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A bill to be entitled

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An act relating to educator certification requirements;

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amending s. 1012.56, F.S.; requiring subject area

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examinations in specified foreign languages for the

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purpose of demonstrating mastery of that subject area

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knowledge; providing an effective date.

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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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     Section 1.  Subsection (4) of section 1012.56, Florida

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Statutes, is amended to read:

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     1012.56  Educator certification requirements.--

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     (4)  MASTERY OF SUBJECT AREA KNOWLEDGE.--Acceptable means of

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demonstrating mastery of subject area knowledge are:

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     (a)  Achievement of passing scores on subject area

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examinations required by state board rule, which may include, but

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need not be limited to, world languages in Arabic, Chinese,

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Farsi, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi,

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Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish;

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     (b) Completion of a bachelor's degree or higher and

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verification of the attainment of an oral proficiency interview

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score above the intermediate level and a written proficiency

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score above the intermediate level on a test administered by the

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American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages for which

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there is no Florida-developed examination;

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     (c)(b) Completion of the subject area specialization

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requirements specified in state board rule and verification of

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the attainment of the essential subject matter competencies by

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the district school superintendent of the employing school

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district or chief administrative officer of the employing state-

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supported or private school for a subject area for which a

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subject area examination has not been developed and required by

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state board rule;

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     (d)(c) Completion of the subject area specialization

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requirements specified in state board rule for a subject coverage

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requiring a master's or higher degree and achievement of a

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passing score on the subject area examination specified in state

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board rule;

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     (e)(d) A valid professional standard teaching certificate

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issued by another state; or

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     (f)(e) A valid certificate issued by the National Board for

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Professional Teaching Standards or a national educator

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credentialing board approved by the State Board of Education.

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School districts are encouraged to provide mechanisms for those

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middle school teachers holding only a K-6 teaching certificate to

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obtain a subject area coverage for middle grades through

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postsecondary coursework or district add-on certification.

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     Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2008.