Orientation to Education Programs Lab

Course Description

Orientation to Education Programs Lab introduces students to the School of Education processes and overall expectations for disposition for teaching. Students learn how coursework aligns with Florida Department of Education requirements for teacher certification and strategies to remain qualified for program completion or graduation.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, SLS is the Student Life Skills prefix. Daytona State publishes this at 0 credit hours, offered fall and spring. ⚠ The catalog publishes no contact-hour figure — see the note below on what a zero-credit course is and is not.

The phrase "strategies to remain qualified" in the catalog description is doing a great deal of work, and it is the most important thing in this course. Teacher preparation in Florida is a regulated pathway with examination requirements, background screening, field experience, and grade thresholds — and a student can complete coursework and still not be certifiable. This course exists so that the requirements are known at the start rather than discovered at the end.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the School of Education's programmes and their structure.
• Describe the requirements for programme admission and continuation.
• Describe Florida Department of Education teacher certification requirements.
• Describe how the programme's coursework maps to those requirements.
• Describe the Florida Teacher Certification Examinations and their components.
• Describe the timing of examinations within the programme.
• Describe grade and grade-point requirements for progression.
• Describe background screening and fingerprinting requirements.
• Describe the field experience and internship sequence.
• Describe expectations for professional dispositions in teaching.
• Describe the ethical standards applying to Florida educators.
• Describe professional conduct in school placements.
• Describe confidentiality obligations regarding students and records.
• Describe mandatory reporting obligations.
• Identify the certification subject areas and their requirements.
• Plan a term-by-term route through the programme to certification.
• Identify the points at which a student can become ineligible.
• Describe how to remain qualified for completion and graduation.
• Locate and use the School of Education's advising and support.
• Reflect on your own suitability and readiness for teaching.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe alternative certification routes in Florida.
• Describe teacher shortage areas and their incentives.
• Describe employment and hiring in Florida school districts.
• Describe professional organisations for educators.
• Describe continuing education and certificate renewal.
• Describe advanced degrees and endorsements.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• School of Education programmes
• Admission and continuation requirements
• Florida teacher certification requirements
• Coursework alignment to certification
• Florida Teacher Certification Examinations
• Examination timing
• Grade and GPA requirements
• Background screening and fingerprinting
• Field experience and internship
• Professional dispositions
• Educator ethical standards
• Conduct in school placements
• Confidentiality and records
• Mandatory reporting
• Certification subject areas
• Planning the route to certification
• Points of ineligibility
• Remaining qualified
• School of Education advising
• Self-reflection on readiness

Optional Topics

• Alternative certification routes
• Shortage areas and incentives
• District hiring
• Professional organisations
• Certificate renewal
• Advanced degrees and endorsements

Resources & Tools

• Your academic advisor — free, and the most under-used resource in higher education. An hour with an advisor before registration saves more time and money than anything else on this list.
• FloridaShines (floridashines.org) — free; the statewide portal for transfer planning, common prerequisites, and the 2+2 pathway between Florida public institutions.
• Florida Department of Education — Statewide Course Numbering System — free; the authority on what transfers and what a course number means.
• Daytona State's student services — tutoring, the writing centre, library instruction, disability services, and counselling, all included in what you already pay.
• O*NET OnLine (onetonline.org) — free; occupation profiles, required skills, and wage data.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (bls.gov/ooh) — free and authoritative on pay, entry requirements, and projected demand.
• CareerSource Florida and FloridaJobs.org — free Florida-specific labour market data and local workforce services.
• FAFSA and the financial aid office — ask directly about how a course counts toward enrolment status before you register, not after.
• Florida Department of Education — Bureau of Educator Certification (fldoe.org) — free and authoritative on Florida certification requirements, subject areas, and routes.
• Florida Teacher Certification Examinations (fl.nesinc.com) — free test information guides and competency lists; read the competencies for your subject area early, not the term before the test.
• Florida's Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession (State Board of Education Rule 6A-10.081) — free; the ethical standard you will be held to.
• Your local school district's human resources pages — hiring timelines, shortage areas, and salary schedules are public.

Career Pathways

• Elementary school teacher — SOC 25-2021.
• Middle school teacher — SOC 25-2022.
• Secondary school teacher — SOC 25-2031.
• Special education teacher — SOC 25-2050; a persistent Florida shortage area.
• Exceptional student education and ESOL endorsements — both widely needed and both improve employability substantially.
• Reading and mathematics specialist roles with additional endorsement.
• Instructional coaching and curriculum roles, after classroom experience.
• School administration — requires further qualification and experience.
• Educational technology, instructional design, and corporate training — genuine exits from the classroom that use the same skills.
• ⚠ Be realistic about the conditions. Florida teacher pay, workload, and retention have all been the subject of sustained public debate. Look up your target district's actual salary schedule and talk to working teachers before committing — the work is valuable and many find it deeply rewarding, but it should be entered with clear information.

Special Information

⚠⚠ You can complete the coursework and still not be certifiable — know the requirements now

• Certification is a separate process from graduation, administered by the Florida Department of Education rather than the college, with its own requirements.
• ⚠⚠ Background screening and fingerprinting are required for school placement. A student who cannot be cleared cannot complete field experience and therefore cannot complete the programme — and this is discovered far too late if it is not raised at the start. Raise any concern early and privately with the School of Education.
• Examinations must be passed, and they have their own timing. The general knowledge, professional education, and subject area tests each have requirements and retake rules, and leaving them all to the end is the commonest cause of a delayed certification.
• Grade thresholds apply. Some programmes require minimum grades in particular courses and a minimum grade point average for continuation, not just for graduation.
• Field experience has to be scheduled and it takes school-day hours, which constrains employment during those terms. Plan for it financially.
• Dispositions are assessed. Professional conduct in placements is part of the programme's judgement, and it is a real basis for removal.
• ⚠ Confirm your subject area's specific requirements. They differ, and some carry additional coursework or examinations.
• ⚠ Rule 11 applies emphatically. Florida's certification requirements, examinations, and preparation rules change with some regularity — verify current requirements with the Bureau of Educator Certification and your programme rather than relying on this guide, or on advice from someone who certified several years ago.

⚠⚠ This is a zero-credit course at a credit-level number — understand what that means before you enrol

• Daytona State publishes this course at 0 credit hours, and this is not the usual reason a Florida course carries zero credit.
• It is not a PSAV clock-hour course. Those carry a leading zero in the course number and are measured in clock hours. This course's number is at a credit level, and it still carries no credit — a different and less familiar arrangement.
• ⚠ It contributes nothing toward a degree. It does not count toward the 60 credits of an Associate in Arts, toward an Associate in Science, or toward any general education requirement.
• ⚠⚠ Financial aid enrolment status is normally computed from credit hours. A zero-credit course generally does not contribute to full-time or half-time status — confirm with the financial aid office before assuming it does, because building a schedule around it can quietly drop a student below the threshold for aid.
• It can still carry fees and it still appears on the transcript, and it is still a distinct SCNS number under Rule 22.
• Daytona State publishes no contact-hour figure for it, so the time commitment is not stated in the catalog. Ask the department what the actual meeting schedule is.
• It is frequently a programme requirement even though it is not a degree requirement — which is exactly why students are caught out by it. Ask your advisor whether it is required for your programme, and when it must be taken.
• ⚠ Transferability is effectively nil. Institution-specific orientation content does not transfer, and there is no credit to carry.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement.

SLS3355L is published by Daytona State at 0 credit hours, offered fall and spring, with no contact-hour figure stated.

⚠ Read the zero-credit note above, and treat the certification requirements as the substantive content of this course — they are what it exists to convey.