How are teachers evaluated in Hillsborough County?

See the Performance Evaluation web page for complete information on educator evaluation.”

How many total years of experience will an employee receive?

What is Experience Credit?

1. What is Experience Credit?

Teachers are granted experience credit for all verifiable and effective full-time public, private, charter, and college experience. Additionally, the teacher must have held a four year college degree during the period of employment.

Speech Language Pathologists are granted experience credit for all full years of therapy with children. If the teaching assignment changes during employment with the district, experience credit will be rescinded.

Teachers hired in the following assignments may be eligible for work experience in lieu of teaching experience: Health Science, Law Enforcement, Firefighters, and Food Production with Quantity Food Certification. Up to 7 years of experience credit may be given based on full-time experience in these fields. This experience credit may only be applicable in the assignments listed above. If the teaching assignment changes during employment with the district, experience credit will be rescinded.

2.  Teaching Experience- When is it granted? Is it retroactively paid?

Upon completion of employee processing, experience credit is sent to the Human Resources office for eligibility verification.

Experience credit received and verified within the first 90 days of employment will receive retroactive payment.

Experience credit received and verified after the first 90 days of employment will receive credit from the time of receipt with no retroactive payment.

Requests for experience credit will be reviewed by Human Resources to determine the appropriate compensation level.

3.  Experience Credit Forms- When can they be submitted? Who completes the form?

The experience credit for is a component of electronic onboarding packet.

The new employee completes the form online. The form will be electronically forwarded to the former school district and then to our Personnel Services department.

What is Out-of-Field?

Short definition:
Out-of-field means that you are teaching a subject for which your current certification is not recognized as appropriate for the assignment.

Long definition and example:

• You are out-of-field when you are teaching a subject for which your current certification is not recognized as appropriate. For example: A teacher with physics (but not mathematics) on his/her certificate is teaching out-of-field when s/he is teaching mathematics.
• You must hold a certificate in a subject area in order to be placed out-of-field in another subject area.
• You must sign an agreement to earn at least six semester hours toward this out-of-field certification each year you teach out-of-field or pass the Florida Department of Education Subject Area Examination (see: Educator Certification http://www.fldoe.org/edcert/) for the out-of-field assignment.

What is required for ESE (Exceptional Student Education) and ESOL (ELL) in the State of Florida?

ESE teachers are required to obtain both ESE certification and the appropriate area content certification determined by the course code of the individual teacher schedule.

Teachers in the State of Florida are required to fulfill an ESOL obligation determined by the coursework taught.

Note: Teachers hired out of field will be provided a timeline for completion of required out of field assignment.