Florida Senate - 2021 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 934 Ì741120\Î741120 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 03/02/2021 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Education (Wright) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Delete lines 101 - 123 4 and insert: 5 Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and paragraph 6 (a) of subsection (3) of section 1004.85, Florida Statutes, are 7 amended to read: 8 1004.85 Postsecondary educator preparation institutes.— 9 (2)(a) Postsecondary institutions that are accredited or 10 approved as described in State Board of Education rule may seek 11 approval from the Department of Education to create educator 12 preparation institutes for the purpose of providing any or all 13 of the following: 14 1. Professional development instruction to assist teachers 15 in improving classroom instruction and in meeting certification 16 or recertification requirements. 17 2. Instruction to assist potential and existing substitute 18 teachers in performing their duties. 19 3. Instruction to assist paraprofessionals in meeting 20 education and training requirements. 21 4. Instruction for baccalaureate degree holders to become 22 certified teachers as provided in this section in order to 23 increase routes to the classroom for mid-career professionals 24 who hold a baccalaureate degree and college graduates who were 25 not education majors. 26 5. Instruction and professional development for part-time 27 and full-time nondegreed teachers of career programs under s. 28 1012.39(1)(c). 29 (3) Educator preparation institutes approved pursuant to 30 this section may offer competency-based certification programs 31 specifically designed for noneducation major baccalaureate 32 degree holders to enable program participants to meet the 33 educator certification requirements of s. 1012.56. An educator 34 preparation institute choosing to offer a competency-based 35 certification program pursuant to the provisions of this section 36 must implement a program previously approved by the Department 37 of Education for this purpose or a program developed by the 38 institute and approved by the department for this purpose. 39 Approved programs shall be available for use by other approved 40 educator preparation institutes. 41 (a) Within 90 days after receipt of a request for approval, 42 the Department of Education shall approve a preparation program 43 pursuant to the requirements of this subsection or issue a 44 statement of the deficiencies in the request for approval. The 45 department shall approve a certification program if the 46 institute provides evidence of the institute’s capacity to 47 implement a competency-based program that includes each of the 48 following: 49 1.a. Participant instruction and assessment in the Florida 50 Educator Accomplished Practices across content areas. 51 b. The use of state-adopted student content standards to 52 guide curriculum and instruction. 53 c. Scientifically researched and evidence-based reading 54 instructional strategies that improve reading performance for 55 all students, including explicit, systematic, and sequential 56 approaches to teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, 57 fluency, and text comprehension and multisensory intervention 58 strategies. 59 d. Content literacy and mathematical practices. 60 e. Strategies appropriate for instruction of English 61 language learners. 62 f. Strategies appropriate for instruction of students with 63 disabilities. 64 g. Strategies to differentiate instruction based on student 65 needs. 66 h. The use of character-based classroom management. 67 i. Strategies appropriate for the early identification of 68 students in crisis or experiencing a mental health challenge and 69 the referral of such students to a mental health professional 70 for support. 71 j. Strategies to support the use of technology in education 72 and distance learning. 73 2. An educational plan for each participant to meet 74 certification requirements and demonstrate his or her ability to 75 teach the subject area for which the participant is seeking 76 certification, which is based on an assessment of his or her 77 competency in the areas listed in subparagraph 1. 78 3. Field experiences appropriate to the certification 79 subject area specified in the educational plan with a diverse 80 population of students in a variety of challenging environments, 81 including, but not limited to, high-poverty schools, urban 82 schools, and rural schools, under the supervision of qualified 83 educators. 84 4. A certification ombudsman to facilitate the process and 85 procedures required for participants who complete the program to 86 meet any requirements related to the background screening 87 pursuant to s. 1012.32 and educator professional or temporary 88 certification pursuant to s. 1012.56. 89 90 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 91 And the title is amended as follows: 92 Delete line 17 93 and insert: 94 nondegreed teachers of career programs; requiring the 95 Department of Education to approve a certification 96 program if an institute provides evidence of its 97 capacity to implement a competency-based program that 98 includes specified strategies; amending s.