Frequently Asked Questions
The TeacherReady® program is not eligible for a 1098-T forms because it is a non-credit continuing education program. We do not collect social security numbers, and payments are not reported by individual students to the IRS. We advise all students to consult a tax advisor before listing any payments on their tax return. Students have listed the information on their tax returns previously, and they were audited for ineligible items.
UWF does not provide 1098-T Forms to student’s who are 1) not enrolled at UWF for for-credit courses and 2) for UWF student’s without a UWF ID#. Please visit http://uwf.edu/offices/financial-services/student-financial-services/student-accounts-cashiers/ for UWF’s information and explanation of the 1098-T Form.
Also, please visit https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1098et/ar02.html#d0e248 for the 1098-T Form IRS instructions. Per the Internal Revenue Service, we are not required to file or furnish the 1098-T Form for the following circumstances:
Specific Instructions for Form 1098-T
File Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, if you are an eligible educational institution that received payments for qualified tuition and related expenses from a student. You must file for each student you enroll and for whom a reportable transaction is made. Also, if you are an insurer, file Form 1098-T for each individual to whom you made reimbursements or refunds of qualified tuition and related expenses.
Exceptions. You do not have to file Form 1098-T or furnish a statement for:
- Courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is otherwise enrolled in a degree program;
- Nonresident alien students, unless requested by the student;
- Students whose qualified tuition and related expenses are entirely waived or paid entirely with scholarships; and
- Students for whom you do not maintain a separate financial account and whose qualified tuition and related expenses are covered by a formal billing arrangement between an institution and the student’s employer or a governmental entity, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.
Each lesson covers a different topic needed to pass the Professional Education Exam.
You will have completed the TeacherReady® Program when you have successfully completed all the assignments and field experiences, and have successfully passed the three state certification exams. You will need to upload your Official Score Report and your ELIGIBLE Statement of Eligibility to your Success Hub profile and let your advisor know you did so in order to complete your certification.
We will file the appropriate paperwork to notify the Florida Department of Education that you have completed the program requirements at the appropriate time.
You will need to submit your fingerprints to the FLDOE for a background check to obtain your certification.
Yes. Your instructors will review your completed assignments to make sure that you are on target. On some occasions, your instructors may feel you need to review the assignment and resubmit. Our instructors strive to provide feedback within 48 business hours of your assignment submission.
You will be provided an Assignment Sheet with due dates at the beginning of each lesson.
The flexibility of the program allows our students complete lessons at an accelerated rate if they choose to move faster than the typical 9-month timeline. Each lesson must be completed in 3-4 weeks. The exact length of each lesson varies depending on the content of the instruction.
All of the instruction is delivered through an online eLearning system. You will be provided an Assignment Sheet with due dates at the beginning of each lesson. You will complete the assignments at your own pace within the time frame of the lesson. Assignments will need to be completed in Microsoft Word, saved on your computer, and turned in to the instructors through “drop boxes.”
No. There are no set times that you have to be logged into the learning system to participate. Course information is available to students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Teacher certification in a particular state is transferrable to another state through a process called “reciprocity”. To find out what your state requires from you to transfer Florida Professional Teacher Certification, please visit our State Certification Transfer Map: https://www.teacherready.org/certificate-transfer-map/. From this map, you can contact the Department of Education in your state to find out their state reciprocity requirements. We recommend that you ask your Department of Education this question: “How do I transfer a clear, renewable, professional teaching certificate from Florida to become certified in your state?”
Many of the students who complete the TeacherReady Program are hired by the school or school district where they worked to complete their field experiences. We will provide any documentation of participation in the program to help you secure a position with a school district.
The Florida Department of Education has job fairs posted on their web site at http://www.teachinflorida.com/Recruitment/JobFairs/tabid/64/Default.aspx. You can contact the Department of Education in your state for more information about local job fairs.
When districts notify our office of job openings, we post them on the TeacherReady Facebook page and on the TeacherReady Alumni Facebook Group.
We also provide several job search resources to help you find a job in your area.
A complete list of subject areas for professional certification by the state of Florida can be found at http://www.fldoe.org/edcert/subjlist.asp.
The critical need subject areas are math, language arts, science, ESOL, and exceptional student instruction. More information about the critical need subject areas can be found at http://www.fldoe.org/evaluation/teachdata.asp.
The TeacherReady Program is a graduate level program.
If you move while you are enrolled in the TeacherReady Program, you will need to communicate this new information with your student advisor. They will work with your new school district to establish a mentor teacher for you.
In order to renew your professional certification, you will need to complete coursework or complete professional development as directed by your hiring school district. You can find more information about renewing your teaching certification at http://www.fldoe.org/edcert/cert_renew.asp .
You can be withdrawn from the program for the following reasons:
1. Failure to return the required paperwork outlined in your acceptance letter to TeacherReady by the stated deadline.
2. Lack of participation in the program.
3. Failure to make payments or payment arrangements on time.
4. Failure to complete assignments in the expected 3-4 week timeline.
Once you have completed all coursework and fieldwork and submitted your official score report and eligible statement of eligibility to your Success Hub, we will submit the required forms to the Florida Certification Office for review 90 days after your eligible statement of eligibility processing date. It takes approximately 30 days for the state to complete their certification process.
There are no grades issued to students in the TeacherReady Program. If your financial aid requires a grade for further funding, you will need to contact the Program Director to complete the required paperwork.
Yes. The TeacherReady Program was designed for you. Coursework is available to you online to ensure you can access it at any time. You do not need to be logged into the learning system at specific times to view live lectures. You do not have group-work assignments. You will not need to schedule around other students.
You will work with a mentor teacher in your local school to complete your require field experience hours. You will have the flexibility to work with your mentor to define a schedule that works for both of you. This may require a bit of flexibility in your schedule. If you need help finding scheduling solutions, your Field Placement Advisor is ready to help you.
The final field experience (culminating week) will require that you teach for five, full, consecutive days in your mentor’s classroom. You should build in a plan to arrange for this time with your employer as you near the final field experience and have a feel for when you will complete this activity.
No, Georgia students are no longer required to complete the edTPA Portfolio Assessment.
The University of West Florida TeacherReady® Program has an affiliation agreement with the Florida Virtual School to provide students working towards a teaching certification the opportunity to do their field work in a virtual classroom with a virtual mentor.
Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is an established leader in developing and providing virtual K-12 education solutions to students all over Florida, the U.S. and the world.
During the field placement with FLVS, the student teacher is led one on one by a certified FLVS Clinical Educator on effective teaching strategies in an online environment; assessment, feedback, and monitoring of student progress.
The FLVS field placement alternative is offered for Florida residents only.
If you are interested in a field placement with FLVS, please contact your student advisor immediately.
If you have been fingerprinted by the school district where you will be completing your field experiences, you may not need to be fingerprinted, again, for field work. This decision will be made by the local school district.
At the very end of the TeacherReady program, the FLDOE will require additional fingerprinting before they will issue your teaching certificate. You can use LIVESCAN to complete this process, where available. You can also request a fingerprint card from the FLDOE and return it via mail.
Fingerprinting varies with each school district. You will need to contact your local school district to obtain this information.
More information about the price of testing can be found at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/FL_TestFees.asp.
You can complete the TeacherReady Program earning certification in ESOL. However, to renew your ESOL certification, you are required to have ESOL coursework. Contact the FLDOE for more information.
Reading requires master’s degree coursework specific to Reading in Florida so you are unable to get Reading Certification with TeacherReady. However, if you hold a certification in another subject area, you can begin completing the 12 Reading Endorsements required by the FLDOE to add Reading to your certification, instead of obtaining a master’s degree in Reading. TeacherReady will fulfill one of the 12 Reading Endorsements.
Not in most cases. The Florida Department of Education has contracted with Pearson Testing Centers across the United States and on some US overseas military bases to offer the certification tests. However, not all testing centers offer the FTCE exams. A list of testing sites is available at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/FL_TestSites.asp.
No. You will need to register for the three state certification tests with the Florida Department of Education. Information about these tests, including dates and locations, can be found at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/.
You can find testing centers and register for the 3 Florida Teacher Certification Exams (FTCEs) by visiting this link: https://wsr.pearsonvue.com/testtaker/registration/SelectTestCenterProximity/FLDOE/232594.
While the TeacherReady curriculum will cover some of the content in the exams, it is very important that you used independent study materials to prepare for these exams. We have compiled a list of recommended resources for test preparation: https://www.teacherready.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FTCE-Study-Guide-Information-Packet.pdf.
To sign up for the state tests, you will need to contact the Florida Department of Education. You can access their web site at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/.
You must take your Subject Area Exam upon enrolling in your prerequisites, your General Knowledge Exam during TeacherReady Lesson 1 or 2, and the Professional Education Exam during TeacherReady Lesson 7 or 8. We highly recommend study guides for each of the three tests.
To earn your professional certification through TeacherReady, you will need to pass the three Florida exams: General Knowledge (GK) test, Subject Area Exam (SAE), and Professional Education (PEd) test. These are computer-based exams taken at local testing centers throughout the United States and on some overseas US Military Bases. If you live near a testing center, we recommend that you:
- Take the Subject Area Exam test before Lesson 3
- Take the General Knowledge Exam before Lesson 5
- Take the Professional Education test before Lesson 7
The most important aspect is to prepare for the exams using recommended study materials and practice tests. If you live a long distance from a testing site or you live overseas, you should consider travel expenses when scheduling the three exams. You may choose to take all the exams within a two-day period. All exams cannot be scheduled for the same day.
You can find out more information about these tests at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/. You can also contact the Office of Assessment for more information. Their contact information can be found at http://www.fldoe.org/testing.
Use the following web address to find the testing center closest to you: http://www.fl.nesinc.com/FL_TestDates.asp
It is possible to fast-track your completion of the program. Each lesson must be completed in no more than 3 – 4 weeks. However, if you successfully complete your coursework with mastery of the concepts, and your tuition is paid for the upcoming lesson, you will be able to move into the next lesson early.
Upon completion of each lesson, you will have access to an enrollment request form for the next lesson. Use this form to request access into your next lesson.
It is recommended that you devote eight to ten hours a week to the instructional part of the TeacherReady Program. This allows adequate time to complete the necessary readings, case studies, and assignments. Your field experience schedule will carry additional time requirements.
Yes. You will communicate with fellow classmates through online discussions and emails about information and assignments outlined in the course.
The faculty understands that circumstances may arise. If you feel you will not be able to continue with the TeacherReady Program, you will need to notify your student advisor concerning your intentions to withdraw from the program. A TeacherReady Withdrawal Form can be found under the “Forms” section of your Success Hub. There are also opportunities to move to future cohorts. A re-enrollment fee might apply when you come back to the program.
No. The instruction of the TeacherReady Program must be taken in its entirety. We are unable to substitute previously completed course work with lessons in the TeacherReady instruction.
DoDEA no longer accepts TeacherReady students for field placement. Also, they are not able to accept a Florida Professional Teaching Certificate obtained through TeacherReady, as we are an alternative licensure teacher certification program (and not a degree program).
You will spend two to six hours per week in your mentor’s classroom. You will work with your mentor teacher to establish a time to complete these assignments. The final field experience will be teaching five, full, consecutive days in your mentor’s classroom. During this assignment, you will be the teacher of the class for five school days. Your mentor teacher will observe your teaching techniques and provide feedback to the TeacherReady Program Director.
If you are completing your field work in your own classroom, you will begin logging your field hours right away.
If TeacherReady is helping you find a mentor, it may take up to 16 weeks to secure your placement. To stay on track with your hours, you should begin volunteering in a local classroom during the first lesson of the program. 45 hours of your 185-hour field requirement can be completed as a volunteer.
In the first lesson, you will complete a volunteer assignment and receive recommendations on how to begin volunteering.
The number of field experiences varies according to the lesson topic. Some lessons have as little as two field experiences while other lessons have more. We recommend that you review the field experiences at the beginning of each lesson. This will allow you and your mentor teacher to schedule the appropriate times needed to complete these assignments. Even if you do not have a field assignment for the week, you will still spend weekly hours in your mentor’s classroom.
No. Your mentor teacher will observe your teaching techniques and submit the required forms to our office for review. A Mentor Handbook will be provided to your mentor at the beginning of the program. All the information needed by the mentor teacher, including the required forms, will be provided in the handbook.
No. You will complete your field experiences with a school in your local community. We will work with your local school district to establish the relationship for you.
All mentors are required to have the following:
- 3 years of teaching experience
- A current and valid teaching certificate or a current and valid administrative license
- Excellent marks in their own classroom evaluations
- Clinical Educator Training (provided for free by TeacherReady)
Your mentor’s responsibilities will vary, based on your current teaching status. If you are:
Completing your field work in your own classroom, your mentor will:
- Perform a classroom observation during your benchmark assessment, which happens after Lesson 4.
- Perform a final observation during your last week of field work in Lesson 8.
- A fellow teacher will need to observe 1 class lesson for each of the 5 days of your culminating experience.
- An administrator mentor will observe 1 lesson in total out of the 5 days of your culminating experience.
- Act as a support for you as you develop as a professional teacher.
- Provide feedback to TeacherReady, based on their observations of your classroom experience.
Completing your field work in your mentor’s classroom, your mentor will:
- Host you as a student teacher in their classroom.
- Review your field assignments to assist you in aligning them to the current classroom activities.
- Connect you with other teachers to observe their classrooms.
- Perform a classroom observation during your benchmark assessment, which happens after Lesson 4.
- Perform a final observation during your last week of field work in Lesson 8.
- Act as a support for you as you develop as a professional teacher.
- Provide feedback to TeacherReady, based on their observations of your classroom experience.
If you are not currently teaching, you will provide us the contact information for two local school districts, two private/charter school options, and your choice of school, subject, and grade level. A TeacherReady Field Placement Adviser will contact the school district on your behalf to begin seeking a mentor teacher. During this process, you will need work with your Field Placement Adviser to communicate with the school and complete the requirements for establishing a mentor in that school. This may involve paperwork, background checks, online training specific to the school, a discovery meeting, etc.
Our goal is to secure a mentor for you as quickly as we can, but there are many varying factors involved based on location, individual district needs, and your individual needs. Most of our students are placed with their mentor within the first 16 weeks of the program. Until your mentor placement has been established, you will volunteer in a local school. You are required to complete 185 field hours to fulfill your mentorship requirement. 45 of these hours can be volunteer hours. Any field assignments that you must complete, prior to being placed with a mentor can either be completed in you volunteer work or held until you have been placed with a mentor.
If you are currently teaching in a PK-12 institution, and you are teaching your desired subject area and grade level of certification, you will do the field work in your own classroom. You will work with your principal/school administrator to establish a mentor in your school.
Yes. You will need to select the University of West Florida as your school when apply for your benefits. Additionally, you will need to notify our staff of your payment method.
Yes. You can pay via Success Hub to make your credit card payments online. We accept Visa, Master Card, American Express and Discover cards. You can also make your credit card payment by phone. The direct number is 850-898-3949. If you wish for your payment to be automatic each month, please fill out the form on the back of your invoice.
You can not use VA Benefits to pay for TeacherReady. To continue to assist active duty and honorably discharged military veterans, we have created a Military Scholarship that covers half of the tuition cost. To see if you are an eligible participant of the scholarship, please contact us by email at teacherready@studereducation.com or by phone at 850-898-3949.
If you are a military spouse, you may qualify for MyCAA funding, which can be used for our program.
Each lending agency has rules and regulations pertaining to deferring student loans while enrolled in a continuing education program. You can submit your loan institution’s deferment form to us, and we will complete the required portion and submit those to your lending agency. Your lending agency will notify you if your request has been approved.
Yes. Most students pay their tuition in increments of $600 per month.
There are also funding options available through Sallie Mae SMART Option Loans, SoFi and several forms of military/spousal funding assistance. Please contact us for more information on these options at teacherready@studereducation.com or learn more about costs and funding options here.
Because you can move at an accelerated pace, payments for each lesson are due to enroll in that lesson. If you are not accelerating your movement through the program, you will make a payment every 3-4 weeks as you move on to the next lesson.
- $5,400.00 Tuition – Payments may be made in eight installments. Students must pay the lesson tuition in advance of the lesson.
- $200 Administrative Fee – Payments are made in four installments of $50.00 over the first four lessons.
- Statement of Eligibility (paid to the Florida Department of Education)- $75.00 (Additional cost if certified in multiple subject areas)
- Fingerprinting – varies per school district
- Certification Testing – Visit the Florida Department of Education website at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/ for current test costs. You will need to take the Professional Education, General Knowledge, and Subject Area Exams. Specific fee and registration information can be found at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/index.asp.
To apply to the TeacherReady Program, you will need to submit an application, a copy of your college transcripts (unofficial copies are fine) indicating that a Bachelor’s Degree has been awarded, and an application fee of $50.00. Your information cannot be reviewed for consideration to the program until all information is received by the TeacherReady office.
An individual who is not a U.S. citizen must meet additional requirements to be eligible for a Florida Professional Teacher Certification:
- Have a current, valid US Social Security Number to take the Florida Teacher Certification Exams
- Obtain a teaching position in the State of Florida
If you are not a U.S. citizen, and you do not meet these requirements, you may enroll in TeacherReady and will receive a “Certificate of Completion” from the University of West Florida showing your course completion. A “Certificate of Completion” is not considered a teaching certification.
No. All the instruction is delivered online through an eLearning system. There will be no reason for you to come to campus during the TeacherReady Program.
No. In order to be admitted to the TeacherReady® Program, you must have already completed your Bachelor’s Degree and submit a transcript showing receipt of a Bachelor’s Degree.
You will need to pay a $75.00 application fee when applying for your Statement of Eligibility. If you would like to become certified in more than one subject area, there will be an additional $75.00 fee per subject area.
You will receive a response to all emails or messages within 24-48 business hours.
All U.S. citizen students who participate in the TeacherReady Program are required to apply for a Statement of Eligibility (CG-10) through the Florida Department of Education. This information can be found at http://www.fldoe.org/edcert/step5.asp. Once you apply for your CG-10, you must follow up by submitting all of your official transcripts to the FLDOE.
No. You do not need to apply to the University of West Florida to participate in the TeacherReady Program. This program is a continuing education program, and the students are not subject to the same requirements as a traditional student. You will apply directly to TeacherReady on www.TeacherReady.org/admissions under “admissions.”
Yes. TeacherReady is CAEP accredited. It is a graduate-level alternative teacher preparation program, designated as an Educator Preparation Institute (EPI). The program is state-approved and nationally and regionally accredited as part of the University of West Florida Professional Education unit.
Most states require that teachers complete their teacher education courses through a program that has been reviewed and approved by CAEP or another accrediting body.
We strongly recommend that you contact the other state’s Department of Education directly to find out what other requirements, if any, will need to be met to teach in that state. When you finish TeacherReady, you will have a Florida Professional Teaching certificate.
You can still apply to the TeacherReady® program. We will review your transcripts and determine if any conditions can be set for acceptance. In many cases, we are able to work with applicants who do not meet the minimum GPA requirement.
Yes. We have many students participating in the TeacherReady Program who are living overseas. You will participate in the program like other students who reside in the USA. In order to complete your field experiences, you will need to work with a local, private, American, international school.
Yes. We work with the Troops to Teachers/Spouse to Teachers program. You can access information about these programs at http://www.proudtoserveagain.com. We will provide the Troops to Teachers office with the necessary documentation regarding cost of the TeacherReady Program. You will need to send a request to our office in order to obtain this information.
Your completed application packet will be reviewed within 48 business hours of submission for acceptance. Upon review, a formal acceptance letter will be sent to you via email. The acceptance letter will include the additional steps and enrollment documents that you will complete to get started with your first lesson.
Yes. There is a $50 non-refundable application fee. You will create an account and pay your application/registration fee here: https://teacher-ready.force.com/. You can also call the office to make a credit card payment over the phone.
We will need a copy of all transcripts from an institution where a degree was awarded. Your transcripts will need to show your final GPA, the date your degree was awarded, your name, and the name of the institution.
If you have a degree from an institution outside of the United States, you will need to have a course-by-course evaluation completed on your transcripts. We recommend using the World Education Services: http://www.wes.org. The evaluation process can sometime be lengthy. We recommend taking this into consideration when choosing a class session.
For your TeacherReady application an unofficial transcript is fine. For your FLDOE certification application you will need to have official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions you attended mailed to the Bureau of Teacher Certification, Florida Department of Education, 325 West Gaines Street, Tallahassee, 32399-0400.
Email: teacherready@studereducation.com
Fax: 850-332-5446
*Please note that in the second phase of the TeacherReady® admissions process you will be asked to submit an application with the FLDOE. This application will require an official copy of your college transcripts.
Yes. The TeacherReady Program was designed for you. Coursework is available to you, online, so that you can access it at any time. You do not need to be logged into the learning system at specific times to view live lectures. You do not have group-work assignments. So, you will not need to schedule around other students.
You will work with a mentor teacher in your local community to complete your require field hours. You will have the flexibility to work with your mentor to define a schedule that works for both of you. This may require a bit of flexibility in your schedule. If you need help finding scheduling solutions, your Field Placement Advisor is ready to help you.
The final field experience will require that you teach for five, full, consecutive days in your mentor’s classroom. You should build in a plan to arrange for this time with your employer as you near the final field experience and have a feel for when you will complete this activity.
Financial Aid Options:
Sallie Mae Smart Option Loan — These are low-interest loans designed for continuing education programs. Contact Sallie Mae for more information regarding these loans. You can find out more about this option at https://www.salliemae.com/student-loans/career-training-smart-option-student-loan/. When you are ready to apply, you will need to submit your application over the phone. The School name needed for the application is The University of West Florida – Continuing Education.
SoFi Graduate-Level Certificate Loan — Create an account with SoFi and apply for a graduate-level certification program loan here: https://www.sofi.com/private-student-loans/graduate-loans/. Students are not required to have a University of West Florida ID number to apply.
The TeacherReady Program does not qualify for federally funded financial aid such as FAFSA, Pell Grants, or the TEACH Grant.