Florida Educational Leadership Examination (FELE)
Purpose
The Florida Legislature and State Board of Education recognize that the capacity
and quality of Florida's educational leaders are critical factors in the overall
level of educational excellence in Florida's public school system. In order to ensure
that each of Florida's educational leaders possess the competencies and skills
necessary to achieve the state's education goals, the State Board of Education requires
that candidates seeking certification in Educational Leadership demonstrate a mastery
of the Florida Principal Leadership Standards as defined in SBE Rule 6A-5.080 
.
These standards
serve as Florida's core expectations for effective school administrators and are
based on contemporary research on multi-dimensional school leadership. They represent
skill sets and knowledge bases needed in effective schools. The Florida Educational
Leadership Examination (FELE) is aligned to these standards and allows candidates
seeking certification in Educational Leadership to demonstrate mastery of the requisite
competencies and skills.
The FELE is designed to measure prospective school administrators' achievement of
the benchmarks established by the Florida State Board of Education as stated in
Rule
6A-4.00821, F.A.C. ,
and published
in the Competencies and Skills Required for Certification in Educational
Leadership in Florida .
The current FELE 3.0 consists of three subtests covering 13 domains of core curriculum in Educational
Leadership. Certification testing requirements are set forth in Florida Statute 1012.56 , and candidates
seeking certification in Educational Leadership are required by Florida State Board
of Education Rule to take and pass all subtests of the FELE.
All FELE test development activities, including the writing of assessment items, are facilitated by the Department using statewide committees of subject matter experts (SMEs) from Florida's colleges, universities, and school districts representing all regions of the state. All FELE tests are developed using processes that are consistent with national standards and best practices for developing large-scale examinations as articulated in Standards For Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association [APA], National Council on Measurement in Education [NCME], 2014).
Test Redevelopment
On January 17, 2024, the SBE approved an amendment to the Rule 6A-4.00821, F.A.C., Florida Educational Leadership Examination. Beginning March 1, 2024, the competencies to be demonstrated by means of a written examination are reflected in the publication, "Competencies and Skills Required for Certification in Education Leadership in Florida, Fifth Edition 2024" (http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-16359 ).
Revisions to the competencies and skills necessitated content changes across all current FELE subtests, resulting in a new examination, FELE 4.0. The new examination will follow a different format than the current FELE and will now consist of four subtests (two multiple choice and two written performance assessments). Test development activities for FELE 4.0 have focused on alignment with the Florida Educational Leadership Standards and developing written performance assessments that reflect real-world applications required of a school building administrator.
The current passing scores were recommended by committees composed of subject matter experts from Florida's colleges, universities, and school districts representing all regions of the state. These content experts, representing the educational leadership profession in Florida, ensured that all test materials—including competencies and skills, test questions, and passing score recommendations—were fully aligned to Florida standards and placed at an appropriate level for the Beginning Effective School Administrator Candidate (BESAC). These representatives of the profession also established the level of rigor and complexity for the FELE to ensure that school administrator candidates possess the appropriate level of proficiency and knowledge to effectively lead Florida's schools.
Policies of Florida's School Leadership Programs
Requirements for Florida's School Leadership Programs are written into State Board Rule 6A-5.081 .
The Bureau
of Postsecondary Assessment cannot speak to these requirements in detail; however,
if you have questions, you may contact the Florida Department of Education's Bureau
of Educator Recruitment, Development & Retention at
FELE Testing Materials and Resources
The Department of Education produces test information guides that provide a general overview of each examination and can be of assistance in your efforts to create a plan of study for your next test session. These guides are the only materials the Department endorses and are updated to reflect current test content and standards. They are intended to provide information to examinees taking an examination by presenting an overview of the content and format of the examination. Included in the test information guide, you will find the test blueprint, competencies and skills, and sample test items to help you prepare for the examination.
The test information guide also contains an annotated bibliography that lists textbooks and other resources that would address specific competencies covered by the FELE. These references have been fully vetted with committees of subject matter experts in the field of educational leadership and may be helpful when studying specific competencies for which you may have demonstrated weak performance, as identified within the "Detailed Performance Analysis" page of the score report you received after testing. (Assistance in understanding your score report and the individual scores can also be found on the Understanding Your Scores page of this website.) Note: The Florida Department of Education does not endorse these references as the only appropriate sources for review; many comparable texts currently used in state-approved teacher preparation programs also cover the competencies and skills that are tested on the examination.
The online FELE Written Performance resource page
also includes several resources intended to further aid examinees in their individual
test preparation efforts. These additional resources include an overview of the
FELE written performance assessment, rubric and scoring information, sample prompts,
and examples of supplemental rating criteria. Note that the test information guides
and other Department-produced resources are not intended as all-inclusive sources
of content or pedagogical knowledge, nor are they substitutes for college course
work.
More Information
For information regarding scale scores, pass rates, scoring methods, etc., please see About the FTCE/FELE: Scoring and Reporting.
