses in Florida. Outside the state, the ASL credits may or may not be recognized as foreign language
credit. The ASL courses will be relocated to the foreign language curriculum section of the Course Code
Directory beginning in school year 2005-2006. Currently, the law requires that Florida teachers of
American Sign Language obtain certification by January 1, 2008. The task force has recommended that
the Department seek an amendment to the statute to change that date to July 1, 2009. The date change
would allow a more reasonable time frame for expansion of course offerings or the creation of district
add-on inservice endorsement programs and would align the certification requirement to the school fiscal
year rather than to impose a certification change for teachers in mid-year.
Amendment to the Definition of Qualified Instructional Personnel
Rule 6A-1.0503, FAC
The definition for qualified instructional personnel in Rule 6A-1.0503, FAC, has been amended to align
to the definition and requirements for highly qualified personnel for experienced teachers of core
Memorandum Certification Contacts
January 24, 2005
Page 3
academic subjects in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The core academic subjects are: English,
reading, language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics, government, economics, arts,
history, and geography. The rule amendment adds the option of meeting the Florida definition of a
qualified infield teacher in Rule 6A-1.0503, FAC, by documenting the 100 points of a High Objective
Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE) plan for the academic core content subject taught
pursuant to the NCLB highly qualified teacher requirements.
If the district determines an experienced teacher is teaching a core academic subject class and the teacher
is eligible and meets the criteria of a HOUSSE plan for the class taught, the teacher would be designated
and reported as qualified and not considered out-of-field. This means the teacher would not have to add
an additional subject content certification area to his or her educator certificate. This new option would
align the Florida qualified teacher requirements to the highly qualified teacher requirements of NCLB.
The memorandum from Chancellor Jim Warford dated September 16, 2004, includes the HOUSSE plan
implementation information and forms. It is available on the Department web page under hot topic No
Child Left Behind – Teacher Quality 2004. The HOUSSE plan is not an appropriate option for reading
and ESOL courses and thus shall not apply to those content certification areas. Of course, the teacher is
still encouraged to add certification and may do so via the various certification plans, including passing
the appropriate subject area test.
An example:
A teacher has a valid educator certificate in Middle Grades Mathematics (grades 5-9). The teacher has
been assigned for two years to teach classes in M/J Mathematics 1 and 2 and M/J Physical Science. The
teacher has been designated as qualified/infield for the mathematics courses but not qualified/out-of-field
for the physical science course. Applying the rule amendment, if the teacher meets the requirements for
documentation of the 100 points or more for the HOUSSE option for the middle grades physical science
course, the teacher is designated as qualified and infield for the physical science course(s) even though
the certificate will not show a certification in an appropriate science area.
Electronic Receipt of Fingerprint Reports and Issue Request Forms
The long-awaited and much anticipated major technology improvement for the bureau and your offices of
eliminating the thousands of paper fingerprint reports and issue request forms is getting closer. There
have been many unforeseeable events that we have had to overcome including a new fingerprint contract
and vendor. The plan is to be piloted in Orange County with a statewide roll-out projected for early
March. Stay tuned for the details from David LaJeunesse soon.
/BG
cc: School District Superintendents
Rule 6A-4.02431 Specialization Requirements for the American Sign Language
Endorsement -- Academic Class.
(1) A bachelor’s or higher degree with certification in an academic class coverage, and
(2) Eighteen (18) semester hours in American Sign Language to include three (3) semester hours in
each area specified below:
(a) First and second language acquisition,
(b) Linguistics of American Sign Language,
(c) Aspects of the deaf culture and community,
(d) Methods of teaching American Sign Language,
(e) American Sign Language IV, and
(f)
American Sign Language literature, or
(3) A bachelor’s or higher degree with certification in an academic class coverage, and a valid
Professional Level Certificate issued by the American Sign Language Teachers Association
(ASLTA).
Specific Authority 1001.02, 1007.2615, 1012.55, 1012.56, FS. Law Implemented 1001.02, 1007.2615,
1012.54, 1012.55, 1012.56, FS.
