Raising Admission Standards in Colleges of Education

Colleges of Education in the state of Florida have been updated and reformed in order to raise the standards of Professional Education. Raising the standards for the entrance of Colleges of Education will improve the quality of teachers through testing and qualifications. Before the Bush and Brogan A+ Plan, many education standards were set at lower levels than they are now.
Florida A&M University for example has improved its standards of Education Majors by increasing the GPA to 2.50 in order to be accepted. Also, each individual student must be interviewed and have passed the FCTE General Knowledge examination in order to be in the College of Education at Florida A&M University. Colleges across the state have increased their expectations for future educators in order to fulfill the requirements of the Bush/ Brogan A+ Plan. Other universities have very similar requirements to that of Florida A&M. Florida State University has identical qualifications, as well as the University of Florida.
The Florida Certification for Teachers Examination is a test developed for the improvement of professional educators. It is designed to test future educators in the areas of general knowledge and their specific subject area. The FCTE has been improved and reconstructed in order to fulfill the requirements of the A+ plan of improving the standards of professional education.

Grading Schools A-F

Grading schools across the state is a crucial part of the A+ plan. It allows the general public a way of seeing what is being improved on in the education system. Grading schools also allows a way of showing a year to year timeline of how the school is doing. Schools are graded A through F based on the FCAT scores obtained by the general student body. Students are not allowed to graduate until the FCAT is passed in three different areas, Reading, Math, and Science. Once a school is established with a letter grade then it is upon the faculty and administration to improve the student learning and advance the development of the school. Funding for schools are also based on the letters grades recieved from the FCAT. If a school is considered "Failing" then that school recieves state funds for improvment of education. However, if the students establish an "A" status for the school then grants and funds are given to the school for education purposes as well. The higher the letter grade the more money given to the school for education.

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