JIM HORNE
SECRETARY
F. PHILIP HANDY
CHAIRMAN
LINDA J. EADS, Ed. D.
T. WILLARD FAIR
CHARLES PATRICK GARCÍA
JULIA L. JOHNSON
WILLIAM L. PROCTOR, Ph.D.
CAROLYN KING ROBERTS
CHARLIE CRIST
COMMISSIONER
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
325 W. GAINES STREET
SUITE 1614
TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399
www.flboe.org
(850) 201-7400
FLORIDA BOARD OF EDUCATION
TO:
District School Superintendents
FROM:
John Winn
DATE:
September 12, 2002
SUBJECT:
Upcoming FTCE Activities
With this memorandum, we are asking for your continued support of the
Florida Teacher Certification Examinations (FTCE) development activities.
The Department of Education awarded the University of South Florida’s
Institute for Instructional Research and Practice a multiyear contract to
further develop the FTCE. This is the testing program that teacher
candidates must successfully complete to become certified. Therefore, it is
critical for practicing principals, classroom teachers, and curriculum
specialists to be involved in the review and validation of the new educator
certification examinations. To this end, the Institute may be inviting staff
from your district to help in both developing tests and in recommending
passing scores. We hope you will approve and encourage staff members to
participate in these activities. The Institute will pay travel expenses and, as
necessary, reimburse school districts for substitute teachers at the district’s
daily rate.
As part of the test development process, the Institute periodically sends brief
written surveys to a sample of schools in care of the principal. The surveys
are designed to validate proposed competencies and skills that form the
basis for new teacher certification tests. Since it is very important to have
teachers’ responses to these surveys, we are asking you to waive the usual
approval process for research conducted in your district and to encourage
your principals to distribute these forms to the appropriate teachers. Future
teacher certification examinations will be based, in part, on the responses
from Florida’s educators.
The participation of Florida educators in developing content and standards
for teacher tests will help improve education in Florida.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Kenneth Loewe or Ms. Kathy
Fearon at 850/488-8198 or SunCom 278-8198.
JW/kf
