6A-6.0573: Industry Certification Process.
PURPOSE AND EFFECT: The purpose of this rule amendment is to incorporate changes made by the 2011 Legislature to the governing statutes. In addition, new certifications will be added to the Industry Certification Funding List, as incorporated by reference in the rule and referred to as the 2011-2012 Industry Certification Funding List. The Industry Certification Funding List must include weights for each industry certification for use in the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) calculation.
SUMMARY: The 2011 Legislature created Section 1003.4935, Florida Statutes, providing law governing the addition of the middle school career and professional academy component. In addition, the Department is adopting by reference the “Comprehensive Industry Certification List, 2011-12” as approved and published March 1, 2011 by Workforce Florida, Inc. Further, the Department is adopting the “2011-12 Industry Certification Funding List” with weights assigned to each certification based on the rigor and employment value of the certification. This modification to the rule includes the specific calculation to be used for the assignment of one of three weights to each industry certification for use in the Florida Education Finance Program calculation.
SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS AND LEGISLATIVE RATIFICATION: The Agency has determined that this will not have an adverse impact on small business or likely increase directly or indirectly regulatory costs in excess of $200,000 in the aggregate within one year after the implementation of the rule. A SERC has not been prepared by the agency. Pursuant to the Department’s economic analysis of the rule, as required by the Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform, it has been determined that legislative ratification is not required.
Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY: 1003.492(2), 1011.62(1)(o) FS.
LAW IMPLEMENTED: 1003.491, 1003.492, 1003.493, 1003.4935 FS.
A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW:
DATE AND TIME: September 20, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
PLACE: Valencia Community College, West Campus, 1800 South Kirkman Road, Building HSB, Room 105, Orlando, Florida
THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Tara Goodman, Bureau Chief, Budget, Accountability and Assessment, 325 West Gaines Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400, (850)245-9002, tara.goodman@fldoe.org
THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:
6A-6.0573 Industry Certification Process.
(1) Pursuant to Section 1003.492(2), F.S., Workforce Florida, Inc.’s approved list of industry certifications, which has been named the “2010-11 Workforce Florida, Inc. Comprehensive Industry Certification List for the Career and Professional Education Act, 2011-2012” (http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-00558) (http://www.flrules.com/Gateway/reference.asp?No= Ref-00221) is adopted by the State Board of Education and incorporated by reference in this rule. The “2010-11 Workforce Florida, Inc. Comprehensive Industry Certification List for the Career and Professional Education Act, 2011-2012” may be obtained from the Department of Education’s web site at http://www.fldoe.org/workforce/fcpea/default.asp.
(2) The “Comprehensive Industry Certification List” shall be published by March 1 of each calendar year.
(3) “Industry Certification Funding List.” The Department of Education shall review the approved “Comprehensive Industry Certification List” to identify certifications deemed sufficiently rigorous academically and, thus, eligible for additional full-time equivalent (FTE) membership funding, pursuant to Section 1011.62(1), F.S.
(a) This list will be known as the “2011-2012 Industry Certification Funding List 2010-2011, Updated” (http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-00557) to be published by the Department of Education and is incorporated by reference in this rule. The “2011-2012 2010-2011 Industry Certification Funding List, Updated” (http://www.flrules.com/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-00221) may be obtained from the Department of Education’s web site at http://www.fldoe.org/workforce/fcpea/default.asp.
(b) To be considered for additional full-time equivalent membership funding and included on the “2010-2011 Industry Certification Funding List, Updated” in this paragraph, a certification shall:
1. Be on the “Comprehensive Industry Certification List;”
2. Be achievable by secondary students in a secondary level program;
3. Require a minimum of one hundred fifty (150) hours of instruction; and
4. Have been offered for at least one year in a school district.
(c) The Commissioner of Education may waive the one-year requirement when failure to do so would inhibit preparation of students for emerging workforce opportunities.
(4) No later than March 5 15 each year, the Department of Education shall produce a preliminary “Industry Certification Funding List” and shall show the industry certifications for which registered career and professional academy students may be reported for additional full-time equivalent membership funding by school districts under Section 1011.62(1), F.S.
(a) School districts shall be provided a period of time to request additions to the preliminary “Industry Certification Funding List” prior to publication of the final “Industry Certification Funding List” for the following school year.
(b) School districts offering career and professional academies under Section 1003.492, F.S., may submit requests to include an industry certification, not on the preliminary “Industry Certification Funding List,” to the final “Industry Certification Funding List” along with supporting documentation, to the Department of Education.
1. Supporting documentation shall include a statement of justification and other resource material to illustrate the correlation between the program standards and the certification examination competencies.
2. Requests shall be submitted no later than April 1 15 for inclusion on the final “Industry Certification Funding List.”
3. The Department of Education shall review each request according to the above criteria and respond to the submitting school district by May 15 within forty-five (45) days of receipt.
4. If the request is denied for failure to meet the criteria in paragraph (3)(b) of this rule, the specific reason for denial shall be included in the response to the school district.
(5) Pursuant to Section 1011.62(1), F.S., industry certifications approved by the State Board of Education for inclusion in the final “Industry Certification Funding List” shall be assigned one of the following weights: 0.1, 0.2, or 0.3. The weights shall be determined by values assigned to indicators of rigor and employment value, with 50 percent of the points based on rigor and 50 percent based on employment value. Rigor and employment value each shall be assigned up to three points for a total possible value of six.
(a) Rigor shall be determined by the State Board of Education using the number of instructional hours necessary to earn the industry certification with bonus points assigned for certifications with Gold Standard Career Pathways Industry Certification to Associate in Applied Science (AAS)/Associate in Science (AS) Statewide Articulation Agreements approved by the State Board of Education. Instructional hour values shall be determined based on the classroom instructional hours and work experience hours necessary to earn the certification.
1. Classroom instructional hours shall be determined through one of the following methods:
a. Instructional hours identified by the certifying agency, or
b. Alignment of statewide curriculum frameworks to the competencies required for the industry certification based on a review by the Department of Education. This process shall include a review of standards in the curriculum frameworks, as adopted by the State Board of Education in Rule 6A-6.0571, F.A.C., for the secondary and postsecondary programs that align with the certification.
2. Work experience hours shall be determined based on the work hours required by the certifying agency to earn the certification.
3. Instructional hours shall be the sum of classroom instructional hours and work experience hours.
4. The maximum value for the rigor of the industry certification is three points. The total instructional hours necessary to earn the industry certification shall be converted to rigor points based on the following scale:
a. A value of 150 to 299 hours equals 0.5 points.
b. A value of 300 to 449 hours equals 1.0 points.
c. A value of 450 to 599 hours equals 1.5 points.
d. A value of 600 to 749 hours equals 2.0 points.
e. A value of 750 to 899 hours equals 2.5 points.
f. A value of 900 or more hours equals 3.0 points.
5. If the State Board of Education has an approved Gold Standard Career Pathways Industry Certification to AAS/AS Degree Articulation Agreement for the certification, a value of 0.5 shall be added to the rigor point total if the points assigned for instructional hours are less than or equal to 2.5.
(b) Employment value shall be determined by the State Board of Education, in consultation with Workforce Florida, Inc., using the entry wage, growth rate, and average annual openings for the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code linked to the industry certification, based on occupational linkages assigned by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
1. The maximum employment value of the industry certification is three points. The State Board of Education shall assign one point to each certification for the three indicators: entry wage, growth rate, and average annual openings. Points shall be assigned to each certification based on the percentile ranking of the occupation to which it is linked among all occupations linked to certifications on the “Industry Certification Funding List.” The source for the employment information is data from Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, Labor Market Statistics Center, Occupational Employment Statistics Program and Employment Projections Program, in the document “2007-11 Comprehensive Industry Certification List with Employement Data” (http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-00559) which is hereby incorporated by reference. The document can be accessed from the Department’s web site at http://www.fldoe.org/workforce/careeracademies/ca_home.asp.
2. The points for entry wage, growth rate, and average annual openings shall be assigned as follows:
a. A value at or below the 25th percentile equals 0.25 point.
b. A value greater than the 25th percentile and below or equal to 50th percentile equals 0.50 point.
c. A value greater than the 50th percentile and below or equal to the 75th percentile equals 0.75 point.
d. A value above the 75th percentile equals 1.0 point.
3. For each certification, the State Board of Education shall sum the points for entry wage, growth rate, and average annual openings. The sum of this calculation is the employment value point total for the certification.
(c) The rigor and employment value point totals shall be summed and divided by six and rounded to two decimal places. The minimum calculated value is 0.21. The maximum calculated value shall not exceed 1.0. The final weight assigned to the certification shall be based on this value as follows:
1. Total value up to 0.21 to 0.47 equals a weight of 0.1.
2. Total value of 0.48 to 0.74 equals a weight of 0.2.
3. Total value of 0.75 to 1.0 equals a weight of 0.3.
(d) The employment value shall be recalculated annually based on the most recent statewide employment data published by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. The rigor value shall be reviewed annually for any changes to the instructional hours or approved articulation agreements.
(6)(5) The final “Industry Certification Funding List” for the school year shall be published no later than the July 1, preceding the beginning of the school year. The list shall include a weight for use in the additional full-time equivalent membership calculation pursuant to Section 1011.62(1), F.S., as defined in subsection (5) of this rule. With the publication of this list, the Department will recommend linkages to secondary career and technical programs in the Course Code Directory.
(7)(6) Conditions for the additional full-time equivalent membership funding pursuant to Section 1011.62(1), F.S.
(a) A school district shall be eligible for additional FTE membership under the following conditions, for a maximum of one 0.3 full-time equivalent membership funding per student:
1. Student is enrolled in a registered career and professional academy.
2. Student completes a certification on the “Industry Certification Funding List.”
3. Student receives a high school diploma.
(b) Up to two certifications A maximum of one certification may be reported for a course.
(c) School districts may report students who complete industry certifications during the update period allowed by the Department of Education for survey 5 after an initial submission.
(8)(7) Registration of High School Career and
(a) School districts shall submit up-to-date information on each career and professional academy through an annual a reporting window which shall open on or after of July 15 and close on to September 15, and shall remain open for a minimum of thirty days. Form FCAPEA-01, annually on Form ICP-1 located on the Department’s web site at http://www.fldoe.org/workforce/. Form ICP-1 is hereby incorporated by reference to become effective with the effective date of this rule. The required information shall include, but is not limited to, the following: academy name and school and a list of industry certifications offered to students in the academy selected from the final “Industry Certification Funding List.”
(b) As part of the registration process, the superintendents shall certify that each academy meets all of the requirements of Section 1003.493, F.S.
(c) Eligibility for funding under Section 1011.62(1), F.S., is limited to academies registered with the Department of Education.
(d) Academies shall be registered by September 15 of the reporting year for their students to be eligible to generate the additional full-time equivalent membership funding based on the completion of industry certifications.
(8) Performance Criteria.
(a) The performance criteria specified in Section 1003.493(5), F.S., shall be calculated in the following manner:
1. The denominator is the number of students in the career course who took the industry certification examination or who attempted college credit for their enrollment in the career course.
2. The numerator is the number of students in the denominator who successfully passed an industry certification on the “Industry Certification Funding List” or who earned college credit.
(b) A school district that fails to meet the performance criteria specified in Section 1003.493(5), F.S., may not offer that industry certification in the academy in the subsequent year.
(c) In the annual registration process for the academy, the school district can no longer report an industry certification that fails to meet the performance criteria in the academy and will not be eligible to receive the additional full-time equivalent membership funding for that industry certification under the requirements of Section 1011.62(1), F.S.
(9) Registration of Middle School Career and
(a) School districts shall submit up-to-date information on each career and professional academy through an annual reporting window which shall open on or after September 16 and close on October 15, and shall remain open for a minimum of thirty (30) days. Form FCAPEA-02,
(b) As part of the registration process, superintendents shall certify that each academy meets all of the requirements of Section 1003.4935, F.S.
(c) Eligibility for funding under Section 1011.62(1), F.S., is limited to academies registered with the Department of Education.
(d) Academies shall be registered by October 15 of the reporting year for their students to be eligible to generate the additional full-time equivalent membership funding based on the completion of industry certifications.
Rulemaking Authority 1003.492(2) FS. Law Implemented 1003.491, 1003.492, 1003.493, 1003.4935, 1011.62(1)(o) FS. History–New