Summary

SB 1664 (Open States or Florida Legislature) deals with teacher preparation and governance by the State Board of Education (SBOE), expanding the current state-approved teacher preparation program to include a competency-based certification program and links a teachers evaluations to the test scores of the students that they teach.

Legislative Analysis

In 2011, SB 376 (the Student Success Act) was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott. Among a number of reforms, SB 376 established a merit pay system, linking teacher pay to growth measures based on standardized test scores. Critics of the law claimed that, since the law was based on three years of Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the law unfairly judged teachers either in part or on whole, on subjects or students they didn’t teach.

SB 1664 sought to ensure that teachers would only be evaluated on the test scores of the students they actually taught while the evaluation of non-classroom instruction would come from performance or outcome data assigned to the individual.

The law revises rule requirements from the SBOE and clarifies certain aspects of core curricula for teacher preparation programs. An emphasis throughout the entire bill is placed on teachers’ ability to, “demonstrate his or her ability to positively impact student learning growth in the candidate’s area or areas of program concentration during a prekindergarten through grade 12.”

Private providers are authorized to seek approval to offer competency-based certification programs and the Department of Education is charged with reviewing a provider’s competency-based application within 90 days of receipt of a request for approval.

Approved competency-based certification programs must include an ombudsman overseeing the program and include proof of its inclusion of training in:

• Content and Practice (Participant instruction and assessment in the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices, the state-adopted student content standards, scientifically researched reading instructions, content literacy and mathematical practices, strategies appropriate for instruction of English language learners, strategies appropriate for instruction of students with disabilities and school safety.
• An educational plan for each participant to meet certification requirements and demonstrate mastery.
• Field Experiences

Before completing the program, a participant must fully demonstrate mastery in teaching the subject area for which he or she is seeking certification and pass the professional education competency examination, the basic skills examination, and the subject area examination for the subject area certification.

This bill takes a bold step in moving towards opening alternative pathways to certification for teachers, based on demonstration of mastery rather than merely passing an exam. Florida’s leadership in seeking to open alternative pathways for teacher certification and tying those pathways to competency-based learning should be commended.

Legislative History

Detailed Vote History: Legiscan |  Open States

Approved by Governor Rick Scott on 5/20/2013