Who are we?...

American Sign Language teachers from all over the state of Florida. We teach in Universities, colleges, high schools, Deaf schools, hearing schools, and community education programs.

Our Mission...

• Promote the use of American Sign Language as a second/foreign language
• Encourage respect for Deaf people, their community, and their unique culture
• Organize and share information among teachers of American Sign Language
• Encourage ASL teachers to pursue ASLTA certification

FASLTA news...

Upcoming Conferences:

• October 16-19, 2008       FRID (Florida Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf) Conf; WPB
• November 21-23, 2008    FFLA/ACTFL Conference & World Language Expo; Orlando
• February 13-15, 2009      FASLTA Annual Conference; West Palm Beach

FASLTA welcomes the opportunity to help any members who want to set up regional workshops throughout the year. Please use the CONTACT US link.

Certification for ASL Teachers in Florida...

      Florida Department of Education and the Task Force established by the state Legislature have established criteria for all K-12 teachers of ASL in Florida.  Teachers will need either ASLTA National Certification, or completion of a set of 6 specified college courses by July 1, 2009, in order to continue teaching ASL in K-12 schools. There is no "grandfather" provision for existing ASL teachers.

     Helpful note: ASLTA certification is done in 3 steps - Provisional, Qualified, Professional. The Professional level requires an in-person interview with ASLTA evaluators. ASLTA evaluators will be here in February 2009 for the FASLTA Conference in West Palm Beach. Get the Provisional and Qualified levels taken care of before then, and put in your application for Professional level so you can do the in-person interview just before the FASLTA conference!!

FINAL WORD FROM FLDOE regarding use of the HOUSSE PLAN for ASL
I have received the opinion from DOE’s legal counsel. The provisions of Rule 6A-1.0503 that provides for the use of a HOUSSE plan for infield designation does apply to ASL teachers. So beginning July 1, 2009, the ASL teacher may use the ASL endorsement or have a HOUSSE plan completed for ASL to be highly qualified and infield.

As you know, HOUSSE MUST be completed at the district level.

If you have not obtained your ASLTA Professional Cert- or the FLDOE endorsement-- I would meet immediately with your COUNTY Professional Development Coordinator. They can obviously offer you a third option.