Alternative Teacher Certification

I obtained my certification through TeachFirst Coast in Jax through FCCJ. They have changed their name Florida College of Jax, I think.

Your first step is getting a temporary certificate of eligibility from the State of Florida (Dept. of Education). You can do this all online. Once you get established with the state, you will need to order transcripts from your undergraduate college and send them directly to the State. The state will review your transcripts and send you a temporary certificate, which will outline what classes you have to take within the next 3 year time period. You can either take these classes yourself or contact a local community college and enroll yourself in an educator preparers institute (EPI). There are EPIs at HCC and PHCC which are very good. They will facilitate the classes for you and the best part is that they don't cost as much as USF classes cost! PHCC has an EPI class which is all done online. Nice!

I read some of the other comments on here and one poster did mention that Subject Area Examinations are now $200 (started in Sept.), so you need to consider the best bang for your buck in getting your foot in the door. The other required exams you have to take to get your temporary certificate converted to a permanent, regardless of what area you teach, is the General Knowledge and the Professional Education. Each test is $150, the first time.

I think you might want to consider getting the kindergarten certification. Most preschools have the state funded voluntary pre kindergarten programs and certified teachers are required to teach those classes.

Check out community college EPI programs. You will find a wealth of info there but you have to have the temporary certificate from the State of Florida in hand to enroll. It cost $75 per area from the state for this certification.

Good luck.

Hi M.,

Im also considering in obtaining a teaching license and I found an accelerated program.

Check the link below:
www.abcte.org/inspire

There are many accelerated alternative programs for teaching. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of new teachers unable to get employment in their field due to this economy. I have been certified in prek-grade 3 for a couple years and haven't been able to get a teaching job. Buy the way, prek-3rd is the early education certification. I have substituted, and worked a few months as an assistant, but not full time teacher. This year has been worse then last. I was at least able to get several interviews last year, but this year I have applied to over 20 positions and received 1 interview for an assistant position. I have had several educators look at my resume to see if it could use some improvement and they haven't found much to improve. It's really quite frustrating. I also had Exceptional Ed. added to my certification recently, but due to being certified in prek-3rd instead of elementary ed I am very limited on Ex. Ed. positions I qualify for. It will cost me another $200 just to take the Elementary Ed exam, since test fees went way up this year.

go online to the FL Dept of ED
and APPLY for a Teacher's Certification, yes APPLY.
they then will TELL you what courses you need.
then you know what you're missing.
You most likely don't need a whole 'nother degree...

Depending on what you want to do in early childhood education, you don't need a teacher's license. To work at a childcare center or most preschools you just need to complete some training after you're hired. There is no early childhood teachers certification in Florida. Preschool certification only covers up to age 4 so if you want to do Elementary school I would reccommend looking into Elementary Education certification which covers grades K-6 or Prekindergarten/Primary which covers age 3-grade 3.
You can check out certifcation information at http://www.fldoe.org/edcert/ and look at childcare requirements at http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/childcare/