Florida Teacher Certification Exams

The Teacher Education degrees offered by Bethune-Cookman University’s College of Education are certifying degrees, meaning that when a student graduates, he or she has completed all state-required testing and is ready to immediately apply for a state-issued license to teach in the State of Florida.

State required testing, known as the Florida Teacher Certification Exams, or FTCE, consist of three sets of exams: the General Knowledge exams (Mathematics, Reading, English, and Essay), the Professional Education exam, and the Subject Area exams.

The General Knowledge exams consist of material that should have been learned in high school. The exam is administered as four separate exams so retesting is only required if a specific exam is not passed. It is expected that education majors complete and pass the General Knowledge exams by the end of the freshman year.

The Professional Education exam consists of education pedagogy, such as instructional design and planning; student-centered environments; instructional delivery; assessment strategies; continuous professional improvement; knowledge of the Code of Ethics and Principles of Professional Conduct of the Education Profession in Florida; practices appropriate for teaching English Language Learners; and effective literacy strategies.

The Subject Area exam is specific to the particular area in which the student plans to teach, i.e., Biology Education, Business Education, Elementary Education, English Education, Exceptional Student Education, Music Education, Physical Education, and Social Science Education. The Elementary Education Subject Area exam is broken into four parts: Language Arts, Social Science, Science, and Mathematics. A passing score on each of the four tests is necessary to pass the Subject Area exam. The English Education Subject Area exam consists of two parts: multiple choice and essay. Each exam is graded separately and as with Elementary Education, both must be passed to pass the English Education exam.

Click here to go to the FTCE Registration Page