As you may know, Provost Colburn is keenly interested in finding ways in which UF and the College can respond to the continuing education needs of certified teachers and the teacher shortage in Florida. For the past 5 months, the College has been engaged in negotiations with the Provost and Graduate School on admissions requirements for graduate programs. Input from the Faculty Policy Council was provided throughout these negotiations. The following agreement (#1-3) was approved by Dr. Win Phillips, Vice-President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, on February 7, 2003. Point #4 is a current policy of the Graduate School that was emphasized in Dean Phillips’ approval letter.

1. Teachers and Undergraduate Students Pursuing the Master’s of Education (MEd) and Educational Specialist (EdS) Degrees

Minimum requirements for certified teachers and undergraduate students in the Unified Early Childhood and Elementary programs leading to certification who are applying for degrees culminating in the MEd and EdS degrees in the College of Education will be either a minimum grade average of B for all upper-division undergraduate work or a minimum Verbal-Quantitative total score of 1000 on the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for students with an earned bachelor’s degree only.

2. Postbaccalaureate Status for Teachers

Teachers holding the Florida professional teaching certificate will be able to enroll as postbaccalaureate students to (a) satisfy re-certification requirements that are mandated by the state for maintaining their credentials and (b) pursue further professional development in approved certificate programs in the College of Education that do not lead to a graduate degree. Certified teachers will be admitted as postbaccalaureate students only to fulfill requirements of prescribed and approved certificate programs.

3. Minimum GRE Requirement for All Graduate Students in the College of Education, excepting those individuals specified in Point #2

We expect all students admitted to graduate programs in the College of Education to have a minimum Verbal-Quantitative total score of 1000 on the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). We will consider petitions for students with GRE total scores between 900 and 1000. Petitions will not be forwarded to the Graduate School for students with GRE total scores below 900.

4. Explicit Endorsement of the Dean on all Admissions Petitions

The Graduate School requires endorsement of petitions by college deans. In the future, only petitions that are endorsed by the Dean will be transmitted to the Graduate School.