6A-5.0661. Teacher Preparation Uniform Core Curricula and Courses

(1) Purpose. Pursuant to Sections (ss.) 1012.551, 1012.552, 1004.04(2), and 1004.85, F.S., this rule sets forth the Uniform Core Curricula and outlines the requirements for foundational courses that must be included in all state-approved teacher preparation programs. A proper education is focused on the formation of a child’s character and should cultivate the virtues and discipline necessary for self-governance. Teachers should model respect for our nation’s founding documents and the ideas they contain about ordered liberty, justice, the rule of law, limited government, natural rights, and the equal dignity of all human beings. (2) Uniform Core Curricula. The Uniform Core Curricula are the principles, standards and content set forth herein and in ss. 1012.551, 1012.552, 1004.04(2), and 1004.85, F.S., that all state-approved teacher preparation programs must provide. Beginning August 1, 2027, each state-approved teacher preparation program must provide uniform core curricula courses that satisfy the requirements found in ss. 1012.551, 1012.552, 1004.04(2), and 1004.85, F.S., are aligned with the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices, pursuant to Rule 6A-5.065, F.A.C., and meet the following requirements: (a) Must use Florida’s state academic standards, as set forth in Section 1003.41, Florida Statutes, and Rule 6A-1.09401, F.A.C., to guide instruction in content methods courses; (b) Must include content literacy and mathematics practices that deepen student learning, as follows: 1. Content literacy builds upon the foundational skills in the science of reading in order to read, write and communicate effectively across all disciplines and grade levels. Instructional strategies must include opportunities for students to use specific complex thinking processes within the science of reading, pursuant to Rule 6A-4.0163, F.A.C., to engage deeply with the material. 2. Mathematics practices must include opportunities for students to engage with content, build fluency around key facts and skills, and apply conceptual understanding to solve a range of challenging problems; (c) Must include strategies to meet the needs of all students, including, but not limited to, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities, while maintaining grade-level expectations as outlined in the Florida state academic standards. Instruction in this area must include teacher candidates monitoring student needs and making instructional decisions to adapt teaching and to differentiate accordingly. (d) Must require teacher candidates to complete mastery-based clinical experiences that are conducted in a PK-12 classroom setting appropriate for the area in which the program is approved or the area in which the candidate is seeking certification. These clinical experiences must: 1. Support candidates as they move from developing skills to demonstrating proficiency, ultimately reaching effective practice by the end of the program; 2. Require candidates to demonstrate mastery of the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices through observable performance evaluations conducted with tools aligned to the district instructional personnel evaluation system approved by the Department of Education pursuant to Rule 6A-5.030, F.A.C., and s. 1012.34, F.S.; and 3. Allow candidates to demonstrate mastery of curriculum and pedagogy through application-based tasks; (e) Must not violate s. 1000.05, F.S. (f) Must not distort significant historical events. Distortion of historical events in curriculum and instruction is the presentation or the assignment of instructional resources or learning activities that give a misleading or false account or impression. Examples of theories that distort historical events and are inconsistent with State Board-approved standards include the denial or minimization of the Holocaust and the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT is the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons. (g) Must not promote identity politics. Promoting identity politics is the presentation of or the assignment of instructional resources or learning activities that promote the theory that an individual adheres to a particular political viewpoint based on one’s race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, or marital status. (h) Must not endorse theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States or that those institutions were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities. For the purposes of this rule, institutions refer to the initial creation and foundational structure of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States government. (i) Must afford candidates the opportunity to think critically, achieve mastery of academic program content, learn instructional strategies, and demonstrate competence. (3) Required Courses. Each state-approved teacher preparation program must require teacher candidates to complete the foundational courses outlined in this subsection. These courses must include the content areas described below: (a) Introduction to Education. The introduction to education course allows teacher candidates to demonstrate competency in the cognitive science of learning principles, which explains how the brain processes, stores, and retrieves information, and how these processes influence how people learn, remember, and apply knowledge. At a minimum, instruction in the cognitive science of learning must include the following: 1. Cognitive load theory, which explains how the brain’s limited cognition affects learning, indicating instruction should reduce unnecessary effort and focus on essential information so students can move knowledge into long-term memory and apply it flexibly. 2. Working memory, which is a limited-capacity system that temporarily holds and processes information needed for immediate tasks, such as following directions, problem solving or new learning; 3. Long-term memory, which is the system that stores knowledge, skills and experience over time. It allows learners to retain information beyond the limits of working memory and to retrieve and apply it across different situations and contexts; 4. Retrieval practice, which is the process in which students deliberately recall and apply information at an appropriate level of difficulty from memory to strengthen learning and long-term retention, making knowledge more durable and transferable, especially when spaced, interleaved and followed by feedback; 5. Attention and selective attention, which includes the process of filtering, selecting, and focusing on relevant information for deeper processing; 6. Social science of motivation and persistence, which together explains why students begin learning activities and how they sustain effort to reach their goals. The social science of motivation is driven by intrinsic and extrinsic factors that initiate, direct and sustain a student's engagement, while persistence is the continued effort to overcome challenges and setbacks supported by resiliency, encouragement, modeling and an environment that embraces mistakes as part of the learning process. 7. Background knowledge, which is the domain-specific information, skills, and experiences a student already possesses or needs; and 8. Production effect, which means that students tend to remember information better when they actively produce it, such as by saying it aloud, reading it out loud, writing it, or teaching it, instead of only processing it silently. (b) Impact Teaching and Classroom Management. This course focuses on high-impact teaching strategies that allow teacher candidates to demonstrate competency of instructional strategies based on the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices, pursuant to Rule 6A-5.065, F.A.C. High-impact teaching strategies provide specific pedagogical skills, such as direct instruction, classroom learning environment, sustaining high expectations, active engagement in thinking and multiple exposures to content to boost student learning, achievement and outcomes. (c) Foundations of Civil Discourse, American exceptionalism, and Western Civilization. 1. This course ensures teacher candidates possess foundational knowledge of the intellectual traditions underlying American exceptionalism, civil discourse, and Western civilization sufficient to: a. Accurately and faithfully transmit to their students the founding principles, documents, and history of American constitutional government; b. In their professional practice model civil discourse, reasoned argument, evidence-based inquiry, respectful disagreement, and openness to differing perspectives; and c. Relate the intellectual and political influences that shaped the founding principles of the United States constitutional republic. 2. This course shall be designed for accessibility to teacher candidates without specialized background in political science, philosophy, or history. The course shall provide foundational instruction in the following areas: a. The Nature and Importance of Civil Discourse, which shall address the meaning and significance of civil discourse for democratic self-government and how teachers can model and promote civil discourse in K–12 classrooms, including the distinction between civil discourse and politeness, the role of reasoned argument and evidence-based inquiry, and the importance of listening, perspective-taking, and respectful engagement with differing viewpoints. b. The American Founding and the Constitution, which shall address the philosophical foundations of the American founding, including natural rights, consent of the governed, and the separation of powers; the Declaration of Independence as a statement of American founding principles; the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights , the system of federalism , checks and balances; and selected writings from the Federalist Papers that explain the design and purpose of the Constitution.. c. The Development of American Political Thought within the Context of Western Civilization, which shall provide a survey of the major developments in Western Civilization from ancient Greece to the present, emphasizing the ideas and movements that shaped the American founding and the United States’ constitutional republic. Topics include the influence of ancient Greece and Rome on civic participation, republicanism, representative government, and the rule of law, as well as the impact of Judeo-Christian principles such as justice, individual worth, personal responsibility, and constitutional government. The survey shall also address the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, democratic revolutions, and twentieth-century challenges to liberal democracy including totalitarianism. d. The Common Good and the Teacher’s Vocation, which shall address the concept of the common good as developed in Western political thought, the relationship between individual rights and the common good in America’s constitutional republic, and the teacher’s role in preparing students for participation in democratic self-government.