Welcome to the Florida On-line Application for Educator Certification!

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1 Welcome Page Submit Application The following is the text displayed for you to read and agree to: Welcome to the Florida On-line Application for Educator Certification! You may use this site to apply for: Determination of Eligibility for, Issuance of, Addition to, or Reprint of a Florida Educator s Certificate (Form CG-10), including the Athletic Coaching certificate. Please read the information as it applies to you from our Certification Main Menu. Renewal or Reinstatement of a Florida Professional Educator s Certificate (Form CG-10R). Please read the information as it applies to you about Florida Educator Certification Renewal Requirements. How to complete and submit your application using this on-line site 1. Read all of the following information and indicate your agreement by clicking the button at the bottom of this page Click the "I Accept" button if you have read and understand these instructions and Additional Terms for submission of the on-line application for certification in Florida. You will be forwarded to the first section of the on-line application. Click the "I Decline" button if you choose not to continue with your on-line application for certification in Florida. You may return later to review, complete and submit the on-line application for certification in Florida. 2. Complete your application by entering and saving your information, then following the continue buttons through each of the application sections You may click through each of the section links on the left to preview most of the information that will be required of you to complete your application on-line. If you elect to logout during the on-line process, any application information you have added will automatically be saved so that you can return and complete your on-line application later. 3. Verify the information you entered is correct and complete in the Affidavit section You are legally responsible for the information that is submitted on your on-line application. Please make certain that it is true, accurate and complete. You must select that you agree to all statements and type your legal name as directed within the Affidavit section in order for your on-line application to be submitted. This affidavit section shall constitute your electronic authentication and shall be legally binding in lieu of your original signature. 4. Authorize payment of non-refundable application processing fees using your VISA or MasterCard credit or debit card You will be presented an invoice page outlining the application processing fees associated with your application as well as any unpaid fee balance on your Florida certification account. Fees must be paid in full to submit your application on-line. If your payment is authorized by our credit card processing agent, you will be presented with an On-line Application Receipt. Please print a copy of this receipt for your records. You may pay your non-refundable on-line application processing fees using only your major credit card. If Educator Certification determines that a refund is necessary due to extraordinary circumstances, the refund may be credited back to your credit card or issued back to you via a check from the State of Florida Comptroller.

2 5. Submit additional documentation as directed by your On-line Application Receipt You will be required to submit official transcripts from all colleges/universities attended. You must have attained a bachelor s or higher degree from an accredited or approved institution to apply for certification in Florida (except for the Athletic Coaching certificate). Florida offers a number of pathways to a full Professional Certificate. If applicable, you should submit a photocopy of the front and back of all valid educator certificates/licenses you hold from other states, U.S. territories and/or the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) or the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE). NOTE: Applicants with degrees from colleges or universities outside the United States should refer to the Bureau of Educator Certification Web site at or contact our office for an explanation of appropriate documentation of foreign degrees and credits. 6. Review your Application Status periodically using the other features of this secure site Please return to the Welcome page to review the available options for monitoring the progress of your application for Educator Certification in Florida. We provide several options for you to Contact Educator Certification if you have any additional questions. 7. Additional Terms for submission of an On-line Application for Florida Educator Certification: WARNING: Giving false information in order to obtain or renew a Florida educator's certificate is a criminal offense under Florida law. Anyone giving false information is subject to criminal prosecution as well as disciplinary action by the Education Practices Commission. Responsibility Please ensure the accuracy and completeness of the data you enter. If you enter incomplete or inaccurate information, your application may be significantly delayed in processing or may not be processed at all. Neither the Florida Department of Education nor its authorized credit card processing agent is responsible if you submit inaccurate or incomplete information. Browser To ensure a reasonable degree of security for your request to Educator Certification at the Florida Department of Education, you must use a web browser with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) capability. Furthermore, the connection to your remote computer is authenticated using an SSL Class 3 certificate from an industry leader Certification Authority which provides the highest level of assurances for proof of identity, content integrity, and confidentiality through 128-bit data encryption. If you do not use an SSL compatible browser, we will not be able to accept your request. Technology Your transaction will be processed by a state-of-the-art system which has been designed in accordance with good commercial practice. However, neither the Florida Department of Education nor its authorized credit card processing agent can guarantee that all transactions submitted through this system will be successfully completed. Confirmation Your transaction may not be processed until several hours after you enter it. Transactions submitted on a non-business day (weekends or holidays) may not be processed until the next official business day. Upon successful submission of your request, you will receive a confirmation number within your On-line Application Receipt which confirms that the system has received your request. It is highly recommended that you print your On-line Application Receipt to have record of the confirmation number as well as the remaining items that are required to complete your application packet for Educator Certification in Florida. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 2 of 15

3 You will be presented with the option to click I Accept or I Decline to proceed. Submitting an Application By clicking on the Submit Application link you will be able to choose one of the following actions: submit an initial application for evaluation of up to three (3) subject(s) or endorsement(s) apply for your Professional Certificate with the same subject(s) as on your Temporary Certificate or with new subjects add a subject or endorsement to an existing certificate request a name change or a duplicate copy of your certificate delete a subject or endorsement from an existing certificate request an athletic coaching certificate renew your Professional Certificate, or reinstate an expired Professional Certificate. PERSONAL INFORMATION This application section is where you will provide us with your contact information and other personal information. Verify that your date-of-birth and citizenship status are correct. When your certificate is issued, the certificate will show the First and Last name that you indicate in this section of the application. Be sure that you submit the application using the name that you want to appear on your certificate. If you are currently employed with a Florida public school you will enter that information on this page and select the district from the provided drop-down menu. The Personal Information section also contains an optional Race and Ethnicity section. If you would not like to include the information, simply place a check in the box labeled I choose not to provide this information then press Save or Continue. Personal Information Frequently Asked Questions: My name has changed since I last applied for a Florida Certificate. How do I update my account to show my new name? Your name is updated when you submit an application. It does not matter if the application is for an initial certificate, the renewal of your current certificate, a duplicate copy of your certificate or the addition or deletion of a subject to/from your certificate. Please be sure that your application is filed using the name you would like to appear on your certificate. My date of birth is wrong, but I m not allowed to change it. What do I do? If your date of birth is incorrect, please contact the FLcertify technical support staff by using the link provided at the bottom of the Web page. Be sure to include your logon Username and your correct Date of Birth. We will contact you if any additional verification is required. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 3 of 15

4 How do I remove the indication that I am employed with a school district? If you are not currently employed with a Florida public school district then you should answer No to the question on this page and then make sure that the drop-down menu contains the default answer, which is Select. You can then press Save or Continue. If I am employed by a district as a substitute or in a part-time/temporary role, should I indicate that I am employed by a district? Each Florida public school district has a certification office that can process applications for additions and renewals. If you answer Yes to the question of employment then you may be directed to the district s certification office to have your application processed. Therefore you should only answer Yes to the question if the district is willing to process your applications and then understand that you may be directed to your district office in order to apply. CERTIFICATE ACTION The Certificate Action section is where you designate the service and subject(s) that you are applying for. You are only permitted to select one service per application, so if you wish to apply for multiple services then you will need to submit multiple applications. When you have selected both the service and subject(s) for your application then you must press the Add, Select or Renew button to save the subject to your application. Depending on the status of your certification file, you may not see all of the options outlined below. For example, applicants who do not currently hold certificates issued by our office will not be allowed to apply for a Duplicate or Name-Change Certificate. Types of Applications CG-10 Unless you were previously issued a Professional certificate then you must submit the CG-10 application form type. There are a wide variety of services that you can apply for using this form type. You can click anywhere inside the CG-10 box to select this application type. You will next need to select the service that you are applying for. If you do not already hold a certificate then you must select either Initial Subject Evaluation or Athletic Coaching. If you already hold a certificate, then you can apply for a subject addition/deletion, a duplicate certificate or a name-change certificate. If you hold a Temporary certificate and now wish to apply for a Professional then you can choose either to apply for the same subjects on your Temporary certificate or in new subjects. You cannot apply for more than one service on a single application. If you wish to apply for more than one service then you will need to submit multiple applications. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 4 of 15

5 CG-10R If you were previously issued a Professional Certificate by our office then you will see a button for the CG-10R application form. You will only use the CG-10R form if you want to apply to renew or reinstate your Professional Certificate. You may click anywhere in the CG-10R box to select this application form type. You will then need to choose either Renewal, Late Renewal or Reinstatement from the drop-down menu that appears. Finally you will need to designate a Renewal Method for each item on your certificate and then press the Renew button to save the selection to your application. Certificate Action: Initial Application Frequently Asked Questions: How do I indicate that I want to apply for a Temporary or Professional level certificate? You do not need to indicate Temporary or Professional on your application. When your application is processed by our staff, you will be evaluated for the highest level certificate for which you qualify based on the credentials you submit to our office. You should make sure that you have submitted all of the required materials for us to accurately determine your eligibility. Why isn t my information being saved on this page (CG-10 version)? Most of the services you can apply for require you to press the Add button to save the subject to your application. Please make sure that you do not press the Continue button until after you receive confirmation that the subject was added to your application. If you are applying for a Professional Certificate with Same Subject(s), then you must press the Select button to save your subject selection to the application. If you are applying to Delete a Subject, then you must press the Delete button to save your subject selection. Why is the subject I want to apply for not an option in the drop-down menu? You should first make sure that the subject you want to apply for is currently offered in Florida by visiting our list of subjects at Also note that the online application adjusts to the certificates and applications that you already have on file. You may be prevented from submitting certain applications depending on your current status. For example, if you already hold a valid Statement of Status of Eligibility then you will not be permitted to submit another application for that same subject. You should also make sure that you have selected the correct application form type and service requested. If you are still unable to resolve the issue then you should contact our FLcertify technical support staff by using the link provided at the bottom of the application. Can I add a subject when I am applying for my Professional Certificate? You cannot request more than one service per application. If you hold a Temporary certificate and wish to apply for a Professional certificate then you must choose to apply either for the subjects you already hold or in new subjects. You cannot select a combination of old and new subject coverages. If you wish to obtain a Professional certificate in both old and new coverages then you will need to submit multiple applications. (continued on next page) 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 5 of 15

6 Once you submit an application, remember that you must allow 1-2 business days for your credit card to be processed. You will not be able to submit another application online until your credit card transactions is completely processed. Certificate Action: Renewal Application Frequently Asked Questions: How do I renew my Temporary Certificate? A three-year Temporary certificate cannot be renewed. If you have never held a Professional Certificate in the past then you must submit the CG-10 application form. Why is the application referring me to contact my Florida school district for my renewal application? Each Florida public school district has a certification office that can process many services for your certificate locally, including the renewal of a Professional Certificate. If you are employed by a Florida public school district then the district should be processing your Renewal application. If you are seeing this message and you are not currently employed with a district then you should remove the employment designation that appears on the Personal Information page. Why isn t my information being saved on this page (CG-10R version)? Once you have selected Renewal, Late Renewal or Reinstatement then you must select a Renewal Method for each subject on the certificate and then press the Renew button. The screen will then refresh and confirm that your request for renewal was added to your application. When I choose the Reinstatement application, why aren t all my subjects shown? Only currently valid subjects are available for reinstatement. If none of the subjects listed on your expired certificate are currently offered, a subject drop-down menu will be displayed with all currently available subjects. You will be able to select up to three (3) subjects on your application. Note: When your application is processed it will be evaluated for all subjects from your expired certificate that are eligible for reinstatement. If you are not sure which current coverages correspond to your expired certificate, you may refer to the Reinstatement: Eligible Subjects Chart at Can I apply for a Temporary certificate while my Reinstatement application is being processed? A Statement of Status of Eligibility for a Temporary certificate is valid for three years; however applications for Reinstatement are valid for only one year. If you wish to obtain a Temporary certificate while you work on your Reinstatement requirements then you should apply for the Temporary certificate before applying for Reinstatement. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 6 of 15

7 Why do the Renew button and $75.00 processing fee only appear by my first subject? Does this mean that my other subject(s) will not be renewed? Your renewal application will be processed for all subjects shown on your certificate. The Renew button covers all subjects on your certificate and the processing fee for the entire Renewal application is $ Because these items cover all of your subjects they will only be shown on the Web site once and will appear next to only your first subject. TEACHING EXPERIENCE Non-Florida Teaching Certificates The top section of this page allows you to enter a valid standard teaching certificate or license you currently hold issued by any U.S. territory or state other than Florida. You may also input a record of your valid National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) or American Board for Certification of Teaching Excellence (ABCTE) certificate. Please be sure to mail a legible photocopy of the front and back of your teaching credential(s) to our office for review. This is not a required section and may be left blank if it does not apply to you. Previous Teaching Experience If you have ever served as a teacher, this section of the application allows you to acknowledge your previous teaching experience. Experience as a substitute, intern, teacher s aide, or para-professional is not appropriate teaching experience. This is not a required section and may be left blank if it does not apply to you. To include your valid teaching experience on the application you will need to indicate the beginning and ending dates of your employment, the name and location of the school where you were employed, the subject and grade-level taught, whether your employment was full-time or part-time, how many months per year you were employed, and whether or not the school was public or private. Teaching experience earned in a foreign country should be completed to the best of your ability. In order to add this information to your application you must click the Add button and wait for the Web site to refresh. If you click Continue without adding the information to your application, the information will be lost and you will need to re-enter the information. You can repeat this process to add all of your experience to the application, being sure to click Add after each instance of experience. Only when you have entered all of your appropriate teaching experience should you click the Continue button at the bottom of the page. Teaching Experience Frequently Asked Questions: The certificate information I enter is not being saved on my application. How do I enter in the information? For each certificate you hold, you will need to select the issuing state (or U.S. territory) and indicate the certificate expiration date using the drop-down boxes provided. Once you have entered the information for a certificate, remember to click the Add box which appears next 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 7 of 15

8 to the drop-down boxes. If you click Continue without adding the information to your application, the information will be lost and you will need to re-enter the information. When the Web site refreshes, the certificate information you provided will be shown at the top of the screen, providing confirmation that the information has been successfully added to your application. National Certificates are added through the same manner as described above, being sure to click Add after you have entered the information and allowing time for the Web site to be refreshed with the new information. My out-of-state certificate expired a few years ago, but the application only allows me to enter the certificate if it expired after January How do I make sure you get this information? If you hold an expired certificate, or a certificate issued by an institution that is not shown in the drop-down box, then you do not have to include the information on your application as it will not likely affect your eligibility for a Florida certificate. If you desire to do so, you may still mail a legible photocopy of the certificate to our office for review even if you do not acknowledge the certificate on your application. If you have ever taught in a private school then it may be to your advantage to submit a photocopy of any state-issued teaching certificate you previously held, even if it is expired. I ve applied for a teaching certificate in another state, but it has not yet been sent to me. Should I indicate that on my Florida certificate application? Yes. Include this information even if you have not yet received the certificate in the mail. When you receive your out-of-state certificate, you should submit a copy of the certificate to our office for review. If I indicate a certificate on my application, but I don t have a copy to send to your office, will it delay the processing of my application? No. Your application will not be delayed if you do not include a copy of your out-of-state certificate. Please note that we may not be able to determine your final eligibility until you submit a copy of your out-of-state credential for review. If you submit new information for your file after your application has already been processed, your application will be re-evaluated to determine any change in your eligibility. However, the re-evaluation will require additional processing time. Do I need to indicate Substitute teaching experience on my application? Substitute teaching experience and experience as a teacher s aide or para-professional are not appropriate to satisfy certification requirements in Florida and therefore should not be included on your application. I am currently employed. How do I indicate that I am still employed since the application asks me to indicate an ending date? This section is for previously completed teaching experience only. If you are currently employed in a position you may list the experience using the current date as the ending date of the employment. You should not indicate any future employment, even if you know the ending date. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 8 of 15

9 I can t submit my application because this section is incomplete. But I don t hold an out-ofstate certificate and I have no previous teaching experience. What do I do? If you do not indicate any teaching experience on this page, then you will receive a red Reminder on the Verification & Affidavit section of the on-line application. This is a caution only and does not prevent you from submitting your application. If you are unable to submit your application, please verify that all other sections of the application are complete. ACADEMIC TRAINING If you already have academic training displayed on this screen, you are not required to re-enter that information. You will not be required to enter any information on this screen. If this is your initial application to our office, then this is a required section of the application. If this is not your first time applying with our office then this section may not be required, depending upon the service for which you are applying and your certification status. If you do not see your academic training displayed, or if you have completed additional postsecondary education programs you must complete this section. Please describe one level of education at a time. You will need to click the Add... button after each entry so the data entered will be written to your application and the data entry fields will become empty for you to enter additional information. Instructions for Completing the Academic Training Screen Use the drop-down menu to select the college, university or postsecondary academic institution you attended. When the Web site refreshes, enter in the City/Branch Campus, the State and/or Country and indicate whether or not you received a degree. The screen will then refresh with additional inputs regarding the degree or semester hours you completed. If you earned a degree you will be prompted to enter your Graduation Date and major. If you did not earn a degree you will be prompted to enter Semester Hours and your attendance dates. Be sure to click Add for the information to be captured on your application. Once you have entered all of your academic training information, click the Continue button to move to the next screen. If you click Continue without adding the information to your application, then the information will be lost and you will need to re-enter the record. The Add button will not be displayed until you answer the question Did you receive a degree from this institution? Academic Training Frequently Asked Questions: What if the institution I attended is not in the drop-down menu? If your institution is not listed, you will need to select Not Listed from the drop-down menu and then type the name of your school into the new field that appears. I enter in my information, but my information is not being saved. What do I do? You must click the Add... button to save the data to your on-line application. Your institution s name and location will then appear at the top of this screen along with your major and graduation date or semester hours and attendance dates. When the screen refreshes, the fields on the form will again be blank so you can enter another educational record. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 9 of 15

10 I entered in some academic information, but I noticed I made a mistake. How can I edit or remove the information I just included? If you notice a mistake in the information you have already added, then you should delete the entry and re-enter the information. To delete an entry, locate the record you would like to delete then click the Remove button to the left of that record. This section indicates a degree I didn t earn or a school that I didn t attend, but I m not able to edit or remove the information. How do I correct this? If you see incorrect information associated with a Transcript of File, then you should our FLcertify technical support staff by using the link at the bottom of the application. Please be sure to include your logon Username and include a description of the inaccurate information. LEGAL DISCLOSURE The application for a Florida Educator s Certificate contains sections for you to acknowledge your Sealed/Expunged Records, Criminal Offense Records and Professional Sanctions. Florida Law requires a Yes or No response for each question in these sections. You must press the Save button once you have answered Yes or No to each question. If you select Yes as your response to any question, then you must provide the Offense Details and all fields must be completed even if the information has previously been submitted to our office. You will not need to provide additional details about the offense at the time of your application. Only the information requested on the application should be submitted at the time of your application. After you have completed all of the information about an offense, be sure to click Add to insert the information onto your application. If you click Continue without adding the information to your application, then the information will be lost and you will need to re-enter the information. You may repeat this procedure to add all offenses to your application. When you have acknowledged all required offenses for each section, click Continue to proceed to the next section of the application. Legal Disclosure Frequently Asked Questions: I don t have any new offenses since my last application. Can I just leave this section blank? All offenses must be acknowledged on your application, even if the offense was acknowledged on a previous application and already reviewed by Professional Practices Services or the Education Practices Commission. Do I need to mail in court documents to your office if I indicate an offense? No. Court documents are not required by the Bureau of Educator Certification to process your application. Such documents will never be requested by, and should never be submitted to, the Bureau of Educator Certification. If additional information is required prior to the issuance of your certificate then you will receive a certified letter from Professional Practices Services with instructions on submitting the additional information directly to their office. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 10 of 15

11 Why are my Offense Details not being saved when I click the Continue button? You must press the Add button to save the Offense Details to your application. If you press Continue before adding the Details then they will be lost and will need to be re-entered. How do I modify the Offense Details on my application before I submit it? If you entered incorrect Offense Details then you must remove the entry by pressing the Remove button that appears next to the offense. Once you have removed the incorrect information you can add the correct Offense Details by clicking the Add Offense Details button that appears in the lower right corner. If you change all of your answers to No then all Offense Details you have added in that section will automatically be removed and you will not be able to add Offense Details. Remember: the Affidavit statement on the application prohibits changes to your application once it is submitted so you should make sure that the information is correct before you submit your application. I m receiving the error message that the field is a valid field any must be completed with at least 3 characters. What does this error mean? Many of the fields in this section do not allow you to input symbols (such as &, / or -) or numbers. If you receive this error, please make sure that you have not included symbols in your responses, and be sure to spell out any numbers. VERIFICATION & AFFIDAVIT This screen shows you all of the information that you are submitting on your application. You should use this final opportunity to verify the information. If you have failed to complete any section of the application, or if you have left any section blank, then you will see a red statement next to that section of the application. Please refer to the help text on any section you have been unable to complete. Once you have verified all the information on this page, please proceed to the application affidavit at the bottom of the page. Please verify that your name appears correctly in the text boxes and carefully read each of the 3 statements. You will need to agree with each statement to submit your application for a Florida Educator s Certificate. You can signify that you agree with the statement by checking the box to the left of each statement. Only when all 3 boxes contain a checkmark will you be allowed to proceed with submission of your application by clicking Continue. Verification & Affidavit Frequently Asked Questions: I can t submit my application because it says that a section of my application is incomplete. A red statement in reference to the Personal Information, Certificate Action, Academic Training or Legal Disclosure section will prevent you from submitting your application. If you have a red statement next to these sections, click the corresponding Edit button or the appropriate tab in the left hand navigation column to return to that section for edit. Please refer to the corresponding Help information for assistance in completing each section. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 11 of 15

12 The application is telling me that my Teaching Experience section is incomplete, but I don t hold an out-of-state certificate and I have no previous teaching experience. Why am I still getting a red statement for that section? If you have left the Teaching Experience section of the application blank then you will receive a Reminder that there is no information for this section. This will not prevent you from submitting your application. If this is the only section of your application that is incomplete and you are still unable to sign the Affidavit and proceed to Payment then you should make sure that you are using Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater and that you have disabled the pop-up blockers and antivirus software on your computer as these may be interfering with the Web site. INVOICE & PAYMENT Applicant is now advised to read and agree to the following terms and conditions of authorizing payment for the non-refundable on-line application processing fees. Steps to authorize payment of your non-refundable application processing fees using your VISA or MasterCard credit card This invoice page outlines the application processing fees associated with the services you requested on your online application as well as any unpaid fee balance on your Florida certification account. These total fees must be paid in full to complete submission of your application on-line. We currently accept only VISA or MasterCard credit and debit cards as your method of payment on this site. If you do not have either of these cards, please click here ( to request a paper copy of the application form. Complete the payment authorization statement below by verifying your name as entered on your Affidavit and clicking the check box. This will enable the Submit Payment button so you can proceed with your payment transaction. Your payment information will be encrypted and transmitted to our authorized credit card processing agent for direct approval. The agent collects and processes your credit card information and transmits an approval/denial notice back to us. You may pay your non-refundable on-line application processing fees using only your major credit card. If Educator Certification determines that a refund is necessary due to extraordinary circumstances, the refund may be credited back to your credit card or issued back to you via a check from the State of Florida Comptroller. Additional notices and terms for your payment transaction Once you click the Submit Payment button, you must be ready to complete your payment transaction. Do not close your browser session without completing your payment transaction once you are redirected to our authorized credit card processing agent s site. If you do, your on-line application process will be halted at least until the following business day. Your transaction may not be processed until several hours after you enter it. Transactions submitted on a nonbusiness day (weekends or holidays) may not be processed until the next official business day. Your credit card number will NOT be stored in our database nor that of our authorized credit card processing agent. For subsequent on-line transactions with Educator Certification, you will be asked to provide your credit card number again. Your payment transaction will be processed by a state-of-the-art system which has been designed in accordance with good commercial practice. However, neither the Florida Department of Education nor its authorized credit card processing agent can guarantee that all transactions submitted through this system will be successfully completed. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 12 of 15

13 After reviewing your application, invoice details and the terms and conditions for authorizing payment, you may initiate the credit card process by clicking the check box located next to the user agreement affidavit. Please wait for the screen to refresh and then click the Continue button. You will be routed to a secure payment Web site. Once the credit card transaction process is initiated you will not be able to return to the application. Do not use the Back button to return to the on-line application. You will be prevented from returning to the credit card screen. Invoice/Payment Frequently Asked Questions: What do the question marks (?) next to each field indicate? When you click on the question mark you will be given a brief description of what information is required for that specific field. Can I pay for my certificate with a credit card other than a MasterCard or VISA? Only MasterCard and VISA are accepted for credit card payment. If you are using a debit card, the card must contain the VISA or MasterCard logo. If I didn t provide my credit card number, why am I receiving the message Your credit card payment is pending, you cannot go any further? Once you have entered into the credit card payment screens you cannot access the application again for hours. This security block is established to prevent duplicate payment submissions. I received a FAILED notification when I completed my credit card transaction. When can I try again to submit my payment? Many times you are able to try again within a few moments of your failed payment attempt; however there may be other factors involved which may prevent you from retrying again for at least 1 business day. When you click Submit Application then the Web site will inform you if your previous payment attempt is still being processed. I ve received multiple failed payment attempts. What can I do to ensure a successful payment? Payment attempts may fail for multiple reasons. Please be sure that you are entering the correct billing address for your credit card and that you are using a compatible Web browser. The application was developed for compatibility with Internet Explorer 5.5 and greater. Also be sure that you are not running software that inhibits the flow of information to or from your computer. Please note that if your credit card s banking institution does not allow the verification of your address then it will not be possible to submit a successful payment using that credit card. If you continue to experience failed payment attempts, you may wish to attempt to submit your application using a different computer and/or credit card. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 13 of 15

14 I was disconnected in the middle of my payment attempt. How can I tell if it was received? You can view payments that have been received by our office by logging in to the Website and clicking View Account. You can also view the applications that have been received by our office by clicking on Application Status. If you application and payment do not appear within 3 days of your attempt, then the submission was not successful and you should reattempt to submit your application. My payment attempt failed, but my bank still charged me. How do I notify you that funds were withdrawn from my account? Banks will often put a hold or temporary freeze on the funds from the transaction, even if it failed. While your bank may not make these funds available to you, it does not mean that the money has been withdrawn from your account. Banks will often lift this freeze automatically after a few days. If you need clarification on your specific bank s policy regarding failed transactions you should contact your credit card s banking institution directly. The Web site indicates I owe money from a previous application. Do I have to pay that money before I can submit my new application? You should contact our office to review the circumstances of the outstanding balance before submitting payment for your application. As a general guideline, if you previously submitted an application to our office and did not include payment, it is unlikely that our office performed any action on your application and therefore payment will not be required. However if you submitted a prior application with a check that bounced then you may be required to pay the outstanding balance and any associated penalties. Remember that you can review charges to your account and payments received by reviewing the View Account section of our Web site. Confirmation Page A confirmation page will be displayed once you have submitted your application and payment. Upon successful submission your credit card confirmation number will be provided. Please print and retain a copy of this On-line Application Receipt for your records. This final confirmation notice will display the subject(s) you have applied for and document the final requirements necessary for the processing of your application. Confirmation Frequently Asked Questions: Do I have to send in a copy of transcripts and out of state certificate for every application I submit or will you use the one I previously submitted? Any documentation you have previously submitted to certification is retained indefinitely within your applicant records. Therefore, anything previously submitted does not need to be resubmitted with a new application. You will only need to submit documentation of any additional coursework completed or other pertinent information that has been completed since your prior application. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 14 of 15

15 How do I submit transcripts electronically? We do not accept official transcripts submitted via . Electronic transmission of transcripts will only be accepted via the secure electronic submission via FASTER (Florida Automated System for Transferring Educational Records) or SPEEDE (Standardization of Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchange). Please contact your college or institution to confirm they participate with either of these programs. How long will I need to wait for my application to be processed? The exact processing time is dependant upon the time of year and the workload received by our office. We recommend that you allow 30 business days for our office to fully evaluate the new information you submit. Is there any way to rush the processing of my application? New information that is received by our office is processed in the order that it is received. To be fair to all of our applicants we do not allow applications to be processed out of order. If you are an employee of a Florida public school district and believe that your unique situation constitutes an emergency then you should contact the certification or human resources office for your district. In the event of an emergency, your employer will need to contact our office directly to explain the details of the emergency. 01/05/2010 On-line Application Help and FAQ Page 15 of 15